Nijmegen, fielding a very strong side incorporating several internationals, took a fourteenth-minute lead when Proper's glancing header from a corner looped over Byrne into the net.

Baas and Larsen combined on the left to get past Donawa and the latter's cross was put into the top corner of his own net by Lewis Baines to make it 2-0 (23 mins).

Half time arrived with the score still 2-0 to the hosts.

A poor ball from Conn-Clarke allowed Nijmegen to get forward and Mattsson scored to make it 3-0 (70 mins).

Then, following a freekick for a Banks foul, Nijmegen worked the freekick smartly to Gonzalez who scored a fourth goal off the underside of the bar (83 mins).

SCORERS:

• 14 mins: Dirk PROPER (NEC Nijmegen 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 23 mins: Lewis BAINES (own goal) (NEC Nijmegen 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 70 mins: Magnus MATTSSON (NEC Nijmegen 3 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 83 mins: Roberto GONZALEZ (NEC Nijmegen 4 ALTRINCHAM 0)

Having used more than twenty players in all four previous pre-season games, and more than thirty different players in total, Phil Parkinson took a 16-man squad to The Netherlands. Consequently, with no trialists or Academy graduates involved, the line-up bore a much closer resemblance to his likely starting eleven for the forthcoming league season.

NEC had the luxury of former Ajax and Barcelona goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen on the bench but their starting eleven included winger Lars Olden Larsen who had recently signed from FC Pari Nizhny Novgorod and another recent signing in youngster Sontje Hansen, formerly at the Ajax academy.

LINE-UPS:

NEC NIJMEGEN (Red & green shirts, black shorts, white socks): 1. Robin Roefs, 28. Bart van Rooij, 17. Bram Nuytinck, 24. Calvin Verdonk, 5. Youri Baas, 20. Lasse Schone (c), 71. Dirk Proper, 11. Magnus Mattsson, 7. Elayis Tavsan, 14. Lars Olden Larsen, 9. Pedro Marques.

Subs: 1. Jesper Cillessen, 31. Rijk Janse, 10. Sontje Hansen, 30. Daan Maas, 33. Roberto Gonzalez, 32. Nils Rosse.

ALTRINCHAM (Dark blue shirts and shorts, yellow sash on shirts, yellow socks): 1. Ollie Byrne, 2. Justin Donawa, 3. Eddy Jones, 4. Isaac Marriott, 5. James Jones (c), 6. Lewis Baines, 7. Matty Kosylo, 8. Elliot Osborne, 9. Regan Linney, 11. Chris Conn-Clarke, 16. Sam Roscoe.

Subs: 20. Matt Gould, 17. Lewis Banks, 15. Justin Amaluzor, 14. George Wilson, 21. Jake Cooper.

This attractive fixture in Nijmegen, the tenth largest and oldest city in The Netherlands, had been arranged via personal contacts of the Altrincham FC Board. The city lies in the east of the country, near the German border.

NEC had returned to the Dutch top flight in 2021.

NEC kicked off and enjoyed the lion's share of the early possession. Indeed, the hosts soon threatened when they got behind Donawa on their left but, though Mattsson's effort beat Byrne, Lewis Baines cleared the ball off the line at the cost of a corner (6 mins).

Donawa cleared the resulting corner but a long-range shot came in which Byrne did well to push over the bar for another corner. Schone's corner was headed over the bar by Nuytinck (7 mins).

Belatedly Alty got forward through Kosylo and, via Marriott and Eddy Jones, Linney advanced, only to be halted by Verdonk (8 mins). And Alty won a corner soon afterwards when Donawa hared up the right (11 mins).

However, Eddy Jones's inswinging corner was headed narrowly wide by James Jones.

The hosts recovered to force a good save by Byrne from Tavsan before a Mattsson shot earned a corner (13 mins). From this corner, Proper glanced a smart header from the near post over Byrne and into the net to give NEC the lead (14 mins).

After Verdonk had fouled Linney to terminate a potential Alty threat, Nijmegen doubled their lead.

Baas and Larsen combined to get behind Donawa and, from a low cross, Baines volleyed the ball into the roof of his own net, as Eddy Jones wrestled with another NEC player behind him (23 mins).

Although Donawa was having a tough time dealing with international class opponents on the NEC left, he was nevertheless working hard as he halted an advance by Mattsson (28 mins).

Alty now enjoyed a decent spell during which Kosylo got past two opponents before Proper brought him down (29 mins).

Next, a good Altrincham move ended as Donawa had a shot blocked (35 mins). Moments later Eddy Jones picked up a booking for a crude challenge on the lively Tavsan (36 mins).

Some argy-bargy between Conn-Clarke and Nuytinck folowed the Dutchman's foul on the Alty man, who kicked out in frustration (37 mins).

There was a further spat, this time between Tavsan and Kosylo, which earned both men a booking (43 mins) before the interval arrived.

For the second half, Amaluzor and Cooper came on for Kosylo and Roscoe, whilst Hansen joined the game for the hosts.

Donawa then pulled up but played on briefly before being treated and substituted by Wilson (53 mins).

Next, a Byrne save was needed to deal with a Marques effort (55 mins) before, at the other end, an offside Linney fired over the bar (57 mins).

Aly now made further changes with Gould replacing Byrne in goal whilst Banks replaced James Jones and Sam Roscoe retruned to the game (58 mins).

Three minutes later NEC brought on Gonzalez, recnetly arrived from Real Betis, and Rosse, who came on for Tavsan and Schone.

As the game passed the hour mark the hosts were well on top, with Gould having to make a full-length save before a timely challenge by Wilson halted another threat.

But the Nijmegen third goal came not from pressure but from an error by Conn-Clarke whose mispass led to Rosse feeding Mattsson who netted (70 mins).

After Roscoe had been booked for a foul (74 mins), Nijmegen won four corners in as many minutes to underline their dominance. In between these corners they brought on Maas for Verdonk (76 mins).

Soon after Banks had been fortunate to avoid a booking for a foul on Proper, the hosts made it 4-0 from the resulting freekick. An impressive sequence of first-time passes following the freekick was rounded off by Marques's shot, which found the net off the bottom of the crossbar (83 mins).

Alty had barely tested the home keeper throughout and that continued as a late freekick by Eddy Jones gave Banks a half-chance which he put over the bar (90 mins).

Altrincham had given a creditable performance against an impressive Nijmegen side which was arguably of English Championship standard. It had also given the numerous travelling supporters the chance to see a starting eleven which is likely to resemble closely the team which will line up on August 5th against Dagenham and Redbridge in the National League.