After spurning a good chance in the second minute, Lancaster took a 28th minute lead through trialist Aaron Bennett, who was at Altrincham last season, and they deservedly retained their lead at the interval.

Alty fielded a new starting eleven after the break and the new eleven showed a marked improvement after the interval but could not break down a solid home defence.

SCORERS:

• 29 mins: Aaron BENNETT (Lancaster City 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)

Of the 22 Altrincham players deployed for this match, just eight had been on the club's books in 2022-23 season. Four trialists were given opportunities.

They included left-back Sean Lawton, who was on the books of Crewe Alexandra last season, spending time on loan at Hereford FC. Another Robins trialist today, right-back Kwame Boateng had also been an Altrincham trialist last season and he has been playing at Guiseley.

Second-half trialist centre-back Mark Ellis is an experienced central defender who had been released by Barrow over the summer, whilst Kelan Swales was at Frickley Athletic in 2022-23.

LINE-UPS:

LANCASTER CITY (Pale blue and white striped shirts, blue shorts and socks): 1. Andre Mendes, 2. Sam Bailey, 3. Charlie Bailey, 4. Charlie Barnes, 5. Andrew Teague (c), 6. Kyle Brownhill, 7. Christian Sloan, 8. Niall Cowperthwaite, 9. Jake Connelly, 10. Brad Carroll, 11. Trialist (Aaron Bennett). Subs: Jenson Butterworth, Paul Stevenson, Robbie Deagan, Pat Allington, 2 x Trialists

ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): First Half: 20. Matt Gould; Lewis Banks, Jake Cooper, Sam Roscoe, Sean Lawton (trialist); 4. Joey Jones (c), Elliot Osborne; Justin Amaluzor, Matty Kosylo, Loui Williams; Dior Angus.

Second Half: Ollie Byrne, Kwame Boateng (trialist), Joel Bailey (academy), Mark Ellis (trialist), Eddy Jones; Owen German, Isaac Marriott (c); Tom Jones, George Wilson, Kelan Swales (trialist), Regan Linney.

This was Altrincham's first pre-season match of 2023 and the Robins' first visit to the Giant Axe since 2018 when they won 2-1 in a Northern Premier League fixture.

An unfamiliar Altrincham side which included just four players from last season's squad, kicked off the first-half at the Giant Axe.

But it was the hosts who alost took a second-minute lead as Carroll fed Connelly, who rounded Gould and should have done better than hit the post.

Play was halted for a head injury to Joey Jones who briefly left the pitch for his wound to be bandaged (7 mins). In his absence, George Wilson took his place before the Alty captain came back on and Wilson was withdrawn.

Amalozur was looking bright on his debut and, when he got past Cowperthwaite, his cut-back was met by an Angus header which just cleared the bar (15 mins). Kosylo was also showing some glimpses of what Alty had missed during his season-long absence.

Osborne then set up Angus for a shot which was well hit but too close to the keeper who made a decent save (22 mins). A drinks break soon followed on what was a humid afternoon.

George Wilson was now brought back onto the pitch as Joey Jones gave in to his injury.

Then after a scrappy period of play the hosts took the lead when former Alty loanee Aaron Bennett, looking leaner than he had been, found the bottom corner of the net with a well-struck shot. For the Dolly Blues, it was a deserved lead (29 mins).

Lancaster now enjoyed a comfortable spell before City almost doubled their lead when Sam Bailey set up Chris Bailey, who cut in and saw his shot just clear the bar as Gould dived full length (43 mins). And the same player went close again with the game in added first-half time but the interval arrived with the hosts worthy of their lead.

Whilst Alty fielded their second starting eleven for the second half, Allington came on for Teague the Lancaster captain. Almost immediately Linney was making an impression and in the opening ten minutes the visitors won three corners, the last coming from a deflected Wilson shot which was diverted over the bar (54 mins).

Just before the hour mark, Connelly and Cowperthwaite were subbed by the hosts.

Altrincham continued to see a lot of the ball with trialist Swales getting into the box and earning another corner (64 mins). By now Osborne had come back on to replace Wilson and, midway through the half, Lancaster introduced a trialist for Sam Bailey (66 mins).

After another Altrincham corner the ball came for Osborne, whose shot elicited a good save. The ball came out to Tom Jones, whose effort cleared the bar (71 mins).

Swales was making a mark but, when he next got into the box, his decision to shoot from an angle was disappointing, given the proximity of an unmarked Tom Jones at the far post (74 mins).

As the skies darkened Lancaster made a double change when Bennett and Barnes were withdrawn (81 mins). Next, substitute keeper Stevenson saved well from Osborne as rain started to fall heavily from a dark sky (82 mins).

Another effort from Osborne soon went narrowly wide (83 mins) before a late Alty corner came to nothing (89 mins).

So, just as last season, Altrincham had started their pre-season with a 1-0 defeat to a lower level team. But with eight of the 22 players used today not being in their first-team squad last season, it was not altogether surprising that there was a lack of cohesion to their play.