ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS

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ALTRINCHAM (1) 3
ASHTON UNITED (0) 0

Vanarama National League North match
played on Saturday, 27 October 2018, 3pm

SUMMARY

Altrincham secured an ultimately comfortable 3-0 win over their Tameside opponents at a cold but sunny J. Davidson Stadium. Although the visitors saw plenty of the ball, they rarely troubled the home defence.

Altrincham went ahead in the 13th minute when John Johnston netted after Andy White's effort had been blocked. After losing James Poole to injury on his first start of the season, Altrincham doubled their lead. A foul on Harrop, led to Johnston's freekick, which was deflected into his own net by an Ashton player to make it 2-0 after 53 minutes. Substitute Owen Dale completed the scoring in the 88th minute when he swept the ball home from just outside the box.

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Richard Aspinall
ATTENDANCE: 930
TEAM NEWS

James Poole made his first start of the season after his injury incurred last season. With Sean Williams's metatarsal injury sidelining him, and Owen Dale moving to the bench, Josh Hancock also came into the starting eleven.

Of the cohort of ex-Alty men on Ashton's books, only Sam Sheridan and Liam Tomsett started whilst Mark Lees was on the bench.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks) 1. Tony Thompson, 2. Andy White, 3. Connor Hampson, 4. James Jones, 5. Tom Hannigan, 6. Jake Moult (c), 7. John Johnston, 8. Max Harrop, 9. Jordan Hulme, 10. James Poole, 11. Josh Hancock. Subs: 12. Owen Dale, 14. Tom Peers, 15. Simon Richman, 16. Shaun Densmore, 20. Elliot Wynne

ASHTON UNITED (Purple) 1. Luke Pilling, 2. Harrison Holgate, 3. Matthew Regan, 4. Aaron Chalmers, 5. Lewis Baines, 6. Sam Sheridan (c), 7. Bradley Jackson, 8. Scott Key, 9. Matthew Chadwick, 10. Liam Tomsett, 11. Dom McHale. Subs: 12. Matthew Hill, 14. Luke Ashworth, 15. Mark Lees, 16. Jordan Sangha, 17. Liam Martin.

BACKGROUND

Altrincham started the game fifteenth, two points and two places ahead of Ashton, who arrived at Moss Lane with the highest conceding defence in the division.

REPORT

Kick off was delayed when, as the teams lined up to come onto the pitch, the referee took exception to the similar colour of Pilling's goalkeeping shirt to the attire worn by his team-mates and ordered a change of livery for the Ashton goalkeeper. With this taking several minutes, the 21 other players emerged for the toss-up, after which Ashton's number one finally emerged in a bright green number.

When play belatedly started it was the visitors who won two early corners, between which Hulme had the ball in the net after Pilling had unsuccessfuly tried to dribble past the striker. Unfortunately for Alty, the ball was deemed to have gone out of play as Hulme won the ball (4 mins).

Altrincham's first corner arrived in the seventh minute from a Poole freekick. Five minutes later an Ashton freekick, conceded by Harrop, was taken by Sheridan but was saved comfortably by Thompson. Indeed, Sheridan was to be the visitors' midfield marshal throughout the afternoon.

Alty counter-attacked from the Ashton freekick and White was put clear, running towards goal in the right-hand channel. His effort was blocked but came out to Johnston who finished calmly with a low shot from the edge of the box to make it 1-0 (13 mins).

After an Alty corner had come to nothing, it was Ashton who now won three corners in succession. After these, Altrincham had to reorganize when Poole was injured as he and an opponent went for a 50-50 ball near halfway. His first start of the season was to end prematurely as he hobbled off (25 mins). After a short passage of play wuth ten men, Richman came on to replace Poole in midfield (26 mins).

Mr Aspinall showed leniency when McHale upended Hampson, an offence which had been preceded moments earlier by fouls from Tomsett and Kay.

Next, a fine ball from Harrop set up Johnston to win a corner, before a routine foul by Richman on Sheridan was, for some reason, deemed more worthy of a yellow card than the visitors' trilogy of offences a few minutes earlier (34 mins).

Altrincham almost doubled their lead in the 37th minute when Johnston's low cross from the right was almost toe-poked through the keeper's legs by Hulme before the ball was cleared.

Ashton continued to enjoy a fair share of possession but neither side threatened much in the way of goalmouth action in the closing stages of a first half had which had been moderately entertaining but hardly edge-of-the-seat fare.

Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 1
ASHTON UNITED 0
Sam Sheridan had spent a significant part of the interval going through an exercise routine with the Ashton physio before the visitors kicked off the second half, defending the Golf Road end. The visitors soon extended their lead in the corner-kick count with two more, inside a minute (49 mins).

Alty then went close as Ashton cleared the ball off their goal-line before a foul by Kay on Moult earned him a yellow card (52 mins).

When Harrop was tripped out on the left flank, some 35 yards out, Johnston took a low freekick into the heart of the Ashton goalmouth. The ball took a touch off a defender and found the back of the net to make it 2-0 (56 mins). The already prepared Ashton substitution of Kay by Lees nevertheless went ahead unamended (57 mins).

After Harrop had escaped with a lecture for a lunge, Martin became the visitors' second substitute, replacing McHale (63 mins). When Johnston was tripped on the front edge of the box, Harrop forced a save with his freekick, a corner being the outcome (68 mins).

Another Alty corner came and went before the visitors completed their changes when Regan was replaced by Ashworth (76 mins). After another home corner had proved fruitless, Dale replaced Johnston (82 mins). Andy White was then needlessly booked, apparently for kicking the ball away (84 mins). Altrincham had the final say when Dale swept home a shot from the edge of the box to make it 3-0 (88 mins).

Four minutes of added time did not alter the final score, which lifted Altrincham four places into the top half of the table, in eleventh position.

This was a deserved win but not a game that will necessarily linger long in the memory.

Full-Time: ALTRINCHAM 3
ASHTON UNITED 0