ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS

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GUISELEY (1) 1
ALTRINCHAM (0) 1

Manarama National League North match
played on Saturday, 12 October 2019, at 3pm

SUMMARY:

Another indifferent performance from Altrincham saw them fail to land a meaningful shot on target, apart from converting a penalty. They fell behind in just the sixth minute when a mistake by White saw him overhit a pass at, rather than to, Jones. The ball ran to Felix who beat Thompson.

Despite ten added minutes in the first half, caused by an injury to Guiseley's Shaw, Guiseley maintained their lead at the interval.

Altrincham improved in the second half but Guiseley almost scored again when Barkers missed a sitter.

In the second half Altrincham passed the ball about and enjoyed possession but they caused no real threat to the home goal until Densmore was upended and a penalty was awarded. Hancock converted it, coolly, to level the score on the hour mark.

The game ended when substitute Hulme did well and Harrop was put free but a timely tackle halted him amidst Alty's adamant claims for a penalty. So Alty's twenty-year wait for a win at Nethermoor was extended after this tenth failure to emerge with a victory.

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Andy Sykes
ATTENDANCE: 1,065
TEAM NEWS:

Altrincham made changes as Tom Peers started his first game of the season, replacing Jordan Hulme who had taken a knock last time out. In midfield Williams came in for Richman. Joining Hulme on the bench was new signing Lewis Archer. Connor Hampson's foot injury ruled him out of the squad altogether.

Guiseley were without suspended leading scorer Aaron Martin. But Andrai Jones, briefly an Alty loanee, started for The Lions.

LINE-UP:

GUISELEY (White shirts, blue shorts and socks): 1. Marcus DEWHURST, 2. Reiss McNALLY, 3. Dylan BARKERS, 4. George CANTRILL, 5. Hamza BENCHERIF, 6. Scott GARNER (c), 7. Kaine FELIX, 8. Jamie SPENCER, 9. Lee SHAW, 10. Andrai JONES, 11. Gabriel JOHNSON. Subs: Nathan NEWALL, 14. Aleks STARCENKO, 16. Paul CLAYTON, 17. Will THORNTON.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Tony THOMPSON, 2. Shaun DENSMORE, 3. Andy WHITE, 4. James JONES, 5. Tom HANNIGAN, 6. Jake MOULT (c), 7. John JOHNSTON, 8. Sean WILLIAMS, 9. Tom PEERS, 10. Josh HANCOCK, 11. Ashley HEMMINGS. Subs: 12. Simon RICHMAN, 14. Jordan HULME, 15. Max HARROP, 16. Toby MULLARKEY, 17. Lewis ARCHER.

BACKGROUND:

Mike Garnett's records confirmed that before today's match Altrincham had never won at Nethermoor in nine attempts over the 23-year period since 1996.

REPORT:

Guiseley kicked off down the slight slope at Nethermoor but it was the visiting fans who were making the most noise at Nethermoor. Play stopped after four minutes when Densmore came off worse in a collison with Spencer. No sooner had play resumed than Alty fell behind in very disappointing circumstances.

Andy White, some 40 yards from goal on the Alty left, played the ball far too strongly back, towards Jones, but it cannoned off the centre-back into the path of Felix. Guiseley's no.7 advanced and slotted the ball past the exposed Thompson to open the scoring (6 mins).

After the resumption of play, Spencer lunged at Peers and was booked (7 mins). Johnston then won Alty a corner before the referee halted play to lecture Jones who was fortunate not to be booked for a lunge (12 mins). Play then continued, although Shaw had gone down injured in what seemed a fairly minor challenge (15 mins). However, the action then had to be stopped as Shaw remained prostrate. His treatment lasted a full six minutes before the unfortunate home striker was stretchered off with what seemed to be a shoulder or collar-bone injury (21 mins). Starcenko replaced the injured man and an ambulance later arrived to take Shaw to hospital.

Play resumed rather uneventfully with the home side's direct approach contrasting with Alty's slow passing game but neither method seemed particularly effective or entertaining as the game meandered on uneventfully. Just before the half-hour, there was another injury stoppage for Cantrill but he resumed afterwards.

Guiseley's attacks were almost exclusively up their left flank and it was on that side that they now gained two corners, the second coming because Alty's half-clearance of the first one was ineffective as there was no one upfield as an outlet. Alty then won themselves a corner (40 mins) but the visitors had yet to muster a shot on target. Next, the ball had to be replaced and that was the summit of the excitement at this stage.

As ten minutes of added time were signalled, White got forward but, for the second time in as many minutes, he overhit his cross (45+1 mins). Next a home corner was missed in the air by Thompson and the home side hit the woodwork as a consequence (45+3 mins). Alty did win themselves another corner in the eighth added minute before half-time arrived at the end of a less than enthrallimg fifty-five minutes.

Half-Time: GUISELEY 1
ALTRINCHAM 0
It was already fourteen minutes past four when the second half kicked off and Alty started it by winning two corners. The second of these prompted a short-corner routine which failed miserably and was followed by a wild cross, high and wide, from Johnston (50 mins).

When a foul on Jones was not awarded, Guiseley got forward through Gabriel Johnson, on the left. His low cross left team-mate Barkers with a great chance from six yards but he contrived to put the ball comfortably wide. Another Alty corner was once more taken short and again it was shambolic, as Johnston fed Hemmings who promptly lost the ball causing the Alty big men to tramp back to their defensive positions (52 mins). Guiseley then got forward, with Felix outpacing Jones on the left, but the advancing Thompson and retreating Jones finally managed to close down the winger.

This was the best part of the game as, for an all too brief spell, it was end-to-end action. Next, a Guiseley player was booked for tripping Johnston but then a long ball forward was missed by substitute Starcenko, allowing Johnston to race up the right wing. His low cross came to Peers but Dewhurst blocked his effort. However, the ball came to Densmore who was upended to win Alty a spot kick.

With Johnston having missed his last penalty, Hancock assumed the spot-kick duties and duly sent the keeper the wrong way, with a low shot to his right, to make it 1-1 (60 mins).

Altrincham now enjoyed the better of things with plenty of possession but still no end product before each side made a change. Harrop replaced Hemmings (71 mins) and, for Guiseley, Newall came on for Barkers (72 mins).

Starcenko and a team-mate then got in a muddle, which allowed Alty to win a freekick for a foul on Harrop (76 mins). Mr Sykes then awarded a goalkick to Alty before allowing the linesman to intervene and he then pointed for a home corner.

With ten minutes left Hulme and Richman came on for Alty in place of Johnston and Williams (80 mins). The game was meandering to its conclusion when Peers got himself unnecessarily booked for both a needless push and for kicking the ball away to compound his offence (84 mins).

It came as something of a surprise that the referee only allotted two minutes of added time at the end of the ninety and the very last action saw good work from Hulme which set Harrop running at goal. However, a tackle halted him in the box and Harrop went down making strong appeals for a penalty which were echoed by the visitors' bench. But there was to be no second penalty-kick in this game as Mr Sykes almost immediately blew the final whistle.

Altrincham are therefore still looking for a first away win this season as well as a first-ever win at Nethermoor after ten attempts. But they cannot be too disappointed with a point after failing to trouble the home keeper with a meaningful shot throughout this game.

Full-Time GUISELEY 1
ALTRINCHAM 1