ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS
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ALTRINCHAM (1) 4
DORKING WANDERERS (0) 1
played on Saturday, 8 October 2022 at 3pm
SUMMARY:
This was Altrincham's third win in four games and it included two superbly taken goals but a measure of the visitors' contribution was that Alty keeper Ollie Byrne was named man of the match.
It took Altrincham until first-half added time to get ahead. After Dinanga had been fouled just to the left of the box, Ryan Colclough hammered home a superb freekick from an acute angle, the ball going in off the underside of the crossbar .
In the first half Altrincham had lost Conn-Clarke to injury (39 mins) and Barrows did not reappear for the second half after a collision of heads just before the interval, with Bennett and James Jones the respective substitutes.
Four minutes after the break a fine shot by Osborne earned a corner and this was nodded down by Dinanga and it ran to Mullarkey who made it 2-0.
After a poor clearance by Dorking, Bennett then scored a superb 25 yard goal, a curling shot into the top corner, to make it 3-0 after 66 minutes. But Dorking did not give up and Byrne was forced into several saves, one of which saw him only push the ball out for Gallagher to make it 3-1 (74 mins).
Bennett's jinking run set up Dinanga for a fourth goal in the closing stages (87 mins).
SCORERS:
- 45(+3) mins: Ryan COLCLOUGH (ALTRINCHAM 1 Dorking Wanderers 0)
- 49 mins: Toby MULLARKEY (ALTRINCHAM 2 Dorking Wanderers 0)
- 65 mins: Aaron BENNETT (ALTRINCHAM 3 Dorking Wanderers 0)
- 74 mins: Dan GALLAGHER (ALTRINCHAM 3 Dorking Wanderers 1)
- 87 mins: Marcus DINANGA (ALTRINCHAM 4 Dorking Wanderers 1)
REFEREE: Mr Paul Marsden
ATTENDANCE: 1,862 (79 in away section)
TEAM NEWS:
Both sides made a single change to their starting elven. In Alty's case it meant that Brad Jackson returned in place of Dan Malone whilst, for the visitors, Quick came in for the captain, Fuller, whose armband was worn today by McShane.
LINE-UPS:
ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 1. Oliver Byrne, 22. Ross Barrows, 5. Toby Mullarkey (c), 23. Jake Cooper, 2. Eddy Jones, 10. Elliot Osborne, 8. Josh Lundstram, 16. Chris Conn-Clarke, 17. Brad Jackson, 11. Ryan Colclough, 30. Marcus Dinanga. Subs: 9. Jordan Hulme, 26. James Jones, 18. Ben Pringle, 27. Aaron Bennett, 31. Dan Malone.
DORKING WANDERERS (All yellow): 21. Dan Lincoln, 20. Dan Gallagher, 11. James McShane (c), 6. Niall McManus, 3. Bobby-Joe Taylor, 17. Josh Taylor, 7. Jimmy Muitt, 25. Dan Quick, 30. Seb Bowerman, 24. Harry Ottaway, 9. Ryan Seager. Subs: 4. Sami el-Abd, 12. Callum Kennedy, 15. Adam Mekki, 23. Jack Jebb, 28. Alfie Egan
BACKGROUND:
This was the first-ever meeting of the two teams, the Surrey visitors having won twelve promotions since heir formation in 1999. They remain managed and owned by their founder, Marc White.
REPORT:
Dorking kicked off, defending the away end, and soon demonstrated their attacking style as the two sides produced an early sequence of end to end football.
In fact, Dorking nearly took a third-minute lead as an aerial ball was nodded down to McShane whose low, goal-bound shot was saved by a full-length dive to his right by Byrne, at the cost of a corner. Following the corner a McManus shot went for a goalkick.
Altrincham responded as Colcough won possession and set Dinanga running at Lincoln but the keeper won the battle (5 mins). Play agains switched and Byrne, for the second time, had to go full-length to stop a Dorking shot, this time from Josh Taylor (6 mins).
Next, an Alty freekick from the left narrowly evaded everyone in the goalmouth before a Conn-Clarke shot was blocked (9 mins). The sides traded momentum before Dinanga, from wide left, played a teasing ball across the goalmouth, which went unconverted (16 mins).
