ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS

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NANTWICH TOWN (0) 0
ALTRINCHAM (1) 1

Pre-season Friendly match
played on Saturday, 12 September, 2020 at 3pm

SUMMARY:

A fortuitous own goal in the 32nd minute gave Altrincham a narrow 1-0 win at Nantwich in Saturday's friendly but the game was marred by a late injury to Dan Mooney, who had to be stretchered off with a potentially serious ankle injury.

The goal came when former Alty defender Josh Langley's 20-yard back pass was missed by keeper Greg Hall, who allowed the ball to run under his foot. At the other end Alty were indebted to their new keeper Matthew Gould for two fine second-half saves.

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Baines
ATTENDANCE: c.400, with pre-booked attendance capped at 600.
TEAM NEWS:

Just eleven of the eighteen-man squad which won promotion at Boston on 1 August remained at the club. Since winning the play-offs, Altrincham had signed Yusifu Ceesay, Max Clayton, Matthew Gould, Matty Kosylo and Ritchie Sutton and all were involved at Nantwich.

Indeed, Phil Parkinson used 21 players with only Toby Mullarkey starting both halves. As well as their new signings, Alty played two trialists in the second half. They were former Leicesterdefender Will Hall and former Bury defender Dougie Nyaupembe.

LINE-UP:

Altrincham selected two separate starting elevens.

Ex-Alty men in The Dabbers' squad included Josh Langley, James Lawrie, Ben Harrison and Joe Mwasile.

NANTWICH TOWN (Green and white): 1. Greg Hall, 2. Michael Koral, 3. Matty Devine, 4. Josh Langley, 5. Troy Bourne, 6. Prince Hayward, 7. David Webb, 8. James Lawrie, 9. Callum Saunders, 10. Sean Cooke, 11. Luke Walsh. Subs: 12. Joel Stair, 13. Andrew Walklate (gk), 14. Ben Harrison, 15. Joe Malkin, 16. Joe Mwasile, 17. Jacob Farleigh

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks) 1. Tony THOMPSON, 2. Shaun DENSMORE, 3. Andy WHITE, 4. Ritchie SUTTON, 5. Toby MULLARKEY, 6. Jake MOULT (c), 7. Tom PEERS, 8. Simon RICHMAN, 9. Max CLAYTON, 10. Curtis MILLER, 11. Matty KOSYLO.

Second Half: 1. Matthew GOULD, 2. Dougie NYAUPEMBE, 3. Connor HAMPSON, 4. Tom HANNIGAN, 5. Will HALL, 6. Toby MULLARKEY, 7. Daniel MOONEY, 8. Sean WILLIAMS, 9. Jordan HULME, 10. Josh HANCOCK, 11. Yusifu CEESAY

BACKGROUND:

This was Altrincham's first pre-season game following the cancellation of a planned match at Ashton United in midweek, owing to Covid restrictions. Spectators had been allowed to attend the game and around four hundred were believed to be present.

REPORT:

Nantwich, who had already played some pre-season friendlies, kicked off and started the game brightly as Altricham who had not played since 1 August were a little rusty in the opening stages.

Alty's best chance in the opening stages came when Mullarkey steered wide a freekick from Shaun Densmore after five minutes.

Overall, the first half-hour was fairly even with new man Kosylo showing some promising touches but the visitors were giving the ball away more cheaply than usual as they tried to shake off their rustiness.

Alty took a fortuitous lead in the 32nd minute. Former Alty defender Josh Langley played the ball back some twenty yards to his goalkeeper Greg Hall. But the former Northwich keeper took his eye off the ball and it rolled under his foot and into the net as he tried desperately to recover his ground.

Having had a quiet game so far, former Alty forward James Lawrie went close three minutes before half-time but his shot just cleared the bar.

Half-Time: NANTWICH TOWN 0
ALTRINCHAM 1

Altrincham started with ten different players to accompany Toby Mullarkey who was the only man to start both halves.

Alty had an early chance as Mooney saw an effort well saved from a Hancock feed (48 mins).

Two minutes later Lawrie set up Sean Cooke and it took a superb save by debutant Matt Gould to keep the ball out of the corner of the net.

On 55 minutes Hancock had a chance to score with a one on one but the keeper won the duel.

Nantwich made a number of second half substitutions as the game drifted fairly uneventfully towards its conclusion. But it took another magnificent save from former Spennymoor keeper Gould to keep out Nantwich (84 mins).

But with barely a couple of minutes remaining Mooney suffered a potentially serious injury in a routine tackle and had to be stretchered off with an ankle injury.

So, Alty maintained their clean sheet with trialists Hall and Nyaupembe both impressing. But the Dabbers could consider themselves unfortunate to lose.

Full Time: NANTWICH TOWN 0
ALTRINCHAM 1