ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS
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DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE (1) 3
ALTRINCHAM (1) 1
played on Saturday, 2 March, 2024 at 3pm.
SUMMARY:
Altrincham fell to a fifth successive defeat in east London and they could have no excuses for this latest loss.
The last time they had such a poor sequence of five successive losses was also at this time of year, in 2021. And, curiously, that wretched run also started, as did this one, with Alty having just won three succesive games to find themselves in fourth position in the National League.
In this match at Dagenham, after a poor first half, Alty seemed to be improving in the second half only to concede twice in two minutes just after the hour-mark.
The scoring had started when each side netted a penalty just before the interval.
The Daggers went ahead when Eddy Jones was adjudged to have pulled down Eastman. Hill converted the penalty (42 mins).
And with the game into added time before the break, Linney did well to get into the box where he was clipped and earned a spot-kick. Linney himself converted the penalty to make it 1-1 (45+2 mins).
Altrincham improved after the break and it was unexpected when Dagenham went ahead again as Alty failed to deal with a throw and Rees netted (61 mins).
And three minutes later centre-back Phipps, playing throughout as a striker, broke the offside trap and made it 3-1 (64 mins).
It was the fourth successive game this season in which Altrincham had conceded two goals separated by seven minutes or fewer.
SCORERS:
- 42 mins: Ryan HILL (penalty) (Dagenham & Redbridge 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
- 45(+1) mins: Regan LINNEY (penalty) (Dagenham & Redbridge 1 ALTRINCHAM 1)
- 61 mins: Josh REES (Dagenham & Redbridge 2 ALTRINCHAM 1)
- 64 mins: Harry PHIPPS (Dagenham & Redbridge 3 ALTRINCHAM 1)
REFEREE: Mr Paul Johnson
ATTENDANCE: 1,449 (98 in away section).
TEAM NEWS:
In midweek Altrincham could only name four subs for the match at Southend with seven players out injured and four more unavailable on loan.
Here, Altrincham made three changes with Banks and Linney returning, after illness and injury respectively, whilst Mooney was promoted from the bench to the starting eleven.
However, a late change had to be made to the declared starters before kick off as Wilson belatedly retained his place, when Osborne had to drop to the bench, as likewise did Angus and Roscoe.
Dagenham, who had lost more home games than any other team this season, made two changes as Phipps and Kedwell were promoted from the bench with Sears and Pereira dropping out. However centre-back Phipps was deployed as the main striker in this match. Despite Hare coming into the squad, the Daggers could only name four on their bench.
LINE-UPS:
DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE (Red & blue stripes, blue shorts and socks) : 1. Elliot Justham, 19. Sam Ling, 3. Elliott Johnson, 8. Josh Rees, 5. Tom Eastman, 4. Nikola Tavares, 6. Jake Hessenthaler, 10. Ryan Hill, 16. Harry Phipps, 17. Harvey Kedwell, 20. Keenan Appiah-Forson. Subs: 2. Josh Hare, 11. Shiloh Remy, 15. Lewis Page, 24. Conor Lawless
ALTRINCHAM (All dark blue with yellow sash on shirts): 21. Matt Gould, 2. Lewis Banks, 15. Jake Cooper, 4. Lewis Baines, 3. Eddie Jones, 8. Isaac Marriott (c), 19. George Wilson, 10. Chris Conn-Clarke, 30. Alex Newby, 44. Dan Mooney, 9. Regan Linney. Subs: 1. Ollie Byrne, 6. Elliot Osborne, 7. Matty Kosylo, 16. Sam Roscoe, 14. Dior Angus.
BACKGROUND:
This was Altrincham's second trip to Essex in four days, following a defeat in midweek at Southend. In fact, the Robins were seeking to end a run of four successive defeats and to complete a sequence of four away games in their last five fixtures.
The Daggers' home form had been poor this season with the team having lost more home fixtures (12) than any other club in the division over their 18 league matches played at Victoria Road this season. Unlike Alty, Dagenham had not played in midweek, their last outing being a week ago when they had lost 0-1 at home to FC Halifax Town.
At kick-off Dagenham lay ten points and six places below ninth-placed Alty, despite having played two games more than their guests.
The reverse fixture had been the opening game of the season when the clubs had drawn one apiece at the J. Davidson Stadium.
REPORT:
Perhaps affected by making an enforced late change to their starting eleven, Altrincham did not start the game well. There was some early alarm when Gould's distribution was poor after collecting the ball but the first real opening was to come Altrincham's way.
