ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS
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ALTRINCHAM (0) 1
FC HALIFAX TOWN (1) 1
played on Friday, 15 April 2022 at 3pm
SUMMARY:
Altrincham deservedly extended their unbeaten home run with this draw against play-off aspirants FC Halifax Town. The Shaymen looked the stronger side in the first half and gained a 1-0 lead when Spence scored from close range after Waters had worked his way along the byline, left of goal (14 mins).
But Altrincham, despite little help from referee Swallow, were the better side after the interval and deservedly levelled from Harry Perritt's glancing header from a curling Dan Mooney freekick from the right (51 mins).
Alty's point took them up two places to thirteenth.
SCORERS:
- 14 mins: Kian SPENCE (ALTRINCHAM FC 0 Halifax Town 1)
- 51 mins: Harry PERRITT (ALTRINCHAM FC 1 Halifax Town 1)
REFEREE: Mr Elliott Swallow
ATTENDANCE: 2,521 (756 in away section)
TEAM NEWS:
Jordan Hulme returned to the starting eleven at the expense of Josh Hancock, so Kole Hall dropped out of the squad as Hancock moved to the bench.
Woods was suspended for the visitors.
LINE-UPS:
ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and white socks): 1. Tony Thompson (c), 23. Harry Perritt, 25. Toby Mullarkey, 24. Kyle Ferguson, 20. Andy White, 8. Elliot Osborne, 32. Isaac Marriott, 7. Dan Mooney, 15. Matty Kosylo, 11. Ryan Colclough, 29. Jordan Hulme. Subs: 6. Jake Moult, 10. Josh Hancock, 17. Ben Pringle, 14. Jake Cooper, 28. Eddy Jones.
FC HALIFAX TOWN (All purple) 1. Sam Johnson, 21. Tyrell Warren, 5. Jesse Debrah, 31. Niall Maher (c), 18. Javid Swaby-Neavin, 17. Kian Spence, 8. Kieran Green, 10. Matty Warburton, 11. Billy Waters, 15. Gerry McDonough, 20. Harvey Gilmour. Subs: 25. Jordan Slew, 6. Tom Bradbury, 9. Aaron Martin, 4. Luke Summerfield, 27. Zak Dearnley.
BACKGROUND:
It had been almost three weeks since Altrincham's last match, a 1-0 win over Aldershot Town, the gap in action being caused firstly by the demise of Macclesfield Town leaving an empty Saturday and then Bromley's involvement in the FA Trophy, which wiped out another Saturday fixture.
After a wretched mid-season run of results, Altrincham were now an in-form team with five wins and a draw from their last seven outings and today they were looking to extended their unbeaten run at home to seven matches.
They started the game in fifteenth place, whilst their guests were third and 27 points better off from just one additional completed fixture.
Following five successive wins in February/March, the Shaymen's form had dipped a little with just two wins and a draw from their last five games. However, they had beaten Alty 2-0 in the reverse fixture at the start of the season.
This game was preceded by a minute's applause to mark the untimely recent deaths of former Altrincham youth team player Sam Harding (aged 21) and former first-team defender George Melling (aged 37).
REPORT:
Halifax kicked off towards the Golf Road end and enjoyed the better of the early exchanges. Indeed, the visitors won an early corner but it was poorly taken (3 mins).
Alty responded when former Shayman, Matty Kosylo, who had an energetic game, won Alty a flag-kick (6 mins) but neither this, nor a second home corner (9 mins) came to anything. Moments later Colclough burst into the box on the left and went down but rather than awarding a penalty as the forner Scunthorpe man had hoped, refreee Swallow booked Colclough for alleged "simulation" (10 mins).
A shot on the turn then earned Halifax their second corner but this, too, came to nothing (11 mins).
Just after Alty had seen a promising move end with Hulme, the visitors went to the other end where Waters got behind the defence on the visitors' left and tracked along the byline before laying on a simple, close-range conversion for Spence to make it 1-0 to the Shaymen. (14 mins).
