ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS
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KING'S LYNN TOWN (0) 2
ALTRINCHAM (0) 0
played on Monday, 5 April, 2021 at 3pm
behind closed doors
SUMMARY:
In a goalless and fairly entertaining first half Alty came the closer to scoring when they hit the bar through Colclough's twenty-yarder, in just the second minute.
Altrincham also had the better of the early stages of the second half but, following the introduction of King and Gash from the bench, the final quarter of the game belonged very much to King's Lynn and they ran out deeserved winners in the end.
However, the visitors had good fortune in the 77th minute when Mullarkey was penalised for handball but Gash hit the resulting spot kick weakly and Thompson saved, to his left.
The reprieve barely lasted two minutes as Gash was involved in an excellent Lynn move which Mitchell finished off to give his side the lead.
And Alty then conceded a second penalty as Mullarkey tugged on Mitchell as he got into the box and Thompson then collided with the forward. This time Mitchell took the penalty and duly converted it to make it 2-0 (86 mins).
There was no way back for Altrincham, who slipped to thirteenth.
SCORERS:
- 79 mins: Kairo MITCHELL (King's Lynn Town 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
- 86 mins: Kairo MITCHELL (penalty) (King's Lynn Town 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)
REFEREE: Mr Scott Simpson
ATTENDANCE: Behind closed doors.
TEAM NEWS:
For Altrincham, Sean Williams replaced Alistair Smith in midfield, the latter being absent from the squad entirely, along with seven other injured players in Matty Kosylo, Montel Gibson, Dan Mooney, Fisayo Adarabioyo, Andy White, Shaun Densmore and Yoan Zouma.
The hosts were without the influential Clunan whilst Michael Gash was named only on the bench. King's Lynn's rotating door of furloughed players rendered them a somewhat different team from that which had faced Alty just a fortnight ago.
LINE-UP:
KING'S LYNN TOWN (All blue with yellow sash on front of shirts): 1. Theo Richardson, 4. Kyle Callan-McFadden (c), 12. Michael Gyasi, 19. Kairo Mitchell, 24. Sonny Carey, 25. Tyler Denton, 28. Alfie Payne, 39. Rob Howard, 37. Ethan Coleman, 38. Elkan Baggott, 40. Joseph Gascoigne. Subs: 9. Michael Gash, 15. Tai Fleming, 17. Cameron King, 33. Florin Guindo-Tsaguim, 30. Paul Bastock.
ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with white panel, black shorts, white socks): 1. Tony THOMPSON, 24. Joel SENIOR, 5. Tom HANNIGAN, 25. Toby MULLARKEY, 3. Connor HAMPSON, 6. Jake MOULT (c), 8. Sean WILLIAMS, 32. James HARDY, 34. Ryan COLCLOUGH, 10. Josh HANCOCK, 9. Joe PIGGOTT. Subs: 11. Yusifu CEESAY, 17. Nyal BELL, 19. Reagan OGLE, 23. Tom PEERS, 30. Simon RICHMAN.
BACKGROUND:
Following the postponement of the home match against Yeovil, this was a second successive away trip for Altrincham. It was under a fortnight since Alty had beaten the Linnets by a flattering 3-0 margin at the JDS and a win last time out at Maidenhead meant the Rpbins were now looking for a third successive victory.
REPORT:
Altrincham finally kicked off a full five minutes late, just one minute of which had been spent in silence to honour the late captain of Yeovil Town, Lee Collins. Quite why there was a delay was unclear.
Within two minutes of the start Altrincham had hit the bar with a shot from 20 yards by Colclough, the second time in recent games that he had suffered the same fate.
A corner resulted but that came to nothing. The next ten minutes were fairly uneventful before a ball forward allowed Mitchell to get behind Hannigan but his shot came off Thompson's legs and a corner resulted (13 mins).
Alty responded with a sweeping ball from Williams to Colclough but his wild swing at the ball sent the ball high and wide (15 mins).
