For the third year in the last four Altrincham bowed out of the FA Cup at the first hurdle with this narrow defeat to Oldham. It was the home side's first defeat in eight games and was delivered by a 79th minute close range goal by McGahey following a left-wing corner.

The Latics started the game well, buoyed by 1,115 of their own fans in the away end in a total attendance of 3,874. But Altrincham came into the game and had the better of the second part of the first half and it was they who created the better chances before the interval.

The second half was a more open affair than the first 45 minutes and Altrincham looked the more likely winners with Conn-Clarke, Angus and Amaluzor failing to convert chances that presented themselves. They paid the price when McGahey scored and, indeed, Reid could have made it 2-0 in added time but for a goal-line clearance by Baines.

SCORERS:

• 79 mins: Harrison McGAHEY (ALTRINCHAM 0 Oldham Athletic 1)

Having played a second-string against 1874 Northwich in a midweek Cheshire Senior Cup tie, not surprisingly Alty fielded a much stronger team today. They returned to the same line-up that won their last league match minus James Jones who moved to the bench. Into the starting eleven in his place, but not his position, came striker Dior Angus. On the bench Justin Donawa was presumably away on international duty so, with seven berths available today on the bench, Tom Jones, George Burroughs and Gerald Sithole were included.

Loanee Sithole was a major surprise on the teamsheet given that he had been reportedly returned to his parent club through injury.

For Oldham, former Moss Lane favourite Josh Lundstram started and McGahey came in for Reid.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 29. Ethan Ross, 2. Lewis Banks, 15. Jake Cooper, 4. Lewis Baines, 3. Eddy Jones, 6. Elliot Osborne, 8. Isaac Marriott (c), 11. Justin Amaluzor, 30. Alex Newby, 10. Chris Conn-Clarke, 14. Dior Angus. Subs: 5. James Jones, 16. Sam Roscoe, 18. Owen German, 20. Tom Jones, 21. Matt Gould, 28. Gerald Sithole, 32, George Burroughs

OLDHAM ATHLETIC (Blue shirts and socks, white shorts): 13. Mathew Hudson, 3. Mark Kitching, 4.Liam Hogan, 15. Devarn Green, 8. Josh Lundstram, 5. Shaun Hobson, 14. Nathan Sheron, 21. Will Sutton, 22. Brennan Dickenson, 30. James Norwood. Subs: 1. Magnus Norman, 6. Mark Shelton, 7. Kurt Willoughby, 9. Mike Fondop-Talum, 16. Charlie Raglan, 18. Ben Tollitt, 25. Alex Reid.

This was the first ever FA Cup meeting between the clubs and was a tie in which Altrincham were seeking to improve on a recent record of two defeats at this first hurdle of the FA Cup competition in the past three seasons.

Despite being unbeaten in their six games in charge, Oldham had parted company with their interim managers in midweek and were in the care of the Academy manager Paul Murray today. However, they had announced on the eve of this game that their new permanent manager was to be Micky Mellon, who would be in attendance at this tie. Curiously, Mellon's first home match in charge of the Latics will also be against Altrincham, later in October in the league.

Altrincham were in even better form than their guests, having gone eight matches in all competitions without defeat, winning their six most recent outings.

Heavy rain on the eve of the match had been topped up by numerous showers on matchday itself, including a downpour an hour or so before kick off. So the pitch was soft in places but perfectly playable.

Before kick-off the teams changed ends so, unusually, Altrincham kicked off attacking the Golf Road end. The change of direction did not seem to help them as the visitors had much the better of the opening stages.

Indeed, the Latics won the match's first corner, on the right, from Lundstram's cross which deflected off his former team-mate Isaac Marriott, who was again captaining his side (8 mins).

Belatedly, Altrincham came to life as Angus fed Conn-Clarke on th left and he got in a low cross which narrowly evaded Amaluzor in the goalmouth (15 mins). Up to this stage Altrincham had seen plenty of the ball but their build ups had been ponderous and lacking in an end product.

But it was Oldham who now won their second corner of the afternoon, when Kitching's cross found Green at the back post (17 mins). Dickenson's corner, from the right almost caught Ross off his guard as it curled in towards the goal at the near post but the keeper managed to scoop it away.