Some idiot in the away end then set off a blue smoke canister and, a few minutes later the referee delayed play to have a blue streamer removed from the goalmouth at the away end (18 mins).
The visitors' defence was looking firm as befitted a side which had one of the best records as regards goals conceded this season.
Alty's bext efforts now comprised two smart shots on the turn. First, Mooney's effort was fired wildly over the bar from 35 yards before Hulme's turn and shot did land on target but Johnson made a comfortable save (23 mins).
Next, from Mooney's less than perfect back pass Thompson was unable to prevent a corner but this again did not threaten a goal for the visitors.
Meanwhile, referee Swallow was allowing several questionable Halifax challenges to go unpunished.
Then, after White had done well to advance on the left, the ball came out to Osborne whose crisp shot from 25 yards forced an excellent save from Johnson as the ball headed toward the top corner, to his right (30 mins).
In several individual challenges the Halifax players were showing superior body strength but Altrincham were generally competing well with their full-time opponents. Inded they were the next to come close to scoring as Hulme laid a tempting ball across the goalmouth (36 mins). Soon afterwards, a Hulme shot was well struck but, again, found Johnson (38 mins).
So the visitors had deserved their lead but it had been far from a dominant performance against a spirited Altrincham side in which Ferguson at the back and Kosylo going forward were notable performers.
Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 0 |
Alty kicked off but, as in the first half, the visitors won a corner within two minutes, this time through Warren. Shortly after this, the same player, Warren, was located in space by Waters and his strong shot forced an excellent one-handed save by Thompson, diving to his left at his near post (48 mins).
After this early spell it was Altrincham who got the upper hand and, on 50 minutes, Gilmour felled Marriott on the Alty right. Mooney's fine inswinging freekick was met by a glancing header from Perritt which found the back of the net (51 mins). Mullarkley had also found space, further towards the back post, as the visitors' defending left something to be desired from the set-piece.
Mr Swallow then penalised Osborne but he only seemed to produce a card for the Alty midfielder in response to the victim, Warburton, staying down rather than addressing the severity of the challenge itself (53 mins).
Moments later, Spence clattered Marriott yet the ref's card stayed in his pocket on this occasion (57 mins). Hulme, too, was a recurrent victim of the referee's idiosyncrasies as, time after time, he was clearly held or manhandled without getting any protection from Mr Swallow. However, Hulme on this occasion did win a corner which Johnson flapped away (60 mins). Between these two incidents, Summerfield replaced Green for the visitors (58 mins).
As Mooney was treated for a knock, Thompson jogged over to the fourth official to hand over an object which had beenthrown his way by the visiting supporters behind his goal (65 mins).
Next, a poor clearance from Johnson went to Colclough who advanced on goal but he shot wide (67 mins). Haifax had not been able to impose themselves in the second-half as Altrincham upped their game. Colclough soon had another chance as he dispossessed an opponent but fired over the bar under pressure from two chasing defenders (68 mins).
There was now a double change for Alty and one swap for Halifax, in the 70th minute, as Hancock and Pringle replaced Hulme and Mooney and the visitors brought on Slew for McDonagh.
Following good work from Kosylo, Pringle's excellent 25-yarder forced Johnson to push his effort past the post for a corner (71 mins).
As the final ten minutes started, Halifax enjoyed a better spell but the Alty back-line was defending resolutely. Just after Kosylo earned a book for unclear reasons, Dearnley replaced Gilmour for the Shaymen (83 mins).
The lively Kosylo then laid a low cross into the goalmouth which Johnson gathered (85 mins). Next, Warburton fired over the bar (87 mins) before Spence avoided a card for felling Colclough (90 mins).
Four added minutes did not change the score and Altrincham emerged with a well deserved point, which lifted them to thirteenth.
Full Time: ALTRINCHAM 1 |