ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS


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ALTRINCHAM (2) 4
RUSHALL OLYMPIC (0) 0

Evo-Stik Premier Division match
played on Saturday, 7 October 2017, 3pm


SUMMARY

Altrincham moved up a place to third with this comfortable win against a game Rushall side reduced to ten men after 50 minutes when Scott was shown a red card for hauling down Hancock, when already trailing 2-0.

Centre-back Ben Harrison opened the scoring in the 18th minute with a well-placed shot following a corner and an equally well-directed second goal followed in the 38th minute from Hancock. This arrived after Densmore and Richman had got the ball up the middle to Alty's leading scorer.

The next goal came from a smart counter-attack; Poole advanced and fed Peers. He ran up the middle towards goal before laying the ball off to Johnston, to his right, and the winger made it 3-0. The scoring was completed in the last of the ninety minutes when a Poole 20-yarder was shovelled out by keeper Eve and Hulme nipped in, rounded the keeper and tapped home Altrincham's fourth goal.


SCORERS:
REFEREE: Mr Michael Barlow
ATTENDANCE: 984
TEAM NEWS

Disney, Taylor and Amis were all still sidelined by injury, whilst Densmore replaced Short at left-back.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks) 1. Tony THOMPSON, 2. Joel BEMBO-LETA, 3. Shaun DENSMORE, 4. Tom HANNIGAN, 5. Ben HARRISON, 6. Jake MOULT (c), 7. John JOHNSTON, 8. Simon RICHMAN, 9. Jordan HULME, 10. Tom PEERS, 11. Josh HANCOCK Subs: 12. James POOLE, 14. Sam SHERIDAN, 15. James JONES, 16. Lewis SHORT, 17. Sean MILLER

RUSHALL OLYMPIC (Gold/black shirts, white shorts, black socks) 1. Dale Eve, 2. Joshua Webb, 3. Alex Lingard, 4. Kristian Scott, 5. Joe Hull (c), 6. Sam Whittall, 7. Kailan Gould, 8. Majed Osman, 9. Dominic Dell, 10. Kartel O'Neill-Martin, 11. Danny Waldron. Subs: 12. Charlie Duke, 14. Jonathan Brown, 15. Rumenio Valido-Barai, 16. Stan Mugisha, 13. Tristan Dunkley


BACKGROUND

This was the first ever match between the two clubs. Alty, who were wearing special Fans for Diversity shirts, started the game in fourth place.


REPORT

Altrincham kicked off towards the Carole Nash & Family away end in steady rain. Following a Lingard foul near half way, Johnston ran up the left and his shot went to keeper Eve, still inside the first minute.

Another freekick for a Scott handball, 45 yards out from goal, was followed by a third freekick on the edge of the box when Hancock was fouled after the ball had gone (3 mins). However, Hancock put the freekick wide.

The scrappy start continued with a Peers foul but then Johnston went on his second run of the match but his cross from the left was cleared. Alty had been on the front foot from the start and it continued that way as a Hancock shot from 18 yards was held at the second attempt by Eve (7 mins).

The visitors' first effort was a low shot which ran to Thompson from Gould. And the visitors also gained the match's first corner, from a Lingard cross as the Pics grew into the game after a shaky start (13 mins).

However, with steady rain still falling, Johnston soon earned Altrincham's first corner and following this a Harrison shot produced a second corner. This came out to Peers on the edge of the box but he miskicked and the ball rolled sideways to centre-back Harrison, who showed a striker's composure as he picked his spot and slid the ball into the keeper's bottom left-hand corner to give Altrincham a merited lead (18 mins).

Johnston continued to torment the Rushall right-hand side but Alty's next threat did not arrive till the 24th minute when a Richman shot had to be saved from a Bembo-Leta pass. As the rain intensified, a mishit shot from Hulme ran to Eve.

Hannigan then had to clear a cross before a good Moult tackle was needed inside his own box (29 mins). Rushall landed another effort on goal when Thompson collected a shot from 20 yards. In a curious incident, three Alty men went down in succession inside the Olympic box but none of the tumbles was either a foul or a dive (32 mins).

