ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS
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ALTRINCHAM (1) 2
WREXHAM (2) 2
Altrincham won 4-3 on penalties.
played on Friday, 13 January 2023 at 7.45pm
SUMMARY:
For the first twenty minutes it looked as if Altrincham would win this game at a canter as they dominated the match against a less than full-strength Wrexham. The hosts put together several impressive passing movements, with Conn-Clarke outstanding in the first half.
And when the hosts took a tenth-minute lead Alty's optimism was underlined. Eddy Jones's corner was flapped away by Lainton and, as Kaja took an air shot, Hulme knocked the ball back for Conn-Clarke to curl a shot against the bar. The ball dropped invitingly off the bar for Baines to loop a header into the net.
But then, after the midway point of the half, the visitors woke up. They scored twice in three minutes. The first came as the ball was fired low across the box from the left and was diverted into the net from close range by Bickerstaff.
Then the same player outpaced James Jones before sliding the ball, low, past the advancing Byrne to make it 1-2 (27 mins).
Wrexham were comfortable for much of the second half as Alty struggled to have the same attacking impact that they displayed in the first half. But Altrincham raised their game and were dominant in the closing stages, equalising in the 89th minute when substitute Goodson scored from the edge of the box.
So the game went to penalties. Wrexham went first but missed twice as Alty won the shoot-out 4-3. .
SCORERS:
- 10 mins: Lewis BAINES (ALTRINCHAM 1 Wrexham 0)
- 24 mins: Jacob BICKERSTAFF (ALTRINCHAM 1 Wrexham 1)
- 27 mins: Jacob BICKERSTAFF (ALTRINCHAM 1 Wrexham 2)
- 89 mins: Zak GOODSON (ALTRINCHAM 2 Wrexham 2)
Penalties
For details see match report below. The scorers for Wrexham were Dalby, James Jones and Lennon, and for Altrincham, Conn-Clarke, Goodson, Jennings and Mullarkey
REFEREE: Mr Scott Tallis
ATTENDANCE: 2,526 (985 in away section).
TEAM NEWS:
Alty had lost both Ryan Colclough and Elliot Newby over the Christmas/New Year period so Jordan Hulme and Marcus Dinanga led the attack with loanee Connor Jennings and young Zak Goodson on the bench.
Defender Josh Jordan was another surprise inclusion on the bench for his first senior match outside of a Cheshire Senior Cup appearance.
Wrexham rested their big-hitters such as Mullin and Palmer and included a number of fringe and young players in their squad. In fact, not one of the starters against Bromley last time out started tonight.
LINE-UPS:
ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Oliver Byrne, 5. Toby Mullarkey (c), 26. James Jones, 6. Lewis Baines, 2. Eddy Jones, 4. Isaac Marriott, 8. Josh Lundstram, 16. Chris Conn-Clarke, 30. Marcus Dinanga, 9. Jordan Hulme, 33. Egli Kaja. Subs: 18. Ben Pringle, 21. Matt Gould, 10. Elliot Osborne, 32. Zak Goodson, 35. Connor Jennings, 37. Josh Jordan
WREXHAM (All pale blue): 1. Rob Lainton, 2. Reece Hall-Johnson, 11. Liam McAlinden, 18. Sam Dalby, 20. Andrew Cannon, 24. Scott Butler, 26. Harry Lennon, 27. Jacob Bickerstaff, 30. James Jones (c), 32. Max Cleworth, 41. David Jones. Subs: 23. Kai Calderbank-Park, 25. Ryan Austin, 33. Dan Jones, 34. Aaron James, 39. Daniel Davies, 42. Jacob Milner, 43. Owen Cushion.
BACKGROUND:
This match had been brought forward by 24 hours at the insistence of the local police who believed that they would be busy on the following day dealing with the Manchester Derby in the Premier League. Relentless rain over the preceding days had left the pitch soft but the game escaped the postponement that had befallen Alty's previous scheduled league match, six days earlier.
REPORT:
The opening twenty minutes of the game were as one-sided in Altrincham's favour as any match this season with the totallyh-changed Wrexham side initially looking out of its depth as Altrincham put together repeated slick passing moves.
The Red Dragons hardly got out of their half in the opening stages and, with Chris Conn-Clarke running the show, the only surprise was to be that Altrincham managed to score just once in the first half.
After kick-off, goalkeeper Lainton was soon in action punching away a Marriott up-and-under (2 mins) before Eddy Jones fired well off-target.
An impressive Alty move then saw Conn-Clarke advance but the attack ended with Hulme only able to find the side-netting right of goal (3 mins). It was then Conn-Clarke who won the first corner and, four minutes later, he won his side's second flag-kick as Wrexham remained hemmed in their own half.
Taken well, from the right by Eddy Jones, Lainton got in a punch and the ball came out of the goalmouth. Kaja then took a swing at the ball, but missed it, before Hulme touched it back to Conn-Clarke.
From just outside the box Conn-Clarke's curling shot came back off the cross bar above Lainton's dive, but the rebound looped up for Baines to head the ball back into the net to make it deservedly 1-0 (10 mins).
A couple of minutes later it seemed to be 2-0 as Conn-Clarke played the ball into the goalmouth where James Jones's header found the back of the net with Dinanga trying to get on the end of it. However, the goal was ruled out for offside (13 mins).
Two more Alty corners followed and, from the second by Eddy Jones, a fine header by Hulme was tipped onto the underside of the bar by a stretching Lainton. It fell for Mullarkey by the back post but he was unable to poke it past a defender on the goalline (19 mins).
