ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS

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ALTRINCHAM (0) 1
FARSLEY CELTIC (1) 2
after extra time

Buildbase FA Trophy First Round replay match
played on Tuesday, 17 December 2019, at 7.45pm

SUMMARY:

Altrincham's dismal December continued as they bowed out of their third cup competition in 18 days and extended their winless run to five games with this extra-time defeat to Farsley Celtic.

Last Saturday, Jordan Hulme had netted at Farsley in the second minute after a one-on-one with goalkeeper Elliot Wynne. History almost repeated itself when Hulme again found himself one-on-one against Elliot Wynne in the second minute of this game, but, this time, the Farsley keeper won the battle. It was then Farsley who seized a fourth-minute lead as Alty failed to deal with a corner and Cartman netted with a header from close range.

Despite plenty of possession, Alty lacked incision and still trailed at the interval. However, just sixteen seconds into a second half which Farsley had actually kicked off, Alty equalised. Hulme was played in, again, against Wynne and now he slotted the ball home (46 mins).

Alty continued to have plenty of the ball but the whistle after 90 minutes saw the score still level.

Twelve minutes into added time, after a corner, Cartman netted his second when he swept home a nod down from a team-mate who was towards the back post.

There was drama in the final stages when Elliot Wynne inexplicably picked up the ball having already gathered it into his hands before rolling it along the ground (115 mins). The freekick from the six-yard line had to be retaken when Wynne encroached and Alty then put the ball in the net before the referee had signalled for a retake. When the freekick was retaken, Farsley blocked the Alty shot.

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Dean Watson
ATTENDANCE: 536
TEAM NEWS:

New loan signing Ethan Walker (from Preston North End) made his home debut in the continued injury absence of John Johnston, whilst Toby Mullarkey continued at centre-back with James Jones on the bench. A change was made at right-back where Andy White replaced Shaun Densmore, presumably for tactical reasons. Farsley were unchanged from Saturday's tie.

LINE-UP:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Tony THOMPSON, 2. Andy WHITE, 3. Connor HAMPSON, 4. Toby MULLARKEY, 5. Tom HANNIGAN, 6. Jake MOULT (c), 7. Ethan WALKER 8. Sean WILLIAMS, 9. Jordan HULME, 10. Josh HANCOCK, 11. Tom PEERS. Subs: 12. Max HARROP, 14. Luke WALL, 15. Simon RICHMAN, 16. James JONES, 17. Shaun DENSMORE, 20. Liam BLACKBURN

FARSLEY CELTIC (Green and white hooped shirts, green shorts and socks) 1. Elliot Wynne, 2. Jordan Richards, 3. Matty Regan, 4. Jack Higgins, 5. Danny Ellis (c), 6. Chris Atkinson, 7. Ben Atkinson, 8. Dave Syers, 22. James Spencer, 10. Nathan Cartman, 11. Will Hayhurst. Subs: 12. Luke Parkin, 13. Mark Bower, 14. Tom Allan, 15. Adam Clayton, 16. Tyler Walton, 17. Akeel Francis.

BACKGROUND:

This was the first match at the JDS for four weeks.

The sides had drawn 2-2 on Saturday in atrocious weather conditions. That match had been marred by a refereeing mix-up in the second half in which Richard Aspinall had blown his whistle just before Farsley netted a shot. He then seemed to allow the goal before a protracted discussion led to his disallowing it. At stake tonight was a home tie in Round Two, against Barnet.

Mike Garnett's records reveal the historical record betwen Altrincham and the current version of Farsley Celtic to be as follows:

Altrincham's record against the original Farsley Celtic was:

REPORT:

On a very cold evening in front of a predictably disappointing crowd, Alty kicked off towards the away end. In a virtual re-run of the second minute of Saturday's game, Jordan Hulme was put through one-on-one with ex-Alty keeper Elliot Wynne. But, whereas on Saturday, Hulme had scored at the second attempt, this time Wynne emerged the winner, albeit at the cost of a corner (2 mins).

But when Hancock then lost the ball just outside the Farsley box, a visitors' counter-attack yielded a corner. Alty defended this poorly, allowing the ball to bounce in the goalmouth before Cartman, the shortest player in the Celtic team, headed it into the net to give his side a fourth-minute lead.

Altrincham responded as a blocked Hancock shot led to a home corner (6 mins) but again nothing came of this. Alty were soon dominating possession without seriously threatening Wynne's goal. After a foul on Walker, Williams's freekick yielded another unproductive corner.

Midway through the half a very late foul by Hulme saw the striker escape with a lecture (23 mins). Alty continued to enjoy plenty of possession but Farsley defended well and the hosts lacked a killer ball to unlock the Farsley rearguard. Alty's only sight of goal in this period came when Williams hit an underpowered shot which Wynne saved comfortably (30 mins). Farsley then counter-attacked with Cartman firing straight at Thompson.

Richards then got himself needlessly booked; he first stole several yards at a throw-in, which the referee allowed him to get away with. But when an immediate follow-up throw saw him transgress again, he was cautioned (34 mins).

