ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS

Return to News Page

ALTRINCHAM (1) 1
FC HALIFAX TOWN (0) 1
FC Halifax Town won 3-2 on penalties

Isuzu FA Trophy
Semi-Final match
played on Saturday, 1 April, 2023 at 3pm.

SUMMARY:

If ever a match exemplified how defeat can be snatched from the jaws of victory, this was it.

In normal time Altrincham should have comfortably won this match; 3-0 would not have been an unfair outcome. But wastefulness in front of goal left Alty leading by just a single goal before Halifax levelled in the fifth added minute with a pot shot which somehow beat Ollie Byrne.

The Robins then led the penalty shoot-out 2-0 before three missed spot kicks left them desolate as their Wembley dreams evaporated.

Alty's only goal came in the 45th minute when the hardworking Jordan Hulme netted after a well-struck shot by Lundstram came back to the Alty captain to convert. Chances were created but not taken with Hugill and Oyedele the most notable in faiing to to convert them.

Halifax fans disrupted the dying embers of added time by hurling a blue smoke flare onto the pitch which caused a delay. Moments later Alli's speculative shot from outside the box somehow found its way into the net to force a shoot-out.

Osborne and Hugill put Alty 2-0 up in the shoot-out only for Eddy Jones, Oyedele and Sinclair all fail to convert their efforts and hand the Shaymen a 3-2 win from the spot.

SCORERS:

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT SCORERS:

REFEREE: Mr David Rock

ATTENDANCE: 4,771 (909 in away section)
TEAM NEWS:

After rotating his starting eleven in midweek, when he had made five changes, manager Phil Parkinson made five more alterations today as he brought back Miles Welch-Hayes, James Jones, Maxi Oyedele, Joe Hugill and Jordan Hulme to replace Harry Perritt, Elliot Osborne, Ben Pringle, Tyrese Sinclair and the cup-tied Regan Linney. So a remarkable number of eight loanees were in the home squad, four starting and four on the bench.

Halifax brought in Dieseruvwe, Debrah and Alli to start, replacing Cappello, Cooke, Adam Senior, and Harker.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and red socks): 1. Oliver Byrne, 34. Miles Welch-Hayes, 26. James Jones, 5. Kyle Ferguson, 6. Lewis Baines, 2. Eddy Jones, 8. Josh Lundstram, 4. Isaac Marriott, 28. Maxi Oyedele, 39. Joe Hugill, 9. Jordan Hulme (c). Subs: 21. Matt Gould, 11. Luke Burgess, 27. Aaron Bennett, 30. Harry Perritt, 10. Elliot Osborne, 18. Ben Pringle, 35. Tyrese Sinclair.

FC HALIFAX TOWN (All yellow): 1. Sam Johnson, 2. Tylor Golden, 5. Jesse Debrah, 6. Jamie Stott, 3. Jack Senior (c), 20. Harvey Gilmour, 4. Luke Summerfield, 21. Millenic Alli, 9 Mani Dieseruvwe, 10. Matt Warburton, 18. Angelo Cappello. Subs: 14. Jack Hunter, 15. Tom Clarke, 16 Jordan Keane, 19. Jamie Cooke, 17. Rob Harker, 22. Festus Arthur, 29. Fidel O'Rourke

BACKGROUND:

As well as being Altrincham's first FA Trophy semi-final since 1991, this was the biggest match at Moss Lane since the 2014 play-off final in the Skrill North League when Alty beat Guiseley. And today's opponents were another West Yorkshire team, this time with a place in the Trophy Final at Wembley being the prize for today's winners.

Alty's last Trophy semi-final had been a two-legged affair but now this semi-final was just a one-off match, which would go straight to penalties if the scores were level after ninety minutes.

The game was preceded by a minute's applause as a mark of respect for Jason Turner the CEO of Notts County who had died suddenly this week, aged just 50. He had been at the JDS the preceding Tuesday to watch The Magpies play Altrincham.

REPORT:

The Shaymen kicked off towards the Golf Road End and, for the first five mintes of the match, they started the better in front of a very big crowd, approaching 5,000 in number, at the J.Davidson Stadium.

Altrincham then improved and the first meaningful shot of the game saw Oyedele's low shot force a save from Johnson after Lundstram had gained possession (6 mins). At the other end, Alli's effort from 18 yards was routinely saved by Byrne.

The game was now coming to life as Hugill turned smartly and his well-struck shot went only narrowly wide (11 mins). EFL referee, Mr Rock, watched by Premier League official and Alty supporter Anthony Taylor who was in the crowd, was showing early signs of a tendency to overlook clear fouls which was to manifest itself on several occasions later in the game.

Lundstram was the next to impress as he got to the byline, the ball coming out for an Alty shot that was saved (14 mins). Alty were now on top and, next, a clever Hulme flick allowed Lundstram to get a ball into the goalmouth but it went unconverted (18 mins). A freekick by Eddy Jones for a foul on Hugill ended in a simple nod from an Alty man to Halifax keeper Johnson (20 mins).

It is fair to say that in his previous games Manchster United loanee Hugill has not always been as impressive as he might have been but, today, he was showing a better side to his play and he now embarked on a penetrating run before the ball came to Hulme who went down under a challenge but received no respoonse to his appeals for a penalty (26 mins).

Alty were now dominant and when Hulme surged past a defender into the box his shot towards the back post prompted the best save of the game to date. by Johnson, as he pushed the goal-bound ball away from danger (27 mins).

