ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS

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ALTRINCHAM (2) 3
DARLINGTON (3) 3

Vanarama National League North match
played on Saturday, 22 December 2018, at 3pm

SUMMARY

In an end to end game at the J Davidson Stadium, a draw was ultimately a fair result after Altrincham had fallen 3-1 behind shortly before the interval.

Darlington first went ahead in the eighth minute when Elliott converted after goalkeeper Thompson had saved an earlier shot. But Hancock's header from a Johnston cross levelled things less than three minutes later.

An impressive Darlington move led to them regaining the lead as Saunders converted Palmer's low cross from the right in the 26th minute. The home support was stunned as Nicholson made it 3-1 in the 44th minute with a superb 25 yarder which went in off the underside of the crossbar. But Alty responded to make it 2-3 with a Harrop header from a left-side cross in added time before the interval.

In a sometimes feisty second half yellow cards were waved with frequency, Alty picking up four. Altrincham made it 3-3 in the 65th minute when Hemmings scored from close range following a Johnston cross from the right. Alty thought they had won it in the seventh added minute of the game but the effort was ruled out for offside.

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Lewis Smith
ATTENDANCE: 1,076
TEAM NEWS

Altrincham were without suspended striker Jordan Hulme, so Josh Hancock wore the number nine shirt today. Out injured was defender Andy White, whilst James Poole and Ben Harrison continued their lengthier rehabilitation process.. So the bench today was very inexperienced. Apart from Sean Williams who had made nine league starts this season, the other three outfield subs had just two starts between them, with neither Josh Langley nor new loanee Chris Sang having yet appeared in an Alty league game.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Tony Thompson, 2. Shaun Densmore, 3. Connor Hampson, 4. James Jones, 5. Tom Hannigan, 6. Jake Moult (c), 7. John Johnston, 8. Simon Richman, 9. Josh Hancock, 10. Max Harrop, 11. Ashley Hemmings. Subs: 12. Sean Williams, 14. Kallum Mantack, 15. Josh Langley, 16. Chris Sang, 20. Elliot Wynne.

DARLINGTON (All yellow): 1. Jonathan Maddison, 2. Luke Trotman, 3. Williams Kokolo, 4. William Smith, 5. Jonathan Burn, 6. Terry Galbraith ((c), 7. Tom Elliott, 8. Romal Palmer, 9. Harvey Saunders, 10. Andrew Nelson, 11. Jordan Nicholson. Subs: 12. Ben O'Hanlon, 13. Cameron Hall, 14. Alex Henshall, 15. Alex Wollerton, 16. Stephen Thompson.

BACKGROUND

This was Altrincham's first reverse fixture of the season, having beaten the Quakers 3-0 on their ground at Blackwell Meadows. Darlington arrived having lost their last three league fixtures whilst Altrincham were top of the form guide after seven wins and a draw in their previous eight league matches.

REPORT

Darlington won the toss and opted to defend the away end, so Alty kicked off and, in just thirteen seconds, they had a corner kick on the left. Folowing this Hemmings blasted a wild shot over the bar (4 mins).

It did not take long for Darlington to upset the form guide by taking an eighth-minute lead. A good move up the left by the visitors' Nelson and Nicholson was almost halted by Jones but the Quakers got into the box and although Thompson beat out an inititial shot, the ball ran to Elliott who scored at the near post.

Altrincham quickly responded when Harrop won a freekick on the Alty right. Although Johnston's freekick was initially cleared, he got in a follow-up cross which Haancock cleverly back-headed and the ball looped into the far corner of the net, despite a defender, Smith, getting his foot to the ball on the line (11 mins). It was Hancock's tenth league goal of the season taking him level with Jordan Hulme in that competition.

The game continued at a good pace and a typical Johnston run led to Galbraith having to concede a corner to the hosts (19 mins). Following this, a 25-yarder from the lively Hemmings had to be saved by Maddison.

Next, good work by Kokolo led to Darlington gaining a corner for which Alty brought everyone back (23 mins). The visitors were closing down Altrincham quickly and their impressive play got a further reward when Nelson drove a low cross into the goalmouth from the right and Saunders completed the scoring from close range, centrally (26 mins).

It took a fine Hannigan tackle to see off another Darlington threat. The visitors were conceding a number of freekicks and, following one of these, Johnston blasted an effort well over the bar (31 mins).

The sides traded a corner apiece with Alty, not for the only time in this game, wasting it with a failed short-corner routine.

A badly underhit back pass by Hampson allowed Palmer a clear sight of goal but he dragged his shot badly wide (39 mins). Following another Alty corner the referee warned goalkeeper Maddison for the second time about time-wasting (40 mins).

As the interval approached, Alty were stunned by a third Darlington goal. In the build up, Nelson found Nicholson who hit a superb 25 yarder into the net off the bottom of the crossbar, to Tony Thompson's right. So it was 1-3 (44 mins).

Once again Alty responded quickly and from a left-wing cross Harrop headed home; 2-3. Alty were in no mood to celebrate as Harrop collected the ball and trotted back to place it on the centre-spot for the re-start (45+1 mins).

Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 2
DARLINGTON 3

An early Altrincham corner came to nothing (50 mins) before Smith headed narrowly over the Alty bar from a freekick (51 mins).

Palmer became the game's first booking (55 mins) before Thompson had to rush out to clear ahead of Saunders. The keeper opted not to put his foot through the ball but tried to dribble clear instead. However Saunders almost got the ball off him for what would have been a gift of a goal.

Johnston and Kokolo then both saw yellow after a set-to on the half-way line which also involved a few other players (58 mins). Alty pressure then forced a corner, gained from a shot by Hemmings. On the hour mark Nelson's very poor challenge on Richman made him the game's fourth man to be booked, all in the second half.

Darlington then made a double change with a third player already down for treatment. Before play could resume after the double-swap of Thompson for Nicholson and O'Hanlon for Kokolo, a third change saw Wollerton replace the injured Trotman.

Before the visitors could adjust to such a major change of personnel, Altrincham equalised. A low cross from the right found Hemmings in the centre of the goalmouth and he slid the ball into the net for a goal on his league debut for the club (65 mins).

Booking number five came when Richman lunged into a tackle (70 mins) and, following a Quakers' corner, Richman was replaced by Williams in midfield (72 mins).

Hannigan now had a shaky spell and almost let in Nelson. After this, Williams became the sixth man to see yellow, for a foul (77 mins).

Alty almost broke the deadlock when Hampson fed Hemmings whose shot forced an excellent save from Maddison (79 mins).

Elliott became the seventh yellow card victim (82 mins) shortly before Densmore became number eight (84 mins). And the ninth card was shown in the 89th minute to the visitors' Thompson.

After this, a cross from the right saw Harrop head just past the post into the side netting as six added minutes were proclaimed (90 mins).

Alty had a fright two minutes into added time when the defence allowed a long ball to be headed by Saunders, past the advancing Thompson, inside the home box. But the ball drifted narrowly wide of the gaping net. And the excitement continued to the very end as Hemmings's fine cross was put into the visitors' net only for the effort to be ruled out for offside (90+7 mins).

For the neutral this was excellent entertainment but Altrincham will be perturbed at a number of alarming lapses in defence which could have resulted in defeat rather than this battling draw.

Full-Time: ALTRINCHAM 3
DARLINGTON 3