Alty's next half chance came from two fortunate ricochets but Hancock's resulting effort was saved by Wynne (36 mins). Farsley then sliced open Alty as a through ball set Hayhurst on goal but Thompson did well to block his shot (38 mins). Then a Moult mispass to Cartman led to Spencer's shot which was well saved by Thompson, once more (39 mins).

As half-time approached, Hulme won Altrincham a corner which again failed to trouble the Celtic defence (43 mins) and then Walker hit an underpowered shot to Wynne (44 mins). So half-time arrived with Alty trailing despite having enjoyed the majority of possession. However, Thompson had arguably been the busier keeper.

Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 0
FARSLEY CELTIC 1

Although it was Farsley who kicked off the second half, it was Altrincham who scored after just 16 seconds! Williams slid the ball up the inside right channel for Hulme to run at Wynne and, this time, he slid the ball past his former team-mate to level the score (46 mins).

Two minutes later Alty had a great chance to take the lead but Hancock, who had a curate's egg type of game, steered his shot wide when he should at least have hit the target (48 mins). Two more Altrincham corners came and went as the home side remained on top of proceedings (56 mins).

Next, an agricultural challenge by Moult on Hayhurst earned the Alty captain a deserved yellow card on the half-way line near the technical areas (58 mins). Following this, when a fine ball from Hancock set Peers running at Wynne, the goalkeeper won out (62 mins).

Chris Atkinson now found himself in the book for chopping down Mullarky (63 mins). Whilst the Alty tempo had now dropped, Farsley's improved with a double substitution as Parkin and Walton replaced Syers and Ben Atkinson (68 mins).

Four minutes later Walker was replaced by Wall on the Alty left. Next, Hancock wasted a good chance when he hit a shot wide moments later.

On 76 minutes, Richman replaced Jake Moult who had been sporting a bandage on his right hand since the interval. With ten minutes remaining Peers had a shot blocked from a Hulme feed before he also had his follow-up saved. Wynne was soon in action again as he just reached Richman's through ball ahead of Hulme (82 mins).

When Hulme mis-passed the ball to an opponent he immediately fouled an opponent and picked up a booking for the second successive game (84 mins). However, when Hulme's opposite number Spencer felled Wall, he escaped with just a lecture (85 mins).

The final minute of the ninety saw Hancock spurn another decent chance. Three added minutes were decreed during which Wall won a corner with the by now customary lack of any danger being created from it (90+1 mins).

90 minutes: ALTRINCHAM 1
FARSLEY CELTIC 1
So, added time was needed, with Shaun Densmore starting it in place of Hampson. Densmore assumed the captaincy and his arrival meant that White moved to left-back.

Soon, Wall won another corner (93 mins) after which Densmore was unlucky to be booked for his first foul, on Regan (95 mins).

In the 97th minute, a Wall shot forced a good save from Wynne which produced another corner. Harrop now replaced Peers for Altrincham (97 mins).

Tom Allan soon replaced Regan (98 mins), after which the best shot of the game, a swerving 25-yarder from Harrop, was impressively kept out by Wynne (99 mins). The resulting corner was Alty's best, as Wynne just kept out Williams's inswinger.

But then Allan won a corner at the other end. Following this, a cross from the left was nodded back across goal and Cartman swept it into the net from close range to give Celtic the lead (102 mins). Immediately Spencer's cramp led to him being replaced by Clayton.

In added time, the lively Wall won another corner (108 mins). Two added minutes had been decreed for the half of extra time yet four were played; factored up for a ninety-minute game that would have equated to 24 minutes of added time!

The second half of added time began and, after impressing for most of the game, Wynne now had a shaky period. First of all, he failed to hold a Hulme cross shot but got away with it (113 mins). Then he held a Harrop 25-yarder and routinely rolled the ball onto the ground for an apparent kick upfield.

But, bizarrely, Wynne then picked the ball up again. Though clearly contrary to the Laws of Football, both the referee and the nearby linesman failed to take any action. It took the joint efforts of the home crowd and the Alty players to induce the presumably sheepish linesman to raise his flag belatedly and the referee to award the mandatory freekick.

Whilst not on the same scale as referee Aspinall's monumental gaffe in the Saturday game at Farsley, Mr Watson's handling of this episode did not reflect particularly well on him or his assistant.

The freekick was lined up on the six-yard line but no sooner had the ref blown his whistle than Wynne had charged forward to smother the ball. Alty then slotted the ball into the net. The referee ruled out the goal and ordered a retake. Only then was Wynne booked and from the retake the defenders charged forward and blocked the shot (116 mins).

Hancock's mixed fortunes continued to the very end as, moments after passing the ball into touch, he actually hit the woodwork with a good shot from 15 yards or so (119 mins). Two more added minutes were announced in which Richman's shot flew narrowly wide but won a corner, which like all of Alty's flag-kicks before it did not affect the scoreline.

Altrincham had not played badly, enjoying plenty of possession, but they had been wasteful in forward areas and consistently poor in terms of set-plays and corners. From a run of ten games unbeaten they now have failed to win any of their last five fixtures and have exited three cup competitions in eighteen days.

Full Time: ALTRINCHAM 1
FARSLEY CELTIC 2