Match Report

SUMMARY

Altrincham went into this game with eight players already out, injured; they ended the evening with ten men sidelined, after goalkeeper Tim Deasy and midfielder Kyle Brownhill were injured during the second half.

Darlington dominated the early stages and took a third minute lead when Falkingham got the ball off Lynch and Cyrus had to slice the ball out for a corner. From the right-wing corner, Brown headed the ball forward and Beck netted from close range.

The second goal arrived in the 29th minute when Cartman outpaced Lynch and scored with a well-struck, low shot past Deasy.

However, Altrincham got back into the game five minutes later. Clee, once again deployed at left-back, now got forward and fed Lawrie, whose blocked shot fell to Newby who netted for the second successive match.

Seven minutes after the break Tim Deasy had to go off and Andrew Jones came on for his league debut in goal. Then Kyle Brownhill was clattered and had to be chaired off the pitch. However, Altrincham were then enjoying a decent spell and the home crowd was growing restless.

But the game was settled when Richman was judged by the referee to have tripped an opponent and Galbraith netted the resulting penalty (80 mins). After that, despite Clee being moved forward and Cyrus being deployed up front, there was no way back.

• 3 mins: Mark BECK (Darlington 1 1883 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 29 mins: Nathan CARTMAN (Darlington 1883 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 34 mins: Elliott NEWBY (Darlington 1883 2 ALTRINCHAM 1)
• 80 mins: Terry GALBRAITH (penalty) (Darlington 1883 3 ALTRINCHAM 1)

Alty were unchanged but youth winger Darius Palma replaced Alan Goodall on the bench, meaning eight first-teamers were ruled out tonight before kick-off.

LINE-UPS:

DARLINGTON 1883 (Black and white hooped shirts, black shirts and socks) 1. Ed Wilczynski, 2 Liam Hunter, 3. David Ferguson, 4. Phil Turnbull, 5. Kevin Burgess, 6. Gary Brown, 7. Josh Falkingham, 8. Dave Syers, 9. Mark Beck, 10. Nathan Cartman, 11. Stephen Thompson. Subs GK Mark Bell, 12. Josh Gillies, 15. Liam Hardy, 16. Terry Galbraith, 17. Leon Scott,

ALTRINCHAM (All yellow) 1. Tim DEASY, 2. Chris LYNCH (c), 3. Kyle BROWNHILL, 4. Sam HEATHCOTE, 5. John CYRUS 6. Laurence TAYLOR, 7. Elliott NEWBY, 8. Simon RICHMAN, 9. Micah EVANS, 10. James LAWRIE, 11. Nicky CLEE. Subs 12. Sam PATTERSON, 14. Damian REEVES, 15. Darius PALMA, 16. Andy McWILLIAMS, 17. Andrew JONES

This was Altrincham's first visit to Darlington since 2011 when The Robins beat the original Darlington club 1-0 at what is now the Darlington Arena. Tonight's game was the first league match under floodlights at the current club's new ground, Blackwell Meadows, which is a venue shared with the local rugby club.

This match had been postponed in February due to a waterlogged pitch and the surface had received negative comments, pre-match, from the Darlington manager. But pre-match it looked to be in pretty good condition, indeed, certainly better than at several grounds we have visited this season.

Altrincham had scored inside ten seconds last time out but this time they fell behind early in the game, conceding inside the third minute. After Lawrie had lost possession in the Darlington half, Falkingham got the better of Lynch and his cross had to be sliced out for a corner by Cyrus. From this right-side corner, Brown nodded the ball forward and it was netted from close range by Beck at the back post.

Darlington dominated the opening stages with, next, a Cartman header which only just cleared the bar before Lynch completely missed a through ball and Taylor had to clear a resulting cross (10 mins).

From a long throw, Darlington were permitted to win two successive headers as the one-way traffic continued. Next, after a slick passing move, Falkingham put in a poor cross.

It was not until the seventeenth minute that Altrincham landed a shot on target as the ball was cleared by Darlington to Newby, whose well-placed effort was pushed away by the keeper. Things continued to look up as Alty won a freekick, 25 yards out in a central position. Lawrie laid this off to Heathcote but his shot cleared the terracing roof and headed for the car park.

