ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS


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SHILDON (0) 1
ALTRINCHAM (0) 0

Emirates FA Cup Second Qualifying Round match
played on Saturday, 16 September 2017, 3pm


SUMMARY

A last-minute goal dumped Altrincham out of the FA Cup. It came when James Jones was penalised for handball after substitute Burnicle had got past him only to shoot wide. The referee pointed to the spot and showed Jones a red card.

Earlier Altrincham had enjoyed some good spells but also some indifferent ones. Again they won corners and freekicks but failed to capitalize on them and their build up play was let down by poor crosses and misplaced final passes.


SCORERS:
REFEREE: Mr Matthew Sowerby
ATTENDANCE: 345
TEAM NEWS

For the second time in a week Alty lost James Poole before kick off after he had been named on the team-sheet. So Max Harrop made an unscheduled start in a team still without Richman, Taylor, Amis and Miller, though the latter duo were named on the bench. In addition, keeper Tim Deasy was ruled out with a groin strain so Tony Thompson was in goal. Also, Joel Bembo-Leta was cup-tied.

There were potentially three players making their first appearances of the season; ex-youth keeper Josh Samberg had been signed on the eve of this matc; Josh Amis was in contention after missing the previous games following an appendix operation and Sean Miller, sidelined for several months by injury, was also named on the bench alongside Samberg and Amis.

LINE-UPS:

SHILDON (Red shirts, black shorts and socks) 1. Nick Liversedge, 2. James Harwood (c), 3. Marc Ellison, 4. Lewis Dodds, 5. Dom Curl, 6. Dan Groves, 7. Jack Taylor, 8. Sam Hodgson, 9. Billy Greulich-Smith, 10. Dan Moore, 11. Anthony Peacock. Subs 12. Cameron Fenton, 14. Adam Burnicle, 15. David Reynard, 16. Thomas Fisher, 17. Brandon Turnbull

ALTRINCHAM (Purple) 1. Tony THOMPSON, 2. Shaun DENSMORE, 3. Lewis SHORT, 4. James JONES, 5. Ben HARRISON, 6. Jake MOULT (c), 7. John JOHNSTON, 8. Sam SHERIDAN, 9. Jordan HULME, 10. MAx HARROP, 11. Josh HANCOCK Subs: 12. Tom HANNIGAN, 14. Tom PEERS, 15. James POOLE, 16. Josh AMIS, 17. Sean MILLER, 18. Simon RICHMAN, 20. Josh SAMBERG


BACKGROUND

The clubs' only previous meeting was five seasons ago when Alty won 3-0 at Shildon at the same stage of the FA Cup as today's match.


REPORT

Shildon kicked off and Alty started indifferently with Harrison giving the ball away and a poor Johnston freekick both occurring in the first three minutes.

After Sheridan had been fouled in his own half, he himself then committed a foul. Next, Densmore cleared Hodgson's freekick for a corner (7 mins). Three minutes later the Railwaymen gained their second corner through Dodds but this was overhit as neither side produced much quality in the early stages.

Things got no better as Thompson miskicked a goalkick straight to Peacock but Alty cleared the danger (11 mins). The stuttering game continued in similar vein as Harwood flattened Harrop in Alty's half before Taylor fouled Short in the Alty box. Next, a poor clearance by Jones obliged Thompson to rush out to clear (14 mins).

The nearest to a goal chance, and it wasn't very near at all, came from an Ellison cross which Greulich-Smith nodded well wide. Not for the last time, Jones slipped over but Harrison cleared and few would have disagreed as Alty boss Phil Parkinson yelled, "Not good enough" at his players (17 mins).

For the second time in this match the ball had to be changed before a Hancock feed prompted Hulme to win a corner which came to nothing.

At last Alty forced Liversedge to make a save, from a Johnston shot after a decent build up on the right (22 mins). The improvement continued as Hulme won a corner on the right, after which a low Johnston shot went across goal, just wide of the back post (25 mins).

When Hulme was fouled on the front edge of the box, Hancock's freekick hit the wall. Next, Hancock was caught after the ball had gone and a yellow card was shown to Harwood (28 mins).

From Sheridan's freekick, a back-header by Hulme went to the keeper. Alty remained on the front foot as Densmore won a corner after a fine pass from Sheridan but a foul by Harrison resulted.

A long ball from Shildon saw Jones just recover to clear Shildon's ball over the top as Thompson rushed out towards him (34 mins).

A Hancock run ended when he was tripped on the edge of the box and the freekick won the first of two successive corners. After the latter, Jones got to the byline but his shot from the right was blocked by the keeper.

Taylor's foul on Johnston was followed by a Jones mistake which forced Thompson to save from Greulich-Smith, gathering the ball at the second attempt (38 mins).

As Alty continued to have the better of the first half, a Densmore cross won another corner, which was poorly taken, meaning that Harrison could only head it wide (41 mins). A minute later, Johnston fired over from 20 yards from a Densmore feed.

As the half ended, in rain, Jones did well against Greulich-Smith but the goalless first half had hardly set the pulse racing.


Half-Time: SHILDON 0
ALTRINCHAM 0

The second half started scrappily but, five minutes in, a fine Johnston shot from the left hit the side netting, just inches wide of the goal.

Then, both a Harrop shot and a Densmore follow up were well beaten out by Liversedge, the latter save going for a corner which was followed by two more (52 mins). None of the trio came to anything.

Two minutes later, Johnston won a further corner, which was cleared to Sheridan, whose shot cleared the bar comfortably. Alty remained on the attack as a Johnston shot deflected to Liversedge.

Though Alty had been much better, so far, in this half they had failed to convert their play into a goal.

For Shildon, Moore was booked for a foul/dive in the Alty box before the Railwaymen introduced Burnicle for Taylor now (59 mins). It was now raining again as play meandered on until Shilton put together their best move of the game which ended with a final pass which just evaded Peacock in the Alty box (67 mins).

Peers came on for Harrop (69 mins) as the home side enjoyed a positive spell, which produced a corner (71 mins). The corner from the left drifted into the net as Thompson was fouled and a freekick was awarded.

For a foul on Hancock, a freekick was awarded before Peers sliced a shot well wide. Curl was then lectured after he had caught Hulme late.

A Jones foul on Peacock just outside the corner of Alty's box led to a freekick which was cleared (78 mins). Soon, Amis, fit again after his appendix operation, made his debut, replacing Hulme (80 mins). Two minutes later, Fenton came on for Dodds for the hosts.

After 84 minutes, Johnston's cross won a fortunate corner which again came to nothing. As play drifted towards its conclusion, Alty were on the defensive as, firstly, Fenton headed wide after fouling Densmore before Burnicle beat Jones who slipped over and handled the ball just inside the corner of the box on the Alty left.

Nevertheless, the Shildon man advanced towards goal but shot wide before the referee awarded a penalty for hands by Jones, who had slipped over. To compound the punishment, Jones was shown a red card (89 mins). The penalty was beaten out by Thompson but it bounced up for Fenton to head home from left of goal and settle the match (90 mins).

Shildon brought on Renyard for Peacock (90+1 mins) but, despite some six minutes of added time being played, there was to be no reprieve for Altrincham.

With a squad seriously depleted by injury, manager Phil Parkinson faces a tough task to rally his side for a difficult home match against Farsley Celtic on Tuesday night. Once again Altrincham had seen plenty of the ball and won numerous corners and freekicks yet had only forced a couple of decent saves from the Shildon keeper thanks to poor final balls and disappointing shooting.


Full-Time: SHILDON 1
ALTRINCHAM 0