ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS
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STOKE CITY UNDER-23s (2) 5
ALTRINCHAM (1) 1
played on Tuesday, 3 August, 2021 at 2pm
SUMMARY:
In their "behind closed doors" friendly against Stoke City under-23s at Newcastle-under-Lyme, Altrincham lost 5-1, despite taking an early lead through Marcus Dinanga. Alty fielded a fairly strong side for this game, despite having another fixture later the same day at Bradford (Park Avenue).
ALTY SCORERS:
- 6 mins: Marcus DINANGA (Stoke City U-23s 0 ALTRINCHAM 1)
- 29 mins: Christian NORTON (Penalty) (Stoke City U-23s 1 ALTRINCHAM 1)
- 34 mins: Adam PORTER (Stoke City U-23s 2 ALTRINCHAM 1)
- 51 mins: A TRIALIST (Stoke City U-23s 3 ALTRINCHAM 1)
- 54 mins: Kieran COATES (Stoke City U-23s 4 ALTRINCHAM 1)
- 88 mins: D’Margio WRIGHT-PHILLIPS (Stoke City U-23s 5 ALTRINCHAM 1)
REFEREE: TBA
ATTENDANCE: Behind Closed Doors
TEAM NEWS:
For this hastily arranged match Phil Parkinson named a fairly strong side, considering the club had another fixture later the same day at Bradford (Park Avenue).
LINE-UP:
STOKE CITY: Hemfrey, Trialist (Baker 52), Trialist (Okagbue 52), Macari, Trialist (Coates 45), Sparrow (Sy 65), Porter (Jarrett 65), Jones, Norton (Wright-Phillips 60), Goodwin (Taylor 60), Trialist (Trialist 45).
ALTRINCHAM (Yellow shirts, blue shorts, yellow socks): Ryan Forde (gk), Joel Senior, Toby Mullarkey, Jake Moult, David Fitzpatrick; Sean Williams, Ben Pringle; Daniel Mooney, Ryan Colclough, A Trialist, Marcus Dinanga. Subs: Lewis Billingsley, Igeze, Peter Iacovou, Burton.
BACKGROUND:
This match had only been announced a few days before it took place at Stoke's Clayton Wood training complex near Newcastle-under-Lyme.
REPORT:
Altrincham took a sixth-minute lead when Mooney got past his marker and laid the ball inside for Dinanga to score.
Alty's trialist had a chance to double the lead in a one on one but his effort was cleared off the line and then the same trialist shot at the keeper after being fed by an impressive ball from Pringle.
Alty continued to threaten as Mooney, Pringle and Dinanga fed Ryan Colclough but his shot was deflected for a corner. And Colclough went close again as he sidefooted narrowly wide.
However, Stoke levelled from the penalty spot when goalkeeper Forde brought down a Stoke player (29 mins).
Stoke then forced two good saves from Forde before the young keeper was beaten from distance to put the Potters 2-1 ahead (34 mins).
After falling behind Alty settled and Colcough again threatened before half-time.
| Half-Time:STOKE CITY UNDER-23s 2 ALTRINCHAM 1 |
Six minutes after the break Stoke extended their lead from another impressive long-range shot.
Three minutes later a Stoke substitute made it 4-1 against an as yet unchanged Alty, who had only youngsters on the bench as the rest of the squad were set to play at Bradford later in the day. Stoke in contrast were able to make numerous changes of personnel on a hot afternoon.
Twelve minutes from time Reserves' forward Lewis Billingsley came on for Altrincham. In the 81st minute David Fitzpatrick was replaced by Peter Iacovou, a product of the late George Heslop's youth team. In 2014-15 Peter had been Alty Youth's Players' Player of the Season.
Joel Senior moved to left-back as Iacovou slotted in at right-back. Alty's final change came six minutes from time when Sean Williams was replaced by young central defender Eddie Igeze so Jake Moult moved into midfield (84 mins).
Stoke completed the scoring at 5-1 with two minutes remaining, having given a makeshift Altrincham team a good run out.
| Full Time: STOKE CITY UNDER-23s 5 ALTRINCHAM 1 |