At the back Ferguson and Baines were looking solid whilst Lundstram, as so often, was also playing well; his run and shot from 25 yards now forced a Johnson parry (35 mins). Soon the midfielder had a shot deflected over the bar for a corner on the left (39 mins).

Halifax now came back a little more into the game with the lively Alli their chief instigator. After beating two opponents, his shot earned the Shaymen a corner (41 mins). From this, Debrah had a free, downward header, which fortunately bounced straight to Byrne's hands.

However, Alty now went to the other end where Hulme fed Oyedele, who won his side another corner (42 mins).

Altrincham finally got the goal their play had certainly deserved. It arrived after an advance on the left which culminated in a fierce shot at goal by Lundstram which came back to Hulme who coolly netted to make it 1-0 and cue great celebrations as he raced over to the Popular Side (45 mins).

Two added minutes followed before the break.

Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM 1
FC HALIFAX TOWN 0

After Altrincham had kicked off, Halifax gained an early corner, again through the guile of Alli (49 mins).

Next Ferguson's strength allowed him to advance to feed Hugill but his low shot was saved by Johnson (52 mins). After Alli had fired in a shot which Byrne saved well, the same player prompted danger from Golden which Baines impressively blocked. As Halifax enjoyed a better spell it was Alli, inevitably, who got in another shot but it was sliced off target (56 mins).

Meanwhile Welch-Hayes surged up the right for Altrincham and got into the box before he was blocked off and the ball hacked away (58 mins).

But Alli again prompted danger at the other end when he and Golden combined and almost forced an own goal as Alty hacked the ball away (59 mins).

Manager Chris Millington now made a Halifax change as Cooke replaced Warburton, a move which prompted some booing from the Halifax fans, though whether this was disappointment at the removal of Warburton or displeasure at the arrival of Cooke was unclear (63 mins). It suggested less than total harmony in the visitors' camp.

For Alty, Jordan Hulme now showed some great hold-up play to feed Oyedele, who got into the box but, from the right, hit his shot disappointingly wide across goal (67 mins).

Soon, Lundstram won a corner and, following this, a fine passing move ended in James Jones's shot to keeper Johnson's arms (71 mins). Shortly afterwards Jones was booked before Harker replaced Golden for the visitors (73 mins).

There then came a bizarre miss at the other end which should have served warning to Altrincham that they might pay for their own wastefulness in front of goal. Following a Halifax freekick on their left, Dieseruvwe found himslef a few yards from goal near Byrne's righ upright. Somehow, he contrived to put the ball wide to Alty's relief (74 mins).

But then another Alty chance missed the target as Hugill did well to feed his Manchester United team-mate Oyedele, but he flashed his shot wide (75 mins). With Marriott soon winning a corner, Alty looked generally comfortable with their lead though Alli did hit the side-netting (81 mins).

Alty were surprisngly showing no signs of preparing a substitute from the seven names on their bench as Welch-Hayes did well to set up Hugill, who showed electric pace but could only fire his shot into the keeper's legs (82 mins).

Next Hulme put a ball cross the face of goal before Halifax won two corners, between which Hugill had another opening but fired his effort into orbit (84 mins). Halifax made another change with O'Rourke replacing Cappello (90 mins).

There was still not a sign of any Alty change as three added minutes were displayed by the fourth official.

With the three minutes almost up, a moron in the away section hurled a blue smoke canister onto the pitch forcing a halt in play.

Soon after play had resumed Alli hit a hopeful shot from outside the box, left of centre. The ball bounced in the box and found its way into the net to stun the home players and supporters (90+5 mins). With away fans spilling onto the perimeter of the pitch the stewards had to re-establish control with one particular individual needing several stewards to manhandle away from the visitors' end.

Altrincham then brought on two substitutes to take penalties, as Elliot Osborne and Tyrese Sinclair replaced Kyle Ferguson and Jordan Hulme.

After the restart the referee blew the final whistle almost immediately to signal that the game had to go to a penalty shoot-out.

After 90 Minutes: ALTRINCHAM 1
FC HALIFAX TOWN 1

Having contrived to turn what had seemed a well-deserved win in normal time into a draw, Altrincham now suffered a second disappoiuntment as they went into a 2-0 lead in the shoot-out, only to collapse to a 2-3 defeat which cost them a once in a lifetime chance of playing at Wembley.

The penalties were taken in front of the massed ranks of Halifax supporters.

  1. 1-0: Elliot OSBORNE sent the keeper the wrong way, scoring to keeper's left
  2. 1-0 Jack SENIOR hit his shot right of centre where it was saved by Byrne's legs
  3. 2-0 Joe HUGILL hit a low penalty which had just enough strength to go through the fingers of keeper Johnson who had dived, correctly, to his right. The ball went in just inside the upright.
  4. 2-1 Luke SUMMERFIELD scored to Byrne's left, the keeper having dived to his right
  5. 2-1 Eddy JONES's underpowered shot from a short run-up was comfortably saved
  6. 2-2 Jamie STOTT sent Byrne the wrong way, just like Summerfield
  7. 2-2 Maxi OYEDELE had his shot savedas the keeper went to his left
  8. 2-3 Jess DEBRAH hit his kick into the roof of the net
  9. 2-3 Tyrese SINCLAIR struck the underside of the bar and the ball rebounded out of the goal. FC Halifax thereby won the game.

PENALTY SHOOT-OUT: ALTRINCHAM 2
FC HALIFAX TOWN 3

Link to ARCHIVE INDEX