In a match which Alty could equally well have won or lost, this third draw out of four fixtures this season left them unbeaten in tenth place.

Altrincham had the better of the first half against an uncharacteristically error-prone Boreham Wood. They took the lead in the 32nd minute through one of those errors by the visitors as a promising link up between Amaluzor and Conn-Clarke seemed to have faltered with the latter's poor touch.

But the Wood gifted possession back to Linney who drove a fine, low shot past Ashmore.

There was a further double-blow for the Wood in first-half added time as they substituted the injured Owens, himself a post-warm-up replacement, just as Mo Sagaf looked to suffer a bad injury, the player having to be helped off the field, supported under both shoulders.

But the second half saw Altrincham barely threaten the Wood goal and the visitors deservedly levelled after 61 minutes. An impressive run up the left to the byline by Ilesanmi resulted in his laying on a virtual tap-in for Ndlovu.

After that it was the Wood who created the greater pressure but the afternoon ended level

SCORERS:

• 32 mins: Regan LINNEY (ALTRINCHAM 1 Boreham Wood 0)
• 61 mins: Lee NDLOVU (ALTRINCHAM 1 Boreham Wood 1)

For the second time in a week the opposition made a change of personnel between issuing their team sheet and starting the game.

This time it was Boreham Wood who brought in Owens for O'Neill, who was presumably injured in the warm-up and therefore deprived of his debut.

Alty's back line was also unexpected as Baines and Banks dropped to the bench, as did midfielder Joey Jones. Cooper, Kosylo and Amaluzor started in place of the trio.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 29. Ethan Ross, 3. Eddy Jones, 8. Isaac Marriott, 5. James Jones (c), 7. Matty Kosylo, 6. Elliot Osborne, 9. Regan Linney, 10. Chris Conn-Clarke, 11. Justin Amaluzor, 15. Jake Cooper, 16. Sam Roscoe. Subs: 2. Lewis Banks, 6. Lewis Baines, 14. Dior Angus, 19. George Wilson, 22. Joey Jones.

BOREHAM WOOD (All grey): 1 Nathan Ashmore, 3 Femi Ilesanmi, 5 Chris Bush, 7 Tom Whelan, 8 Mo Sagaf, 9 Lee Ndlovu, 12 Jamal Fyfield, 15 David Agbontohoma, 16 Charlie Owens, 19 Erico Sousa, 21 Kwesi Appiah. Subs: 2 Cameron Coxe, 6 David Stephens, 10 Tyrone Marsh, 13 Koju Abayomi (GK), 20. Liam Miller

At kick-off, Alty remained unbeaten after three games this season but Boreham Wood's surprising home defeat in midweek left them a point behind eighth-placed Alty.

Altrincham kicked off, attacking the away end. After a few non-descript minutes, Boreham Wood were the first to threaten as Appiah's impressive run up the middle, beating a defender, ended with him on the deck inside the box but his plaintive appeal for a spot-kick went unheeded.

It was not long until Alty had some forward threat themselves when Linney dispossessed a defender on the left but, without much support, nothing came of the situation (10 mins). As well as Linney, Amaluzor was looking positive but Boreham Wood continued to shade the opening stages, though Whelan wastefully overhit a freekick (13 mins).

Then a superb strike from at least thirty yards by Bush was impressively tipped over the bar for a corner by Ross (16 mins).

The resulting corner created problems as Kosylo skied an attempted ckearance towards his own goal with the ball almost going into his own net but an Alty freekick was awarded.

At the other end Alty got Conn-Clarke into the box where he went down cheaply (20 mins) but now the home side did begin to look a bit more threatening. A smart interchange between the advancung James Jones and Amaluzor culminated in the latter's smart back-heel which gave Jones a clear shot at goal but Ashmore saved well, low to his left near the upright (21 mins).

Soon, more good play by Amaluzor gave Conn-Clarke a shot but he made a mess of his effort. Then Linney got in a shot which forced a save (23 mins). Boreham Wood were making uncharacteristic errors, such as when Bush passed to Linney but nothing came of it (28 mins).

Alty's ascendancy at this stage produced a corner from an Amaluzor shot (30 mins). Amaluzor was also instrumental in Altrincham going ahead in the match as he fed Conn-Clarke. Although Alty's biggest signing lost control of the ball, Boreham Wood's Agbontohoma allowed Linney to gain possession and he advanced to drive a low shot across Ashmore to make it 1-0 (32 mins).

The Wood responded by winning a corner but soon Alty were up the other end appealing for a penalty as Conn-Clarke went down. Osborne and Conn-Clarke then conspired for Linney to have a shot but he fired over the bar (39 mins).

After treatment for Owens, a visitors' corner followed, won by Ndlovu (43 mins).

As the game went into four added minutes, there was double misfortune for Boreham Wood. Just as Owens had to come off to be replaced by Coxe (45+2 mins), Sagaf needed treatment and had to be helped off with what looked like a bad leg injury. His relacement was Marsh (45+3 mins).

The half finally ended as the clock ticked over to 51:46 minutes. After a slow start, Alty deserved their narrow lead.

Despite their two enforced changes, Boreham Wood started the second half well as Marsh and Sousa set up Appiah but he lifted his shot over the bar from 18 yards (49 mins).

Conn-Clarke then got himself needlessly booked for kicking the ball away at a throw in on half-way. The ball only travelled a few feet but the Irishman should have known that the offence brings a mandatory booking these days (51 mins).

And only moments later Kosylo joined him in the ref's book for a lunging tackle. A Boreham corner followed before a foul on Amaluzor earned a card for Sousa (56 mins). The referee then ignored a clear trip on Amaluzor.

The Wood's improved performance after the break got its reward when an excellent run by Ilesanmu not only got him forward on the left but saw him get past James Jones to reach the byline, from where he fed Ndlovu for a close range equaliser (61 mins).

Four minutes later Alty took off a clearly disappointed Linney for Angus (65 mins). Conn-Clarke's disappointing afternoon continued with a poor ball as the game went into its final quarter.

When a speeding Amaluzor was taken out by Whelan, a yellow card was delivered (68 mins). However, Alty were creating little, with Angus getting little service as he struggled to make an impact on the game.

Eleven minutes from time midfielder Wilson made his debut for Alty, with Amaluzor the man withdrawn.

As time ticked away and Ashmore remained untroubled in his goal, at the other end Alty conceded two needless corners. The first came off Eddy Jones's head beyond the back post (84 mins), before a high ball dropped out of the sky only for Cooper to mis-head it out for a second avaoidable corner (85 mins).

Belatedly Alty got in a rare shot at goal with Kosylo's effort a decent hit but a comfortable save for Ashmore (89 mins).

And a second effort followed when a good passing move ended with Eddy Jones stabbing the ball wide with his right foot (90 mins).

Four added minutes were decreed which extended to five, during which Osborne was booked (90+2 mins). In the last of those minutes an Alty corner was won but it came to nothing.

Alty could not complain at dropping two points after a very disappointing second half. For their part Boreham wood belsied their reputation as a one-dimensional side and will themselves feel that they could have won this game after an improved second-half performance.