In their first real forward movement, Conn-Clarke intercepted the ball and he and two team-mates advanced against three defenders. However, Conn-Clarke could not find Linney and the ball ran to Justham's hands (5 mins).
Alty were looking unconvincing in defence and Dagenham now earned a corner from a cross from the right. From this, Eastman's downward header led to a volley from Hill which Gould saved well (14 mins).
Alty's response was a Linney shot whch narrowly cleared the bar before Alty won their first corner. Taken short by Newby to Conn-Clarke, the training-ground move petered out in an offside flag (17 mins).
Manager Parkinson was not happy with his team's start as he exhorted them to play the ball more quickly.
There was little incident at either end as the first half passed the halfway point. Alty's errors were still too frequent to allow them to create anything threatening to the Daggers' goal.
The hosts were marginally the better side, winning a corner off Banks and then a freekick, after a lack of concentration from Wilson induced him to commit a foul.
Even when Alty enjoyed a bit of possession the move was undone by a Baines losing possession (34 mins).
Dagenham were not a lot better and Appiah soon became the first player to be booked, for a foul. It was Newby's turn next to lose possession cheaply, a characteristic in which numerous Alty players indulged in the first half (37 mins).
After a Dagenham corner had been won, as Baines headed clear, Eddy Jones and Eastham were engaged in a tussle, with the Alty left-back's arms being around the tall Daggers defender. Referee Johnson deemed this worthy of a penalty for the hosts.
Hill converted the penalty comfortably (42 mins).
But with the game into added time, Linney got forward and had his heels clipped to gain a penalty at the other end. Linney sent Justham the wrong way to make it 1-1 (45+1 mins).
Half-Time: DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 1 |
Altrincham started the second half with a bit more purpsoe than in the first half. But when Newby was flagged offside, the winger kicked the ball away to earn a totally unnecessary caution (50 mins)
Next, it took a decent save from Gould to keep out a long-range effort with a corner following, which Eastman headed to the Alty keeper (52 mins).
Alty almost took the lead soon afterwards when Conn-Clarke cut-in from the left and his shot was deflected onto the upright of Justham's goal with the keeper stranded (54 mins). Mooney who is still not quite the player he was during his first stay at Altrincham, now ballooned a shot over the bar (55 mins).
Alty were looking a better side than in the first half and a decent passing move now ended in Conn-Clarke's shot wide (58 mins). With the sun shining inhis eyes, Gould belatedly donned a cap before, out of nothing more threatening than a long throw, Dagenham got to the byline where Rees was able to bundle home a goal out of nothing (61 mins).
It got worse when Dagenham scored again within the next three minutes. The goal came when makeshift striker Phipps counter-attacked, beating the offside trap, before finishing well past Gould (64 mins). It was the fourth time in four games that Alty had conceded twice inside seven minutes or fewer of a game.
This third goal stunned Altrincham and they attempted to regroup as Kosylo, displaying a newly bleached hair-do, replaced an out of sorts Newby (68 mins).
Alty created a big chance to get back into the game when Kosylo fed Banks who could only produce an air-shot (72 mins). However, it then needd a fine save from Gould to prevent the deficit growing to three goals before Linney earned his side a corner (75 mins). Eddy Jones's corner failed to beat the first defender and, from the resulting counter-attack, Wilson halted Appiah and picked up a booking (76 mins).
Altrincham continued to try and retrieve something fromn the game without really looking as if they would do so.
Dagenham now replaced Phipps by Page (81 mins). Alty then spurned a late freekick chance as Conn-Clarke put his kick over the bar (87 mins).
Four added minutes were computed which inexplicably grew into eight before the final whistle sounded.
In the second of these minutes Lawless replaced Kedwell (90+2 mins) and Remy came on for Hill (90+4 mins). Rees got himself booked in the sixth added minute for clatterng Marriott but there was no way back for Altrincham who suffered their fifth successive defeat.
Such a dreadful sequence had not happened since the same time of year in 2021. In a weird coincidence both this current bad run and the one in 2021 happened immediately after Alty had just completed three successive wins and lifted themselves into fourth place in the National League. In 20/21 that bad run had dropped Alty from 4th to 11th; this time they had dropped to ninth from the same starting position.
As well as the poor run of results in itself, another worry is that in the last four successive league matches the team has conceded a brace of goals inside a spell of seven minutes or fewer, indicating some sort of lack of concentration or mental strength which needs to be addressed.
Alty now start a sequence of five home games in the next six fixtures in which they will hope to recover from this serious dip in form and regain a play-off place.
Full-Time: DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE 3 |