ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS

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DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE (2) 4
ALTRINCHAM (0) 1

Vanarama National League match
played on Saturday, 17 September 2022 at 3pm

SUMMARY:

Nine games played and there is still no win for Altrincham this season after they were on the end of a heavy defeat in east London. They are now bottom of the National League after Scunthorpe earned a point against York City.

Altrincham started shakily but soon settled to win an early corner (5 mins). Next, Dinanga had a shot blocked (8 mins) before a Colclough shot curled wide. Shortly afterwards Alty won another corner and an Osborne shot won a third flag-kick after 15 minutes.

Colclough was looking lively for Alty but Dagenham then had a better spell in which they gained three corners. From the last of these, Byrne flapped at the ball at the near post and it was relayed for Onariase to nod home at the back post (25 mins).

After some scrappy play the Daggers doubled their lead through another Alty mistake as Malone and Osborne appeared to leave the ball to each other and Vilhete scored a well taken goal from a sharp angle to make it 2-0 (34 mins).

Alty did respond as a Colclough effort hit the post (37 mins). Before half-time Colclough also had a goalbound header blocked but the interval found Altrincham two goals in deficit.

The second half turned into a mauling as Dagenham added a third through a Barrows own goal after Weston had got past Eddy Jones and, almost on the line, Barrows could not clear the ball (65 mins). It got worse just four minutes later as McCallum's back heel set up Walker to make it 4-0 (69 mins).

Things improved a little as Jackson and Bennett came on from the bench and it was Jackson who fed Lundstram for a superb strike into the upper reaches of the net to make it 4-1 (78 mins).

SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr Sam Mulhall

ATTENDANCE: 1,162 (24 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Altrincham were unchanged, except on the bench where Pringle replaced Kaja who was injured. For the Daggers, ex-Alty defender Zouma was out injured and he was replaced by Onarisse.

LINE-UPS:

DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE (Red and blue): 1. Elliot Justham, 19. Sam Ling, 5. Manny Onariase, 12. Matt Robinson (c), 11. Myles Weston, 22. Kamarl Grant, 8. Mo Sagaf, 20. Mauro Vilhete, 24. Junior Morias, 9. Paul McCallum, 7. Josh Walker. Subs: 6. Omar Mussa, 13. Josh Strizovic, 25. Aaron Phipps, 4. Dean Rance, 23. Ansu Janneh

ALTRINCHAM (All navy blue with yellow sash): 1. Oliver Byrne, 22. Ross Barrows, 5. Toby Mullarkey (c), 26. James Jones, 2. Eddy Jones, 10. Elliot Osborne, 8. Josh Lundstram, 31. Dan Malone, 16. Chris Conn-Clarke, 11. Ryan Colclough, 30. Marcus Dinanga. Subs: 3. Liam Brockbank, 17. Brad Jackson, 23. Jake Cooper, 18. Ben Pringle, 27. Aaron Bennett

BACKGROUND:

Both teams went into the match in poor form. Altrincham had not won all season and this was their ninth fixture. Whilst Alty were 23rd in thr National League, Dagenham & Redbridge had sunk to seventeenth after two heavy defeats to Wrexham and Notts County in which they had shipped nine goals.

REPORT:

After a minute's silence and the singing of the national anthem to mark Queen Elizabeth's death, Dagenham got the game under way, and Alty started shakily.

But after Byrne had punched away a Weston cross, the visitors settled and had the first chance of the game when Colclough played a fine pass to Conn-Clarke, who cut in but his left-foot shot went off Ling for a corner (5 mins).

Soon Osborne fed Dinanga, whose shot was blocked by Ling before a Colclough effort from inside the box curled wide (8 mins). With Alty now playing promisingly, Dinanga won another corner for the visitors.

The corner count moved to 3-0 in Altrincham's favour when Conn-Clarke set up Osborne, whose shot was well saved by Justham at the cost of a flag-kick (15 mins).

The Daggers now upped their game and gained the match's next three corners over the next ten minutes. The first corner arose when Eddy Jones had to end a McCallum threat (18 mins). Next, after Dinanga had been unable to get on the end of a Colclough cross, Walker advanced on the Daggers' right but fired narrowly wide. Two successive Daggers' corners soon followed (25 mins).

From the third corner of the above sequence Byrne went to claim the ball at the near post but failed to deal with it and the ball was relayed to the back post where Onariase headed his side into a 1-0 lead (25 mins).

Onarise was soon instrumental at the other end in halting Dinanga with a tackle that terminated what had been probably Altrincham's best attacking move of the game so far (30 mins).

A foul by Grant then gave Alty a freekick but this was poorly taken by Osborne, the ball going into touch (32 mins). However, after another couple of scrappy minutes, the hosts doubled their lead when Vilhete netted off the post from an acute angle, from a Morias feed (34 mins).

Alty responded when an impressive run by Lundstram on the left led to a feed to Eddy Jones but the ball caught under his feet. However, moments later a shot from Colclough struck an upright with Dinanga unable to convert the loose ball (37 mins). Next a freekick by Conn-Clarke was relayed by Mullarkey, only for Colclough's resulting header to result in a corner rather than a goal.

Osborne's corner disappointingly went out of play (42 mins).

Alty continued to press as half-time approached but they remained two goals adrift at the interval despite having posed a threat at several points in the opening forty-five minutes.

Half-Time: DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 2
ALTRINCHAM 0

As in the first half, Alty started the second period disappointingly with Malone not being alone in misplacing passes. The Stoke loanee was also dispossessed as he dwelt on the ball but Walker fired over the bar in the end (49 mins).

Play drifted on with Conn-Clarke's skied effort being the nearest to an Altrincham strike at goal at this stage (55 mins). Barrows was also dispossessed soon afterwards, by Sagaf, before Weston fired over the bar (58 mins).

Phil Parkinson now made two changes in as many minutes. Firstly, he brought on Jackson for Conn-Clarke on the Alty right (62 mins) before Bennett replaced Malone (64 mins).

But barely a minute later the hosts had increased their lead. Weston got past Eddy Jones and his low ball into the box was turned into his own net by Barrows as he attenpted to clear off the line (65 mins).

On a positive note Jackson was having an impact and his excellent cross should have been converted by Dinanga from close range but the striker failed to do so (67 mins). Following a foul by Bennett, soon afterwards, a home freekick led to a back-heel from McCallum which Walker converted to make it 4-0 with more than twenty minutes remaining (69 mins).

But Alty's catalogue of fluffed chances continued as Osborne fed Colclough, who chested the ball down but then scuffed his shot which was put out for a corner.

Now Phipps replaced Weston for the Daggers (77 mins). Soon afterwards, Bennett, Jackson and Coclough combined in a move which Lundstram finished off with a fine shot into the upper reaches of the net to make it 4-1 (78 mins).

Rance then replaced the injured Sagaf (82 mins) before Alty enjoyed plenty of the ball as the hosts eased off, content with their comfortable lead. A couple of Altrincham freekicks and a corner came and went before five added minutes started. But the last corner of the afternoon was for the hosts though it did not alter the final score.

So Altrincham sank to the bottom of the National League as they made it nine games without a win since the start of the season. Failure to win next time out at home to Aldershot would match the club's worst ever start to a national-level season in terms of not winning a single game.

Full Time: DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 4
ALTRINCHAM 1

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