Lynn's second corner was won off Senior (16 mins) and play was fairly even now. Next, debutant Gascoigne's foul on Colclough gave Hancock a promising freekick which he struck very badly, low, leading to a home counter-attack which ended with a fine cross from the left which an unidentified team mate steered wide.
As a corner apiece came and went, play was now end to end.
Alty now enjoyed a good spell which featured a fine cross from Hampson which was headed narrowly over the bar by Piggott on the half-hour mark.
Hampson had a good game and, next, it was his fine tackle which halted Carey (35 mins). Following this, a Senior cross won a corner which was headed to the home keeper (36 mins). Next, Hancock's shot was saved and, from the resultng corner, the ball was punched clear.
A poorly mishit shot from Colclough from 30 yards was followed by more Alty possession as they finished the first half on top. However, neither keeper had been overworked.
| Half-Time: KING'S LYNN TOWN 0 ALTRINCHAM 0 |
As in the first half, the second half had a delayed start. This time the culprit was Connor Hampson, who emerged very late and imediately squatted down in the centre circle to tie up his boots, thus delaying kick off even more.
A better side of the Alty left-back was soon in evidence as he got in a 20-yard shot which earned a corner, which was folllowed by a second corner immediately (47 mins).
A third Alty corner inside the first four minutes of the half was then won by Colclough, who took the kick. Moult had an uncontested header but directed it poorly wide (49 mins).
King's Lynn slowly improved, winning a corner before a spell of home possession was followed by the first change of personnel of the afternoon, with Cameron King replacing Gascoigne (59 mins).
Alty almost scored three minutes later as Hancock battled impressively to keep the ball before his low shot curled only narrowly wide of the back post from 20 yards (62 mins).
Immediately, Peers replaced Hardy (62 mins). But it was the hosts who almost broke the deadlock as Gyasi got into the box but fired narrowly over the bar (63 mins).
A fairly uneventful spell followed, although it did include one Alty corner (69 mins) before Williams ballooned a chance off target from 18 yards (70 mins).
Veteran Michael Gash now joined the game in place of Gyasi (71 mins). Alty's third or fourth wild swing at the ball during this match, all of which flew high and wide of goal, now came from Hampson as Alty laboured to find the target.
Almost immediately the hosts almost scored as King put Mitchell clear and it took the feet of Thompson to block his shot (74 mins).
With the Linnets now in the ascendancy, Alty's only threat came from Colclough's smart turn and shot, which was blocked. Immediately play switched and Gash's shot from just outside the box hit Mullarkey who was deemed to have handled the ball.
Gash took the penalty but hit it low and weakly to Thompson's left and the Alty keeper saved it with his legs (77 mins). Altrincham immediately brought on Ceesay for Piggott, who again had had a thankless task as the lone striker (78 mins).
Before Ceesay could settle in, his side fell behind. A good move from Lynn ended with Gash and King involved and the ball coming to Mitchell. From around 12 yards he drove a shot across Thompson into the keeper's right-hand corner, making it 1-0 (79 mins).
Just after Hancock had netted, only to be ruled offside, Alty made a further swap as Richman replaced Williams (83 mins). As earlier, a home goal coincidentally followed an away substitution when Alty conceded their second penalty of the afternoon. Mitchell got into the box where Mullarkey seemed to tug him back before the forward collided with the advancing Thompson. Mullarkey seemed to have been booked.
This time Mitchell took the penalty and he made no mistake to make it 2-0 (86 mins).
Two minutes later Alty had a great chance to pull back a goal but Peers joined the lengthy list of Alty players to balloon decent chances miles over the bar (88 mins). Alty did win two late corners; the latter of these was subject to the same syndrome as Hancock overhit this badly from the right.
King's Lynn had looked second best till the introduction of King and Gash but the final stages saw the hosts dominant. Any side which concedes two penalties is unlikely to win a game and when that double misfortune is combined with wild long-range shooting and disappointing corners and dead balls, there is no way back.
| Full Time: KING'S LYNN TOWN 2 ALTRINCHAM 0 |