ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS


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LEAMINGTON (3) 3
ALTRINCHAM (0) 0

Vanarama National League North match
played on Saturday, 26 January 2019, at 3pm


SUMMARY

Against a Leamington side without a win in eleven outings, Altrincham put on one of their poorest performances of the season.

Yet there had been a bright start from Altrincham before they fell behind in the twelfth minute. The Robins, having failed to threaten from any of their own three early corners, failed to deal with Leamington's first flag-kick. From the corner, an effort from Mace was blocked but Alty then failed to clear the resulting loose ball in a melee inside the box, from which English scored from close range.

From that point on it was as if a switch had been flicked as Altrincham became distinctly second-best. Leamington doubled their lead twenty minutes later from the penalty spot. The Brakes' Solihull loanee Murphy got away from Hampson and the pursuing Hannigan brought down the Brakes' player inside the box.

Goalkeeper Thompson got a hand to the spot-kick by Bishop, but could not keep it out.

A minute from the end of the first forty-five, Bishop netted his second when he outmuscled Jones to nod home a cross from the right by English.

Altrincham saw more of the ball in a second half played in increasingly blustery and, latterly, wet conditions.

But the visitors created little threat to Breedon's goal before Jordan Hulme got himself needlessly sent off. Altrincham's substitute debutant loanee, Nathan Waterston, had gone down under a challenge from a defender inside the box. When no penalty was signalled and the offender, English, indicated that Waterston had no cause to claim a penalty, Hulme got himself ridiculously sent off for aiming a kick at the Leamington man. The referee missed the incident but his linesman alerted him to it and a straight red card was shown.

Hulme will probably now be looking at a four-match ban, having already seen red this season. And, to complete a sorry afternoon, post-match news from elsewhere indicated that Alty's James Poole had limped off for Hyde whilst playing for his loan club.

Having conceded four goals in the final forty-five minutes at Chorley in the last away game and, now, three in the first forty-five at Leamington, Alty had conceded seven times in ninety-minutes of away football.


SCORERS:


REFEREE: Mr Sam Barrott
ATTENDANCE: 569
TEAM NEWS

Altrincham started with the same eleven that had begun the match when Alty lost heavily at Chorley recently but which had also won impressively against both Boston and Southport. The visitors' bench included new loan signing Nathan Waterston from Barrow.

Leamington's bench included new loan signing Mikey Taylor from Stratford Town, whilst another loanee in the Brakes' starting line-up was Solihull Borough's Jordan Murphy.


LINE-UPS:

LEAMINGTON (Yellow and black striped shirts, black socks, yellow socks) 1. Tony Breedon (c), 2. Junior English, 3. Jack Lane, 4. Joe Clarke, 5. Jamie Hood, 6. James Mace, 7. Jordan Murphy, 8. Callum Gittings, 9. Colby Bishop, 10. Jack Edwards, 11. Ahmed Obeng. Subs: 12. Connor Taylor, 14. Mikey Taylor, 15. Sam Wilding, 16. Reece Flanagan, 17. James Bowen

ALTRINCHAM (All purple) 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. Max Harrop. Subs: 12. Kallum Mantack, 14. Sean Williams, 15. Nathan Waterston, 16. Shaun Densmore, 17. Ben Harrison


BACKGROUND

Altrincham's recent form had been mixed. A woeful second half at Chorley in which four goals had been conceded, had been followed by a hard-won victory against a Southport side which, previously, had been unbeaten for more than ten games. Today's opponents went into the afternoon on a run of eleven matches without a victory.

Conditions were blustery but the pitch was in good condition.


REPORT

Altrincham kicked off, playing into a stiff breeze at the New Windmill, and they went on to set the early pace. Barely thirty seconds had passed when Johnston fired a shot from the right narrowly over the bar. The visitors then went on to win three corners in the opening ten minutes as the hosts struggled to get going.

Leamington's first threat came in the 11th minute as a Murphy shot was deflected narrowly over the bar. From the resulting corner, the ball came to Mace whose effort was half-blocked. In the ensuing melee in the goalmouth English somehow poked the ball home near Thompson's left post (12 mins). In that instant, the whole course of the game changed, with Alty disappointingly on the back foot for most of the rest of the first half.

Nevertheless, there was no hint of a goal at either end for the next ten minutes. The Brakes then won a corner which was headed over the bar (24 mins). And, when another corner was won, off White, three minutes later, the hosts again proved dominant in the air which led to a desperate Alty clearance off the line.

