Match Report

WELLING UNITED (0) 0 ALTRINCHAM (0) 1

Vanarama Conference match
played on Sunday, 8 March, 2015, at 1pm

SUMMARY

Goalkeeper Stuart Coburn celebrated his record-breaking 679th appearance for Altrincham with a clean sheet and three points in a far from flowing match on a bobbly surface. Alty were without the suspended Tom Marshall and the injured Nicky Clee, so Scott Leather and Jordan Sinnott came into the starting eleven.

The hosts had several threatening moments before they lost captain Joe Healy to a straight red card for a reckless tackle on James Lawrie in the 54th minute. After that Altrincham kept possession well as they worked the weakened opposition. The visitors got their reward after 76 minutes. The goal came from a low drive by substitute Ryan Crowther, who had only joined the game seven minutes earlier.

The win lifted Altrincham to 13th but left Welling in the relegation places.

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Nicholas Kinseley
ATTENDANCE: 1,009
TEAM NEWS

Altrincham were without the injured Nicky Clee and the suspended Tom Marshall but Stuart Coburn was breaking the Altrincham FC appearance record today; it was his 679th game.

LINE-UPS:

WELLING UNITED (All red with white trim) : 1. Jonathan Henly, 23. Barney Williams, 15. Sam Berry, 32. Darren Purse, 3. Jamal Fyfield, 8. Dominic Vose, 33. Joe Healy, 18. Anthony Jeffrey, 19. Reece Harris, 20. Sam Corne, 7. Rod Young, Subs 35 Aristide Baselle 5. Zachari Fagan, 6. Chris Bush, 10. Keiron St Aimee, 21. Michael McEntegart

ALTRINCHAM (Yellow and blue shirts, blue shorts, yellow socks) 1. Stuart Coburn, 2. Shaun Densmore (capt), 5. Gianluca Havern, 6. Scott Leather, 3. Adam Griffin, 26. Jordan Sinnott, 4. Jake Moult, 8. Simon Richman, 7. James Lawrie, 10. Damian Reeves, 14. Kyle Perry. Subs 17.Dave Parton, 19. Ryan Crowther, 25. Peter Cavanagh, 9. Steven Gillespie, 18. Sean Williams

BACKGROUND

This match had been moved at short notice to a Sunday lunchtime to accommodate the BT Sport schedules, which meant that few away fans were able to attend and the club has had hastily to arrange overnight accommodation for the team.

Last Monday, Welling sacked their manager after a run of eight defeats and one draw in their last nine matches. So, player Loui Fazackerley was in charge of today's game.

Welling had won the reverse fixture, 4-0 at Moss Lane, at which point Alty were second bottom of the table. Mike Garnett furnishes us with our record against "The Wings".

REPORT

With BT Sport televising the game and conducting interviews on the pitch, the game got underway a little late with the hosts playing up the slope after the visitors had kicked off.

Altrincham started quite well, a freekick for a first-minute foul on Lawrie being followed by a misdirected header towards goal from Reeves. Alty initially deployed Sinnott, making his full debut as an Altrincham player, on the right, with Lawrie on the left. But The Wings had the first meaningful shot when Coburn had to beat out Williams's shot from right of goal, after he had got behind the Alty defence (4 mins).

Altrincham responded by winning two corners, the first gained by Sinnott and the second by Richman (8 mins). The visitors now had the upper hand as, first Moult then Sinnott saw their shots cleared, after which Reeves's hooked effort from a long clearance upfield, only ran to the keeper.

However, a Densmore foul on Vose, on the front edge of Alty's box allowed Vose a freekick, which only just cleared the bar. At the other end, Henly fielded Perry's half-hit shot (12 mins).

Coburn was proving the busier of the keepers as he saved a low effort from Williams who, for the second time, had shot at goal from the right (15 mins). Once more the Alty goal was under threat when Vose fed Harris but his initial miscontrol prevented a shot being made and the move petered out (18 mins).

Next, a Williams cross led to a shot well over the bar from Welling as the home side enjoyed the better of the game at this stage. The difficult bobbly surface was not helping the flow of the game and Alty's keeper was again in action as Coburn punched Young's freekick clear before a cross from the the left was headed over by Young (24 mins).

Welling were looking a danger going forward and it was not until the half-hour mark that Altrincham got forward again with Perry, despite being held, winning a corner on the left. This prompted an improvement from the visitors as Reeves almost got free onto the end of a good Griffin ball. A shot from Lawrie went wide from 25 yards (34 mins) before Coburn had to stop a Young shot.

Following holding by Havern, 25 yards out in a central position, Coburn had to smother the ball at Healy's feet. Alty counter-attacked and gained a corner on the right. After the corner, Densmore's cross went to the keeper (40 mins).

This fairly even but error-ridden game continued towards the interval. Then, a fine Leather tackle preceded a Vose shot from a Fyfield advance, which Coburn saved (44 mins). The interval arrived with a goalless score sheet.

Half-Time: WELLING UNITED 0 ALTRINCHAM 0

The second half started with Perry's header to the Welling keeper, before a Young cross was sliced across the face of his own goal by Griffin for a corner, as the left-back came across to cover for the upfield Densmore. But play was mostly in the Alty half over the next few minutes before Cavanagh came on for Richman in the 51st minute.

After this, Sinnott's ball was knocked down by Reeves but Perry fired the ball well over the bar. Then, out of nothing, came a defining moment as Welling captain Healy jumped in on Lawrie near half way, prompting a melee amongst the players. After consulting both linesmen, the referee showed Healy a straight red card (54 mins).

Next, a Sinnott twenty-yarder was saved before a Leather trip on the Welling right earned him a yellow card (57 mins).

Altrincham could not immediately capitalise on their one-man advantage with Griffin's good cross leading to Reeves's header wide being the best effort (61 mins). Now St Aimee came on for Williams (62 mins). St Aimee soon put Harris clear but, from his side's viewpoint, his shot was disappointing and he only located the side netting, after some poor Alty defending (64 mins).

Throughout the game Altrincham's build ups had lacked tempo and they had scarcely troubled keeper Henly. Mis-passing also limited the visitors' threat but Altrincham now made a change and introduced Crowther for Sinnott as the Wings replaced Young by Baselle, who had just returned to the club on loan (69 mins). Poor crosses from Moult and then Griffin showed how Altrincham were labouring to impose themselves.

Soon after a Densmore cross had been cleared, Altrincham took the lead with a low shot by Crowther from an inside left channel, just outside the box (76 mins).

The goal deflated the Wings and Altrincham now settled into to some good possession football, spreading passes across the pitch to sap the energy of their ten-man opponents. In the 84th minute. Welling introduced Fagan for Corne. Just after this, a Densmore cross was blocked and Lawrie fired well over the bar. Now Sean Williams came on for Reeves (85 mins).

Altrincham now enjoyed a further spell of keeping the ball and moving their opponenta around the pitch but in the final minute of normal time, Welling got forward to head a freekick to Coburn. Then the announcement of four added minutes witnessed a Moult sidefoot over the bar from Williams's lay off. But then Welling raised their game for a final push. In the fourth added minute, a Moult foul gave Welling a freekick on their left. Even goalkeeper Henly came up for the dead ball and in the resulting melee, twice got his head on the ball.

However, Altrincham saw out the game to lift themselves to thirteenth. But Welling were left in the bottom four as they seek to retain their national Conference status.

Full-Time: WELLING UNITED 0 ALTRINCHAM 1
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