A very poor performance from Altrincham saw Aldershot, who had lost their previous home game 0-5, deservedly take the points.

After a tight first half in which the hosts were arguably the better of two less than impressive sides, Alty conceded two goals immediately before the interval.

The first goal arrived when Alty half-cleared a cross from the Aldershot left, only for Frost to recat to the situation more quickly than Eddy Jones as he drove the ball home (45 mins).

In the fourth added minute before the break Alty lost possession upfield and Barham advanced on the right. His shot was saved but not held by Matt Gould and Tolaj netted the rebound to make it 2-0 (45+4 mins).

Sadly, Altrincham never looked like retrieving the game in a second half during which three attacking players (Amaluzor, Newby and Linney) were substituted, none of them having seriously threatened the Aldershot goal. The Shots were well worth the points.

SCORERS:

• 45 mins: Tyler FROST (Aldershot Town 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 45(+4) mins: Lorent TOLAJ (Aldershot Town 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)

Mr James Oldham

2,507 (92 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

In goal, Matt Gould again started, with three successive clean sheets to his name. In fact, the whole Altrincham matchday squad was unchanged.

In midweek Aldershot's Josh Barrett, Theo Widdrington and striker Lorent Tolaj all had to be substituted, the former two of them not even making it into the second half. In addition Cian Harries had seen a red card so he was not involved today.

In addition, Tyler Frost had missed that game as he was ill but he started this match, as did Tolaj and Widdrington.

LINE-UPS:

ALDERSHOT TOWN (Red and blue striped shirts, red shirts and socks): 1. Jordi van Stappershoef, 2. Haji Mnoga, 3. Ollie Harfield, 6. Theo Widdrington, 8. Tyler Frost, 9. Lorent Tolaj, 10. Josh Stokes, 11. Ryan Glover, 20. Josh Barrett, 22. Jack Barham, 25. Rollin Menayese. Subs: 7. Stuart O’Keefe 13. Ashley Akpan, 24. Max Mullins, 26. James Daly, 39. Kwame Thomas.

ALTRINCHAM (All dark blue with yellow sash on shirts): 1. Matt Gould, 2. Lewis Banks, 15. Jake Cooper, 4. Lewis Baines, 3. Eddie Jones, 8. Isaac Marriott (c), 6. Elliot Osborne, 10. Chris Conn-Clarke, 30. Alex Newby, 11. Justin Amaluzor, 9. Regan Linney. Subs: 16. Sam Roscoe, 7. Matty Kosylo, 14. Dior Angus, 19. George Wilson, 44. Dan Mooney.

Altrincham arrived at a very damp EBB Stadium lying in fourth place and on the back of three successive victories without conceding a goal.

In cintrats, the Shots had crashed 0-5 at home to AFC Fylde in midweek, with Cian Harries shown a red card which ruled him out of this match.

At a wet EBB Stadium, Altrincham kicked off and, inside a minute, won a freekick on the right. Having taken it too quickly for the referee's liking, the re-take saw Newby find the side-netting to the keeper's left (2 mins).

The hosts' first effort was a very wide shot by Tolaj (4 mins). The same player was wide again (9 mins) as the game failed to catch light in the opening stages.

It then took a fine block by Baines to halt an Aldershot counter-attack (17 mins) before Osborne and Jones combined to feed Conn-Clarke whose fine shot with the outside of his right foot curled narrowly wide from twenty yards.

At the pother end Barham headed wide from a right-wing cross (19 mins).

When Tolaj's flailing arm left Baines with a bloodied face, the home striker was booked (20 mins).

As the rain intensified, a Stokes shot ran weakly to Gould (27 mins). Soon afterwards Conn-Clarke was barged over in the box but only a corner resulted and that came to nothing. Next Stokes's effort went straight to Gould, from 18 yards (29 mins).

After a spell of home pressure, Amaluzor was fed by Conn-Clarke and had a clear opening to shoot but he delayed and was closed down by Harfield and the chance had disappeared (32 mins).

A few minutes later, Amaluzor went down off the ball for treatment and Mooney was prepared to come on in his place before the former Shots winger recovered and resumed back on the pitch (36 mins).

With a fairly average game heading towards the break, Altrincham won a corner through Eddy Jones but nothing resulted from it (43 mins). Although the home side had been marginally the better performers, it came as something of a surprise when they took a 45th minute lead as a cross from the left by Harfield was headed clear by Altty, only for Frost to hammer home the match's first goal from right of goal.

And it got worse in the fourth of the five added minutes. Barham was again involved. This time his shot was stopped but not held by Gould and Tolaj arrived to convert the loose ball and make it 2-0, a flattering margin of lead for the hosts.

It had been a disappointing first half for Altrincham in which, apart from Amalauzor failing to convert a good chance and a Conn-Clarke effort which went narrowly wide, they had created littl threat up front.

After an early defensive lapse from Altrincham, Barham almost found the net insde the opening minute of the secons half..

However, Alty won the half's first corner from a Linney shot (51 mins) but the visitors' performance continued disapppointingly as the hour mark passed. Newby was then very lucky to escape a card and probably a red one, when he elbowed Barham.

Phil Parkinson now made his first change as Amaluzor gave way to Roscoe (63 mins) before a disappointing effort from Linney went to van Stappershoef's hands. The sides then won a corner apiece, the Shots' kick coming from Eddy Jones's miscontrol (66 mins).

Aldershot brought on Daly for Barham (67 mins), followed by Kosylo being introduced to replace Newby (69 mins). Altrincham were proving to be even more disappointing in the seocnd half than before the interval with Eddy Jones one iof those having an uncharacteristic off-day.

ALtrincham made a third change and, as previouly, it was a forward who was withdrawn, Linney being replaced by Angus (75 mins).

Aldershot were not threatning very much either, as the rain continued to fall, before a well-struck twenty-yarder from Daly was saved by Gould (76 mins).

Baines was now booked for a foul (78 mins) before Kwame Thomas replaced Widdrington for the Shots (79 mins).

As the game meandered on, Mullins replaced Glover, who was apparently booked in the process (80 mins).

Following a Roscoe misheader a fine shot by Daly was beaten away by Gould (87 mins) before Alty's best effort of the second half, a 25 yarder from Marriott from an Angus lay off. But the ball went narrowly wide (90 mins).

In five added minutes and after a Jones cross, Angus did well to get in a header but it went wide.

Altrincham never looked like retrieving the game after their quick-fire concession of two goals at the end of the first half.

Away form is proving to be Altrinham's Achilles heel, with the Robins having the fewst wins of any of the play-off contenders. Hopefully, next Tuesday at Hartlepool will see a marked improvement on this very disappointing performnance.