ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS


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ALTRINCHAM (3) 5
SALFORD CITY Under-23s (0) 1

Pre-season Friendly match
played on Tuesday, 29 September, 2020 at 7.45pm
behind closed doors


SUMMARY:

Alty totally dominated the first half against a Salford team that failed to trouble Gould and his defence.

Matt Kosylo played in Tom Peers for a smart finish by the striker to put Alty ahead in the ninth minute.

An excellent long ball up the middle from Tom Hannigan set Kosylo in on goal and he finished well from left of goal, his low shot going in off the base of the far post to make it 2-0 on the half-hour.

Seven minutes later it was 3-0 as an incursion up the right by Joel Senior ended with the ball falling to Max Clayton who scored from six yards or so.

Salford were gifted a penalty shortly before half time after Alty had lost possession by their own right corner-flag. With the linesman flagging that the ball had gone out for a goalkick, play was allowed to continue and a Salford man was upended.

From the resulting spot-kick Humbles, or whoever was wearing no.6 on a night when many of the visitors wore different numbers from those given on their teamsheet, slotted home the penalty to make it 3-1 at the interval.

Straight after the break, the visitors' keeper dropped the ball and Kosylo made it 4-1. And in the 55th minute Kosylo rounded the keeper and, from right of goal, laid on a tap-in for Peers to record the fifth goal for Altrincham.

Alty continued to dominate after the final four subs came on just after the hour mark.


SCORERS:


REFEREE: Mr Liam Marshall
ATTENDANCE: Behind closed doors.
TEAM NEWS:

Altrincham fielded a team including six changes from the previous friendly with several of this match's starters likely to be deployed in secondary roles when the season starts.


LINE-UP:

Salford issued a teamsheet which did not include quite a few of the numbers actually worn on their players' shirts so it is guesswrok who was actually who. The team numbers below are as per teamsheet.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Matthew GOULD, 2. Joel SENIOR, 3. Andy WHITE, 4. Toby MULLARKEY, 5. Tom HANNIGAN, 6. Sean WILLIAMS (c), 7. Matty KOSYLO, 8. Simon RICHMAN, 9. Tom PEERS, 10. Max CLAYTON, 11. Yusifu CEESAY. Subs: 12. Shaun DENSMORE, 14. Connor HAMPSON, 15. Ritchie SUTTON, 16. Jake MOULT, 17. Curtis MILLER, 18. Jordan HULME, 20. Tony THOMPSON

SALFORD CITY (All blue) 1. Nick Hayes, 2. R Marguiks, 3. Owen Evans, 4. Christian n'Guessen, 5. Cerny Ando, 6. Liam Humbles, 7. Louis Walsh, 8. Elliott Goldthorpe, 9. A Trialist, 10. A Trialist, 11. Rio Connell. Subs: 12. to 16. Four Trialists


BACKGROUND:

This was Alty's final pre-season game and it was also their first home game before the league season was planned to start on Saturday with the visit of Weymouth.


REPORT:

After the sprinklers had been turned off, Altrincham emerged several minutes later than their opponents to kick off this last pre-season friendly of 2020. With the visitors including shirts numbered 14,18 and 23 as well as others bearing numbers between 1 and 11, it was impossible to identify for sure who was actually facing Altrincham.

ALtrincham took an early lead when a smart feed from Kosylo set Peers clear inside the box and he finished smartly (9 mins). Altrincham were comfortably in control enjoying plenty of possession and the match was to develop into little more than a training exercise for the hosts for substantial periods of the ninety minutes.

When City goalkeeper Hayes missed an Alty corner from the right, Hannigan's goal-bound header from the back post had to be headed off the line by Ando (25 mins).

A second goal did soon arrive for The Robins, thanks to a well directed long ball up the middle from Hannigan which found Kosylo. Though left of goal, Kosylo expertly guided a low shot across the keeper and into the net off the base of the far upright (30 mins).

Seven minutes later it was 3-0 when the ball broke off a defender for Max Clayton to sweep it into the net from close range (37 mins).

The visitors' best chance of the half came in the 41st minute when White felled the visitors' no.2. But Humbles lifted the freekick, taken from just outside the box in a central position, miles over the bar and into Golf Road.

However, Salford then got a fortunate break just before half-time. Alty lost the ball by their own right corner flag and, although the linesman raised his flag for a goalkick, play was allowed to continue. As it did, a Salford man was brought down and the referee awarded a penalty before the linesman sheepishly lowered his flag. Humbles beat Gould comfortably from the spot to make it 3-1 (44 mins).


Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 3
SALFORD CITY Under-23s 1

At the break Alty brought on Moult, Sutton and Hulme. From an early Alty freekick, goalkeeper Hayes dropped the ball and Kosylo had a simple task to make it 4-1 (47 mins).

Peers then almost put through his own goal when he allowed a Salford corner from the right to hit the post after his attempt at a clearance saw his foot completely miss the low ball.

However, at the other end, Peers did better and made it 5-1 after 55 minutes, tapping home after Kosylo had gone round the keeper to the right of goal.

The visitors made substitutions straight afterwards and, shortly after those, Altrincham introduced their own remaining four substitutes as Hampson, Densmore, Miller and Thompson replaced Ceesay, White, Senior and Thompson (61 mins).

Almost immediately Miller was clattered and it was not too long before Hulme received a lecture for dissent (68 mins). Next, after Hulme had been tripped just outside the box, Peers's freekick was comfortably saved (72 mins).

The game drifted on with Hampson spooning over a close-range chance at the back post (82 mins). Hayes made a fine save from a Moult header, five minutes' later, but the game petered out with Altrincham emerging the 5-1 victors.


Full Time: ALTRINCHAM 5
SALFORD CITY Under-23s 1