Two more Alty freekicks came to nothing as the visitors now had a foothold in the game. Another Heathcote freekick now ended up with the home keeper before a Darlo man got past Clee and crossed the ball, which was put in the net but was ruled out for offside (23 mins).

Darlington again threatened as, first, Ferguson got into the box before being halted, and then a Turnbull cross found Beck. However, Alty now fashioned an opening as Newby and Lawrie did well on the left but Richman struck his shot about 40 feet over the bar and out of the ground (28 mins).

No soomer had this chance gone than Darlington doubled their lead as Cartman outpaced the inside-left Lynch channel and scored a with fine, low shot to Deasy's right. to make it 2-0 (29 mins).

But Altrincham now got back into the game as, Clee, who had again been deployed at left-back, was able to make a rare excursion forward and, with his right foot. he fed Lawrie whose shot was blocked and Newby scored his second goal in successive games to make it 2-1 (34 mins).

But as half-time approached, Thompson won his side a corner on the right, which was soon followed by another. Following this a Beck header hit the underside of the bar and was cleared. Then Lynch body-checked Ferguson and was booked (44mins).

Just before the start of a minute of added time, Thompson shot narrowly wide. At the break Alty were still in the game, but only just, after their bar had been hit just before half-time. But Altrincham had again been wasteful when given a sight of the Darlington goal and had not looked secure at the back.

An early Clee cross led to a Newby shot which cleared the bar. The Barrow loanee was one of Alty's brighter sparks tonight and he soon played a fine ball to Evans, but he was unable to capitalise and was to have difficulty getting into the game against an organised Darlington defence.

Five minutes into the half, goalkeeper Deasy sat down for treatment to a leg injury and, from the distraught way in which he held his head, it was clear that he was unable to continue. So Andrew Jones, a graduate of the youth and reserve systems at Altrincham, came on for his league debut (52 mins).

After a scrappy spell, Newby was shoved over near halfway but Heathcote's freekick went to the keeper (59 mins). Neither keeper was being called into meaningful action at this stage and the home crowd was growing restless at their side's unforced errors and Altrincham's slowly growing confidence (65 mins).

Two minutes later, Beck emulated Alty's first-half efforts when he too fired miles over the roof of the terrace. Play was halted when a very poor challenge by Beck left Brownhill in a heap and the Quakers' player was booked (68 mins). As he received treatment, Darlington introduced Galbraith for Turnbull. Brownhill now had to be given a chair-lift off the pitch and was replaced by McWilliams (71 mins). This prompted a change of personnel as Clee moved forward to accommodate McWilliams.

Brownhill had become Alty's tenth currently injured player.

Despite their adversity, Alty were now doing quite well as the Quakers brought on Gillies for Cartman (75 mins). When Clee was body checked, Falkingham was booked but Heathcote overhit his freekick (77 mins).

As it looked as if Alty were capable of grabbing an equalizer, a retreating Richman was judged to have tripped Ferguson just inside the box. But the game was settled when Richman was judged by the referee to have tripped an opponent. Heathcote was booked after making a vehement protest at the decision to award a spot-kick before Galbraith netted the penalty to make it 3-1 (80 mins).

Alty's resistance was broken and a revitalised Darlington now won a corner, followed two minutes later by another two in succession. After 85 minutes Jones faced his first real test and made a fine save, tipping a header over the bar fo a corner.

Next teenage winger, Darius Palma, became Alty's second league debutant, replacing Lawrie (86 mins). Alty now pushed centre-back Cyrus up front and adopted a back three. Newby now resumed after treatment for a knock befor Darlo brought on Hardy for Thompson (90 mins).

Alty pushed forward in what turned out to be six minutes of added time but they could not get a goal back and so remained bottom of the table on a night when a win would have taken them above Stalybridge Celtic.

Manager Matt Doughty faces a major selection problem on Saturday unless some of his ten injured players recover by then. Although Altrincham could not complain at the outcome, they had worked hard to get back into the get back in the game after falling two goals behind but were ultimately undone by the referee's penalty award.