At the midway point of the half Byrne saw his first action as a routine collection of the ball was followed by a shot from Bickerstaff which the Alty keeper saved with his legs at the cost of a corner (23 mins). It was a warning to Alty.
Wrexham then got in a cross which Byrne only palmed away before the keeper back-pedalled to push away a cross from the right towards the back post out further to the Wrexham left. From there, a low ball was lashed across the box, withBickerstaff getting a touch to steer it into the net from close range in the centre of the goalmouth and level the scores (24 mins).
But if the equaliser had been against the overall run of play, when Wrexham took the lead shortly afterwards, it was hugely so (27 mins). Bickerstaff got free running towards goal, as he outpaced James Jones. As Byrne came out, the Wrexham forward slotted the ball, low, to the keeper's left into the corner of the net to make it 1-2.
However, Alty responded with Conn-Clarke and Hulme combining to win a sixth corner inside the opeing half-hour (29 mins).
Wrexham's second corner of the evening was now half-cleared and prompted a long punt at goal which Byrne gathered comfortably (35 mins).
Following a trip, Conn-Clarke took a quick freekick which led to Hulme again finding the side-netting, right of goal (40 mins). The irrepressible Conn-Clarke then showed strength to wriggle impressively along the left by-line but Lainton kept him out (41 mins).
So, half-time arrived with Alty unfortunate to be behind.
Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 1 |
Altrincham kicked off towards the away end, populated by nearly 1,000 supporters of the Welsh visitors. Within a minute Alty came close to equalising when a low cross, from Conn-Clarke on the left, just evaded the stretching leg of the incoming Dinanga at the near post and the ball ran safely to Lainton's hands.
At the other end, the Wrexham version of James Jones hit the side-netting (51 mins) And apart from a fine shot by Conn-Clarke from twenty yards which just cleared the bar, Wrexham looked relatively comfortable with their slender lead before the first change of the evening saw Zak Goodson make his home debut in place of Kaja, the Albanian having had a quiet game on his return from injury (58 mins). Goodson had been on loan at Boston United where he had broken his arm on his debut at the end of October.
It was now the visitors who came the closer to the next goal as a fierce shot by Wrexham's captain, Jones, forced a good save from Byrne on the hour mark.
Alty than saw off the same player inside their box before Cleworth earned a yellow card for a foul on Goodson (63 mins).
There was, next, a bizarre incident when Mullarkey was tripped but fell on the ball and Mr Tallis awarded the visitors a freekick for handball (67 mins). Alty now introduced Pringle to replace Hulme as the visitors looked reasonably comfortable with their lead (67 mins).
Pringle, almost immediately, got himself booked for a foul on Butler (69 mins). Next, McAlinden curled a shot just over the bar from the edge of the box, left of goal, before Alty won their first corner of the half through Mullarkey (73 mins).
Dinanga then gave way to Jennings, the former Wrexham man,who is on loan at Alty from Stockport County (74 mins). Wrexham were now lucky to survive as Lainton dropped a cros and the ball was clipped towards the net but a defender cleared ccomfortably and two more Alty corners followed in succession (77 mins).
Wrexham's first change saw Austin come on for Davies, the latter being the Wrexham reserve team manager and the club's first-team coach (77 mins).
As the game went into the final ten minutes Altrincham were dominating play and, after the hosts' fourth corner of the half, Wrexham replaced Butler by James (85 mins).
A fifth Alty corner soon followed as Wrexham remained under the cosh.
The hosts finally got their deserved equaliser after a multi-pass move had seemed to have foundered as Jennings touched the ball away from goal. But Goodson sent in a low shot from just outside the box in a central position and it threaded its way past a defender and the keeper into the net to make it 2-2 (89 mins).
After a poor throw from Byrne Wrexham got in a shot from Cannon but the keeper redeeemed himself with a save (90 mins). Six minutes of added time commenced with a sixth Alty corner of the half (90+2 mins). Baines then wasted a good chance with a wild miskick in the Wrexham box before the final whistle signalled a penalty shoot-out, there being no extra time in the Trophy this season.
After 90 Minutes: ALTRINCHAM 2 |
PENALTY SHOOT-OUT:
Wrexham seemed to have a double advantage in not only having the penalties taken at the away end and also having the first spot-kick.
- Bickerstaff's well hit kick, aimed towards the upper reaches of the net, was brilliantly pushed over the bar by a flying save from Byrne, diving to his right.
- Conn-Clarke's hop, skip and a jump fooled Lainton and the Alty man of the match, who had completed a rare full ninety minutes, rolled the ball into the vacated part of the net to the keeper's left.
- Dalby then mae it 1-1 with a confident kick.
- Goodson then emulated Conn-Clarke with a similarily cool conversion to the keeper's right, making it 2-1 to Alty.
- Hall-Johnson now blasted his effort well over the bar.
- Lundstram also failed to score as Lainton tipped his effort over the bar, leaving the score 2-2 to Alty.
- Wrexham's captain, James Jones, converted easily to make it 2-2.
- Jennings hit an excellent penalty high into the net to restore Alty's lead at 3-2
- Lennon restored parity at 3-3.
- The final kick was taken by Alty captain Toby Mullarkey, who scored comfortably to clinch the tie 4-3 in the penalty shoot-out.
It had been an entertaining evening at the J. Davidson Stadium with Altrincham the deserved winners. Wrexham's decision to play a weakened team indicated where their priorities lie this season. The two clubs meet again at Moss Lane in three weeeks' time in front of the BT Sport cameras in a league match.
Full Time: ALTRINCHAM 2 |