Next, Alty went down to the other end where Angus went down in the box but penalty appeals were rejected (19 mins). And Alty threatened again when Conn-Clarke won possession and fed Newby, whose shot cannoned off the keeper Hudson. The loose ball fell for Angus but his effort from the right of centre was well off target (24 mins).

Oldham suffered a blow when Dickenson injured himself trying to keep the ball in play on the bye-line to the right of Ross's goal (26 mins). After a stoppage for treatment he was unable to continue but play resumed without a replacement and a foul on Angus gave Altrincham a freekick which Hudson shovelled away (28 mins).

And Hudson was need by his side again when he had to smother a Conn-Clarke cross on the half-hour mark.

At this point, Tollitt replaced the stricken Dickenson (31 mins).

Altrincham continued on top as Newby had a shot blocked at the end of a good build up (34 mins) and Hudson was soon rqeuired to come out of his goal to kick clear as he continued to be the busier keeper.

When Amaluzor went down in the box Altrincham's penalty appeals were again rejected though, this time, the claims seemed very plausible (40 mins). Having had the better of the previous twenty minutes or more, Alty then got into a mess at the back, just as the game went into two added minutes.

The ball ricocheted around their penalty area and gave the visitors a corner. This came to nohing and a fine ball from Osborne got Eddy Jones forward. He fed Conn-Clarke who wasted as good a chance as there had been in the game so far when he scuffed his shot wide (45+2 mins).

With steady rain falling and the away fans in the open section attempting to get into the already busy covered section, Oldham kicked off towards Golf Road. As in the first half, the visitors started the better, winning an early corner through Lundstram (47 mins).

Alty rallied as Conn-Clarke won a corner but, not for the first time in his shiort time at Altrincham, Newby's corner was poor. The Colchester loanee had an otherwise good game but his corner kicks are a phenomenon akin to the legendary curate's egg (51 mins).

At the other end Tollitt got in a strong shot which Ross beat away.

Next, Angus got in a shot which deflected onto the crossbar with Amaluzor skying the rebound from the left (53 mins).

The second half was proving a better spectacle and a more open encounter than the first half had been.

The rain had now eased off as Baines halted Norwood's advance. Unfortunately, Alty's wayward shooting continued as Conn-Clarke missed the target by some distance from 30 yards.

Marriott was setting his team a good example as he twice tackled back in as many minutes with play switching from end to end shortly before the hour mark. A foul on the Alty captain earned Sheron a yellow card (59 mins).

Each side now won a corner before Green fell awkwardly in the centre circle as he challnged for an aerial ball (69 mins). After lengthy treatment he was unable to continue and was replaced by Reid (73 mins).

When Hogan came flying over the top of Amaluzor the referee bizarrely penalised the Alty man who had simply stood his ground. Following this freekick Reid was played in but, as Ross came out, the substitute was unable to convert his chance, much to Altrincham's relief (75 mins).

However, the recycled ball saw McGahey's long range effort earn a corner (76 mins). Another Oldham corner soon arrived, this time on the left.

And once again Altrincham's fallibility to back-post corners manifested itself as the ball was knocked down and McGahey poked it into the net from close range to give Oldham the lead (79 mins).

In response, Amaluzor got forward only to be fouled but referee Baines played advantage. This allowed Conn-Clarke to get in a shot which Hudson saved (82 mins).

As Alty pressed forward a Banks cross from the right narrowly missed Angus's head before an Amaluzor shot ran weakly to Hudson as yet another chance went begging (84 mins).

Burroughs and Sithole now came on for Banks and Angus respectively, after 86 minutes.

Alty continued to press forward before a fairly conservative five added miutes were announced, an amount which might well have been higher given the protracted treatment for Green earlier.

Amaluzor was again barged over, on the edge of the box, but Mr Baines thought otherwise before Oldham broke away at the other end with Reid running up the middle at Ross. The Oldham sub rounded the keeper to the right but his goalbund shot was cleared off the line by the well-positioned Eddy Jones at the near post (90+4 mins).

And so time ran out on Altrincham as they exited the FA Cup at the first hurdle for the third time in four years and their eight-game unbeaten run came to an end. The blame was largely attributable to poor finishing and when they did hit the target, Hudson was comfortably the busier of the two keepers.