Olympic were showing some spirit as they gained another corner, on their right, from which a Rushall header went to Thompson. At the other end, Altrincham went close with a slick move which ended as Hulme fed Johnston and his low cross from the right only narrowly evaded the sliding Hancock at the back post (33 mins).

After an O'Neill-Martin 25-yarder had gone wide, a Dell cross had to be cleared and this was followed by a wild 25 yarder by O'Neill-Martin as the rain eased (36 mins).

But in the 38th minute, inside the opposition half, Densmore played a short ball up the middle to Richman. He relayed it to Hancock, whose well placed shot just evaded the keeper's dive to his left before it went into his net, just inside the post.

As half-time approached, a Johnston overhit cross and then a wild, high shot from the Alty winger, were followed by a corner won by Bembo-Leta as the half entered added time. Although Johnston won an even later corner, the score remained 2-0 which was a fair reflection of the first half.


Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 2
RUSHALL OLYMPIC 0

Apart from Peers hitting the side netting the opening few minutes of the first half were unremarkable except for a lecture for Hulme, accompanied by his captain. But then, just as Hancock was getting free up the middle, a couple of yards inside the Rushall half, he was hauled down by Scott for a "professional foul". The Rushall man was shown a red card leaving Alty to face ten men (51 mins).

Peers then hit a freekick into the wall but soon after this he won a corner. Next, after Gould had been penalised, a Moult cross from the left flew goes across the goalmouth untouched.

Now Rushall made a change as Mugisha came on for Dell, after which Hulme poked a shot just wide. With their extra man, Alty were now camped in the opposition half and, next, Johnston again got to the byline and won a corner on the left. There was an amazing miskick by Bembo-Leta on the goal-line following a further Johnston dribble along the byline left of goal (57 mins).

Thompson saw some action as he came out to smother a ball ahead of Mugisha who was looking lively for the visitors (60 mins). Two minutes later the visitors made a double change as O'Neill-Martin and Gould were replaced by Duke and Valido Barai (62 min).

After Hulme had won a corner on the right, Poole replaced Hancock for the Robins (64 mins). After a slow start, which included a crossfield pass to an opponent and falling over inside the box, Poole grew into the game.

Altrincham made another change on 69 minutes when Sheridan replaced Richman in central midfield. The game now went a bit flat before Rushall won a corner on their left. After this, Poole led a counter-attack and did well to keep his feet as he got the ball to Peers. He ran straight up the middle before laying the ball off to his right, where Johnston struck it into the net from about 18 yards to make it 3-0 (73 mins).

Almost immediately Miller, last season's top scorer, came on for Johnston on the left wing (74 mins). It was his first league appearance since 17 December 2016, having missed 35 league matches in the interim through injury.

Olympic now won a corner off Harrison and were allowed an unhindered header from this which, fortunately, struck an Alty defender. Miller was soon in action, having a shot blocked with the ball falling to Bembo-Leta who netted it but was ruled offside (79 mins).

Next Poole's firm shot was saved from 19 yards and then a Peers shot was blocked but Rushall showed some spirit, forcing Moult to block a shot before Webb found space to get in a cross and then win a corner (84 mins). With the Alty fans in good voice, the action continued as Eve smothered the ball ahead of Hulme and a Poole 45 yarder had to be tipped over the bar for a corner by the retreating Rushall keeper (86 mins).

Inside the final minute of normal time, a Poole 20 yarder was shovelled out by keeper Eve but Hulme seized on the loose ball, rounded the keeper and tapped home the ball to make it 4-0 (90 mins). In the declared three added minutes, Moult had a shot saved before Harrison was declared Man of the Match.

So it's now nine wins and a draw in their last eleven league matches for Altrincham as they prepare for a long Tuesday journey to Whitby Town. For the new attendees attracted to this match by Non-League Day and its related events, this will have proved an entertaining match which, hopefully, will induce them to return for future games.


Full-Time: ALTRINCHAM 4
RUSHALL OLYMPIC 0