Alty's first corner arrived after 18 minutes, from another Conn-clarke shot, and Dinanga then played another ball across the goalmouth, which was cleared to Mullarkey, whose sidefooted shot went narrowly wide (19 mins).
Bowerman was a threat on the Dorking left and he won his side a corner before an Osborne trip on Muitt gave the visitors a freekick. Indeed, the sides traded freekicks as Dinanga was next to be fouled before Colclough was the guilty party and then Dinanga transgressed as well (27 mins).
But, as the half-hour mark arrived, Alty won three corners in as many minutes. The first was badly taken by Osbrprne, the second was won by Coclough's defelected shot, and the third arrived from a deflected Conn-Clarke effort (32 mins).
Dorking replied with two corners of their own, the first won by an Ottaway shot and the second conceded by a Mullarkey header. Between these Alty had another corner which Lincoln just about got away from his goal (36 mins).
Conn-Clarke now sat down for treatment and was unable to continue so one loanee replaced another as Bennett came on in midfield (39 mins). Moments later an aerial clash of heads left Barrows flat out. Lengthy treatment got him to his feet and he resumed play (43 mins).
As the game went into added time, Dinanga chased a ball and was fouled just to the left of the penalty area (45+2 mins). Colclough smacked the ball into the net off the underside of the bar with an impressive freekick (45+3 mins).
Dorking reacted positively with a good run by Muitt which earned his side a corner, though he was also booked for some reason. From the corner a good header by Ottaway was heading for the net before Byrne produced his third fine save of the game, clawing the ball away to his left (45+4 mins).
Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 1 |
Each side made a change for the second-half with James Jones replacing the presumably concussed Barrows and Dorking bring on Jebb for top-scorer McShane.
Alty started the half well, winning two early corners, the second arriving from an excellent 25 yard shot by Osborne which Lincoln tipped over the bar. This second corner was nodded down by Dinanga, allowing Mullarkey to hit the ball decisively into the roof of the net to make it 2-0 (49 mins).
Dorking responded by bringing on el-Abd in place of Ottaway (52 mins). A foul on Dinanga now brought a booking for Gallagher before Eddy Jones wasted the freekick from the edge of the box with his effort ending up in Golf Road.
To their credit Dorking continued to get forward despite their two-goal deficit and they won two more corners by the 62nd minute.
However, against the run of play at that stage, Bennett scored a superb goal, curling his shot from 25 yards, left of centre, into the top far corner of the net to make it 3-0 (65 mins).
But at the other end Byrne was again called into action, this time by a good run and shot from Bowerman, which the keeper saved at the cost of a corner.
Soon, Alty had a chance to score again when Bennett was put clear up the middle but a defender did well to get back and halt him (70 mins). After a Dorking corner, won off James Jones, had come to naught, the visitors got in a shot which once more Byrne stopped but did not hold, the ball being pushed out to Gallagher who netted a deserved consolation goal, through the legs of Cooper on the line, to make it 3-1 (74 mins).
Dorking went close again soon afterwards when a cross to the back post was almost converted.
Pringle now came on for his customary late cameo as Jackson was withdrawn (79 mins).
There was still no respite for Byrne who had to produce at least his fifth decent save of the afternoon, again at the cost of a corner (83 mins). But play soon switched and Dinanga was promptly played in by Bennett only for goalkeeper Lincoln to win his second duel with the Alty striker (85 mins).
Next, from a counter-attack, Colclough earned a corner which was poorly taken by Bennett. However, the midfielder more than made up for that lapse as he jinked forward and laid on a close-range goal for Dinanga to poke home to make it 4-1 (87 mins).
Still Dorking kept going forward and won two more corners before the start of added time, the second coming as Byrne had to get down to the base of the near post to keep out a shot (89 mins).
Three added minutes witnessed anoher Dorking corner as the Surrey side showed an admirable attitude to the game. But for several saves from Byrne the margin of victory would have been slimmer and, indeed, the match sponsors awarded the man of the match award to the Altrincham goalkeeper, an unusual but understandable choice when his side had won by a 4-1 margin which suggested a one-sided encounter.
Full Time: ALTRINCHAM 4 |