ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS

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ALTRINCHAM (1) 3
AFC TELFORD UNITED (1) 1

Vanarama National League North match
played on Saturday, 8 December 2018, at 3pm

SUMMARY

Although Altrincham ultimately achieved a comfortable margin of victory, for much of the afternoon AFC Telford United looked as if they would not emerge from the game empty-handed. After the visitors had started well, it was Altrincham who took a nineteenth-minute lead in the match. Johnston took advantage of a defender's failure to cut out a through ball before getting into the box and feeding Hancock who netted. But Udoh equalised for the Bucks in the 25th minute, when he converted a nod-down after Altrincham had failed to clear the ball in their own penalty area.

In a match played on a pitch which was sodden from the start, Altrincham regained the lead in the 74th minute. Densmore was chopped down on the front edge of the box as Mantack laid the ball off to him. From the freekick Connor Hampson curled a superb freekick into the net. The icing on the cake was Hancock's second and Alty's third goal in the 87th minute, which came from a corner. Hemmings, who made an impressive debut as a late Alty substitute, received the ball in the box and calmly laid it off to the unmarked Hancock who scored for the tenth time this season.

The win left Altrincham third in the league, level on points with second-placed Chorley and fourth-ranked Chester, but four points behind leaders Bradford (Park Avenue) who have been beaten three times already this season by Altrincham!

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Benjamin Speedie
ATTENDANCE: 895
TEAM NEWS

Altrincham's starting eleven was unchanged but, on the bench, new loan-signing from AFC Fylde, Ashley Hemmings replaced Dontai Gabidon.

The Bucks included on their bench the former Alty loanee Brendon Daniels who was now on loan at Telford from Port Vale.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and 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. Simon RICHMAN, 9. Jordan HULME, 10. Josh HANCOCK, 11. Kallum MANTACK. Subs: 12. Max HARROP, 14. Ashley HEMMINGS, 15. Josh LANGLEY, 16. Shaun DENSMORE, 20. Elliot WYNNE.

AFC TELFORD UNITED (Blue): 1. Andy Wycherley, 2. Ross White, 3. Ellis Deeney, 4. James McQuilkin, 5. Shane Sutton (c), 6. Theo Streete, 7. Harry Cowans, 8. Jonathon Royle, 9. Ryan Barnett, 10. Daniel Udoh, 11. Darryl Knights. Subs: 12. Brendon Daniels, 13. Dominic Smith, 14. Amari Morgan-Smith, 15. Andre Brown, 16. Yusifu Ceesay.

BACKGROUND

The sides were fourth and fifth in the league at kick off, with Altrincham having the edge.

The game was in some doubt before kick-off after a lot of rain in midweek. Manchester United had played a midweek fixture on the pitch which had meant that it could not be as well protected by the pitch covers as would otherwise have been the case.

Mike Garnett reminds us of the previous record against AFC Telford United. As can be seen, at kick-off Altrincham had yet to beat AFC Telford United though, of course, they had beaten their previous incarnation, Telford United.

REPORT

Rain was falling at kick off on a surface which, it soon became clear, was extremely sodden along the inside-right channel as Telford played towards the Golf Road end. Right from the start, water was splashing up and the ball was sticking in the surface-water but, fortunately, the rain was to to stop for the vast majority of the ensuing ninety minutes.

From the very early stages Andy White seemed to be troubled by an injury to his right leg and, after carrying on in discomfort, he sat down to receive treatment (7 mins). He did resume but, after a further few minutes during which Telford continued to make a bright start, he had to give way to substitute Shaun Densmore (12 mins).

Altrincham won their first corner soon afterwards but nothing came of it. Neither side had seriously threatened a goal before a ball up the Alty inside-right channel, on the drier side of the pitch, skimmed off a Telford midfielder. Johnston took possession and advanced into the box, beating a defender in the process, before he lay the ball across the goalmouth. Hancock got on the end of the pass to net efficiently (19 mins).

Five minutes later Hulme got into the box but went down under a challenge which led to him needing treatment. Play resumed with the referee awarding an uncontested bounce-up to the Telford keeper. From this, the ball was played upfield. Altrincham were unable to clear the ball from their own goalmouth and Udoh was on the end of a resulting nod-down from a team-mate. The Bucks' leading scorer made no mistake as he levelled the score from six yards or so (25 mins).

t In the next fifteen minutes Altrincham won the game's only three corners as both teams battled to come to terms with the soaked surface towards the Popular Side. But the nearest to a goal threat came from a low shot by Hampson, from 25 yards, which went narrowly wide (34 mins).

As half-time approached, Densmore's attacking run was ended by a foul but, after Johnston had pointedly paced out ten yards himself, given that the refreee had failed to do so, this came to nothing. So the interval arrived with the scores level which was a fair reflection of the first half.

Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 1
AFC TELFORD UNITED 1

The first ten minutes of the second half were, bizarrely, played almost entirely on the sodden side of the pitch, with the drier Main Stand side left largely vacant. Much of this time was spent in the Alty half as the hosts laboured to impose themselves. In the five minutes before the hour mark, each side gained two corners. Alty's second of these corners arrived when Johnston's cross from the right was headed firmly goalwards by Hulme but Wycherley pushed the ball round the post (57 mins).

The fifth corner of the second half fell to Altrincham in the 66th minute. Nothing came of this but, a few minutes later, Moult started a move which ended with Mantack being put through one-on-one against the Telford keeper. But Wycherley came off the encounter the better, blocking the ball. Following this, Streete was booked for reasons that were not altogether clear (69 mins).

Telford made a change when Morgan-Smith replaced Barnett (70 mins). Altrincham then put together an excellent move, started by Hampson, which saw Mantack drift across the front of the Telford box from left to centre. He laid the ball to his right for the oncoming Densmore who was unceremoniously chopped down by an opponent before he could burst into the box. The offence was committed just outside the box, right of centre.

Connor Hampson curled the freekick expertly into the far corner of the Telford net for his first goal of the season (74 mins).

Immediately, Alty brought on Hemmings, an AFC Fylde loanee, for his debut; he replaced Mantack, who had had a promising game on the left wing (75 mins).

Soon afterwards Telford brought on an ex-Alty loanee from Port Vale, Brendon Daniels, who replaced McQuilkin and, on 82 minutes, their final change saw Ceesau, a recent signing, replace Royle.

Three minutes later, Harrop came on for Johnston (85 mins). After Hulme had strangely changed his boots, Alty's striker earned a corner. Hemmings then won another corner, as he made an early favourable impression on the home supporters. From this corner, the ball reached Hemmings in the centre of the goalmouth. He calmly laid the ball back to the left to an unmarked Hancock who netted comfortably to take his tally into double figures for the season (87 mins).

Four added minutes gave Hemmings the opportunity to impress again but Altrincham kept the visitors at arm's length as they sealed their eighth game without defeat in the league, of which seven have been victories. Though ultimately well beaten, Telford had earlier looked the best team to have visited Moss Lane this season.

Victory lifted Altrincham into third place, separated only by goal difference from second-place Chorley.

Full-Time: ALTRINCHAM 3
AFC TELFORD UNITED 1