The home side continued on the front foot. Murphy, a loanee from Solihull Moors, now got the better of Hampson on the Alty left. Murphy raced towards goal and, well inside the box, went down under the chasing Hannigan's challenge. The referee pointed to the spot but, before the kick could be taken, Hulme was taken aside by the referee for a lecture for some form of dissent.

Bishop was not deterred by the delay and just about managed to beat Thompson from the penalty spot. Thompson dived to his left and got something on the ball but could not keep it out (32 mins).

Shortly afterwards, Johnston needed treatment and, during the stoppage, manager Parkinson summoned his men to the touchline for a much-needed animated pep-talk (35 mins).

Next, Leamington won another corner, off Moult, before Thompson put his second goalkick of the afternoon into touch (39 mins). Jones then chanced his arm with a risky dribble past two attackers inside his own box. But the young Alty defender was less fortunate soon afterwards. A cross from the right from English saw Bishop outmuscle Jones to glance home a header and make it 3-0 (44 mins).

Half time arrived with Altrincham having conceded seven times in their last ninety minutes of away football, after shipping four second-half goals at Chorley on their last game on the road.


Half-Time: LEAMINGTON 3
ALTRINCHAM 0

Altrincham brought on Harrison for Jones in central defence at the interval. The visitors had the blustery wind behind them for the second half which started badly for them as, straight from Leamington's kick-off, Hannigan came off worse from an aerial challenge with the robust Bishop. After lengthy treatment, Hannigan had his left forearm bandaged before resuming.

At least Altrincham were seeing more of the ball now and, from a Harrop cross, Johnston lofted a decent chance well over the bar from 18 yards (51 mins).

A foul then saw Andy White booked for the third time in his last five league matches (63 mins). But, when Murphy then tripped White, the home player escaped a caution (54 mins).

Alty now brought on Williams for Richman in midfield (55 mins). Altrincham's best effort of the game, so far, was an underhit effort from Hulme from 35 yards. But Leamington went closer soon afterwards when a Lane cross left Thompson stranded before a team-mate conceded a corner.

The visitors continued to labour, though Harrop won a corner which came to nothing (63 mins). Rain now began to fall steadily before a low, underhit Williams shot was comfortably saved by Breedon (65 mins).

At the halfway point of the second half, new loanee Nathan Waterston came on for Altrincham in place of Harrop, replacing him on the left flank. A Barrow striker, Waterston is also an accomplished cricketer with Furness FC but the task he faced coming on here at 3-0 down was just as impossible as the England Test team's simultaneous attempt at a come-back after the West Indies had dismissed them for 77 runs (67 mins).

Johnston won a corner, from which a Waterston overhead effort prompted a decent appeal for handball but this went in vain. But another Alty corner was won, which came out to Williams, who fired well over the bar (70 mins).

Thompson then sliced a backpass as the visitors continued to struggle. Soon afterwards, Bishop won a corner before Alty won themselves two corners which yet again came to nothing. A dangerous Leamington counter-attack followed but, for the visitors, this move fortunately broke down before, at the other end, Hulme fed Hancock who dragged a shot wide (75 mins).

When Waterston was blocked off by what seemed to be the arm of English, Alty made strong appeals for a penalty. The Leamington man made clear his thoughts on Alty's appeal before Hulme got himself unnecesarily involved, seeming to kick English.

The referee did not see this but the assistant on the far side flagged and spoke to the senior official. The outcome was a straight red card for the volatile Altrincham striker who has already served a one-match ban this season for five yellow cards as well as a three-match ban for an earlier red card (78 mins). This second dismissal is likely to produce a four-match suspension meaning that, by the time he has served it, he will have missed a quarter of the team's league fixtures (eight) this season through suspension. This red card came from an incident in which he had not even been involved.

Just after Murphy had been booked (79 mins), Leamington next brought on Connor Taylor to replace him (80 mins). Two minutes later Wilding replaced Edwards. Five minutes from time Waterston struck a firm shot over the bar before Mikey Taylor replaced Bishop. Taylor had just been signed from local club Stratford Town (87 mins).

In the 89th minute a magnificent long ball from Moult on the left to Johnston on the right led to the winger advancing and hitting the outside of the post from an acute angle. Four minutes of added time left the score unaltered and Altrincham with just two wins from their last eight league games.

Leamington belied their poor pre-match record and in the bustling Bishop and the lively Murphy, in particular, they had players who outshone anyone on the Altrincham side today. For Phil Parkinson there is now a fortnight before the next fixture in which to instill some more solidity into a defence, which conceded three eminently avoidable goals today.


Full-Time: LEAMINGTON 3
ALTRINCHAM 0