Altrincham faced the league leaders, Barnet, in sweltering heat in north London.

Despite the 30C-plus temperatures, the referee saw fit to add nine added minutes to a first half which ended with Altrincham fortunate to be just a single goal adrift.

Alty were outplayed in the opening stages and went behind in the tenth minute, yet again to a header from a corner. The scorer was Collinge.

Alty did improve for a while but could have fallen further behind when Amaluzor was penalised for supposed handball in the box. However, Ross made a good save from Pritchard's spot-kick. The same player also put the resulting loose ball over the bar (32 mins).

It got worse for an Alty side already without main striker Linney, through injury, when Crankshaw was injured and it looked to be a fairly serious knock as he hobbled off to be replaced by Donawa (37 mins).

So, it was just 1-0 to the Bees at the break. However, the hosts dominated the second half before a superbly worked second goal was scored by Brunt (67 mins).

Altrincham were no threat in the second half as Barnet once again camped in the Altrincham half and the Bees deservedly picked up a third goal in added time when a short corner led to a low ball being diverted by an Alty defender for Kabamba to tap in at the far post.

SCORERS:

• 10 mins: Danny COLLINGE (Barnet 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 67 mins: Zak BRUNT (Barnet 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 90(+4) mins: Nicke KABAMBA (Barnet 3 ALTRINCHAM 0)

Again without striker Regan Linney, who is seemingly out long-term, Altrincham made a change at the back where captain James Jones dropped out of the squad and was replaced in the starting line-up by Jake by Cooper. Isaac Marriott took over as captain whilst, on the bench, Justin Donawa returned from injury.

League-leaders Barnet were unsurprisingly unchanged, apart from on the bench where Hall-Johnson replaced Gillmore.

LINE-UPS:

BARNET (Amber and black) 1. Laurie Walker, 3. Ben Coker, 4. Danny Collinge, 14. Harry Pritchard, 8. Dale Gorman (c), 6. Jerome Okimo, 9. Nicke Kabamba, 18. Anthony Hartigan, 21. Ben Wynter, 22. Adebola Oluwo, 33. Zak Brunt. Subs: 2. Reece Hall-Johnson, 5. Marvin Armstrong, 10. Callum Stead, 11. Idris Kanu, 30. Finley Potter.

ALTRINCHAM (All blue with yellow sash on shirts): 29. Ethan Ross, 2. Lewis Banks, 3. Eddy Jones, 6. Elliot Osborne, 27. Ollie Crankshaw, 14. Dior Angus, 15. Jake Cooper, 10. Chris Conn-Clarke, 11. Justin Amaluzor, 8. Isaac Marriott (c), 16. Sam Roscoe. Subs: 4. Lewis Baines, 7. Matty Kosylo, 17. Justin Donawa, 22. Joey Jones, 32. George Burroughs.

After losing their first game of the season last time out, Altrincham faced the early league leaders at a sweltering Hive London.

The hosts kicked off and went on to have the better of the opening stages, though Alty's cause was not helped by some eccentric refereeing decisions by Mr. Parkinson which, on more than one occasion, denied them seemingly clear freekicks. An early instance saw Conn-Clarke seemingly fouled only for play to continue and a threatening home freekick result, 30 yards out.

The resulting corner started a sequence of four successive corners. Alty's recurent frailty at corners, especially to the back post, has become well-known and it was sadly unsurprising when the fourth flag-kick yielded a goal. as Collinge headed firmly home (10 mins).

Belatedly Altrincham came into the game after the first quarter of an hour, with Marriott and Conn-Clarke conspiring to feed Crankshaw, who cut in from the left and forced a good save from Walker will a well-strunck, low shot (16 mins).

Soon afterwards, however, an error by Osborne allowed the hosts a shot which struck the adavncing Ross's knees. However, Alty then put together a promising multi-pass move but it ended with Conn-Clarke feeding Amaluzor and the ball ran to the keeper (17 mins).

Following an Eddy Jones throw, Amaluzor cut in from the right but his low shot went narrowly wide of the near post (22 mins). A drinks' break soon ensued before Alty again constructed a promising mve, this time winning a corner as a reward 24 mins)

Wingers Crankshaw and Amaluzor were looking Alty's main danger and the two combined to earn another corner as Atrincham looked to be going to make a game of the fixture. Following the corner Eddy Jones's ball into the box was met by Banks but he headed wide (26 mins).

As the Robins continued to get forward Amaluzor fed Crankshaw but his effort cleared the bar (29 mins).

Next as Amaluzor tracked back he was judged to have handled the ball as it was played at him from very close range; it was certainly not deliberate but, in this mad era where intent hads been removed from the equation, the referee pointed to the spot and booked the Alty winger.

However, Ross was equal to Pritchard's spot kick, saving it low to his left. The ball bounced up but Pritchard could only head it over the bar (32 mins).

The game's momentum was then broken by an inury to Crankshaw. After treatemt it was clear that he could not contiue and, assisted, he hobbled off to be replaced by Donawa, himself returning from injury (37 mins). After a low cross had rolled across the face of Alty's goal, the Bees won a corner. From the left, this was headed over the bar (39 mins). However a well-hit effort from Gorman then hit the Altrincham crossbar (43 mins) and Kabamba soon headed narrowly over the bar (44 mins).

Six added minutes were declared in which Banks was booed for a foul only then to commit a blatant hold on Kabamba yet escape further punishment (45+5 mins). As the six added monutes grew into a ninth minute Alty did rally a little but half-time arrived with Alty thankful that the penalty save and the width of their crossbar had prevented them falling further than one goal behind.

Altrincham held their breath when the already booked Banks again committed a foul and again escaped further sanction other than a freekick (50 mins). Barnet then went close to adding to their lead but Collinge was unable to convert a chance from very close range (51 mins).

Things improved when Amaluzor forced Salker into a full-length tip round the post with a shot from the right.

Alty then opted to save Banks from a potential red card by withdrawing him and replacing him at right-back by debutant Burroughs, the former Coventry City youngster (52 mins).

Following an Alty corner, Gorman was booked for a foul on Donawa (53 mins) before Burroughs earned an early lecture for a foul.

Just after the hour Hall-Johnson replaced Wynter (61 mins) after which his side won a corner.

Folowing this Joey Jones came on as Alty's final sub, replacing the out of sorts Osborne (64 mins). Altrincham were presenting little threat to the Barnet goal and it was not long before an excellent passing move ended with a fine goal by Brun to double Barnet's lead (67 mins).

With Barnet well on top, another drinks break was held (71 mins). After the resumption Barnet contiued on top with Ross calld into action to save from Coker at the cost of a corner (78 mins).

Kanu now came on for the Bees, replacing Gorman (79 mins), followed by Pritchard being replaced by Armstrong (82 mins).

A fumble by Walker from a low Donawa cross gave Alty the bonus of a corner, which came to nothing. Six added minutes were computed and deep into them, a short corner led to a low cross which hit an Alty defender and arrived at Kabamba's feet. He converted a simple chance at the back post to complete the scoring (90+4 mins).

It was easy to see why Barnet were leading the table but for Altrincham it was a disappointing performance, compounded by the injury to Crankshaw.