Two-nil up by the 68th minute against ten-man Boston United, Altrincham contrived to throw away their lead against visitors who, in the first half, had forced five saves from Alty keeper Ross, whilst his counterpart Gregory remained untested at all at the other end by the Robins.

But it was to be Gregory's first real test, in the 50th minute, which opened the door to the hosts. Boston had just forced another excellent block from Ross, early in the second half, when Alty counter-attacked. As Amaluzor, who had somehow avoided a booking despite committing at least four fouls, got free he was clattered about 30 yards out from the Boston goal by Gregory (50 mins).

Referee Bannister showed an immediate red card but Gregory remained prostrate and needed nearly six minutes of treatment before trudging off to be replaced by substitute keeper Craven.

Against the ten men Altrincham attacked and scored twice in two minutes midway through the half. First, Newby put his side ahead with a low shot from the edge of the box (66 mins) before Reddin fed Linney who, from left of goal, netted with a good shot across the keeper into the far corner (68 mins).

To their credit Boston did not accept defeat or damage limitation. They forced yet another excellent save from Ross from a shot from their left, only for the ball to be worked to Ward who scored with a firm shot (79 mins). Five minutes later, Green advanced up the inside left channel before hammering a low shot across Ross into the net to make it 2-2 (84 mins).

Added time was announced as a minimum of 11 minutes and Although Altrincham spent most of it laying siege to the visitors' goal, Boston spent the final moments in the Alty half, leaving their 200+ supporters to celebrate a memorable comeback.

SCORERS:

• 66 mins: Alex NEWBY (Altrincham 1 Boston United 0)
• 68 mins: Regan LINNEY (Altrincham 2 Boston United 0)
• 79 mins: Keaton WARD (Altrincham 2 Boston United 1)
• 84 mins: Cameron GREEN (Altrincham 2 Boston United 2)

It was good to see Crankshaw back from injury and named on the bench after more than twelve months' absence with an ACL injury suffered in only his second appearance for the club.

But fellow long-term absentee Isaac Marriott remained a spectator from the directors' box where he was joined by Justin Donawa, George Wilson and Max Haygarth, with Lewis Baines also still in the injured category.

Liam Humbles moved to the bench as Kahrel Reddin started at home for the first time, with Remi Thompson dropping out of the substitutes' list to accommodate Crankshaw.

For Boston, Mitch Roberts had been stretchered off in midweek with ankle ligament problems and so he missed today's game. Other changes saw Weston start as Dan Mooney reverted to the bench against his former employers and Green also came in as Ward also dropped to the bench.

Mooney was looking to open his account against his former club, having missed the chance to do so last week when his penalty was saved against Aldershot.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 1. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 6. James JONES (c), 5. Jake COOPER, 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 10. Alex NEWBY, 9. Regan LINNEY. Subs: 3. Eddy JONES, 7. Oliver CRANKSHAW, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 15. Liam HUMBLES, 24. Joe NUTTALL, 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF, 30. Harvey RANDLE (gk)

BOSTON UNITED (Lime green with black trimmings) 1. Cameron Gregory; 12. Jai Rowe, 3. Cameron Green, 5. Michael Bostwick, 9. Jacob Hazel, 16. Tony Weston,19. Jordan Richards, 23. Zak Mills, 22. Frankie Maguire, 24. Dylan Hill; 21. Sam Osborne. Subs: 6. Tom Leak, 25. Ellis Craven (gk). 7. Keaton Ward, 10. Adam Marriott, 11. Dan Mooney, 17. Pemi Aderoju.

The last meeting between the teams had been the play-off final in 2020 in National League North. Alty won promotion with a 1-0 win, the goal coming from current Boston player Dan Mooney.

Boston themselves won the NLN play-off final in 2024, clincing promotion despite finishing sixth in the regular season.

On a sunny afternoon Altrincham kicked off towards a decently populated away end. The first hint of a goal came in the fifth minute as Newby got to the left bye-line and his excellent cross was met by a Crawford header, which the midfielder steered disappointingly wide.

Soon afterwards, Amaluzor won his side a corner which was taken short and turned out to be fruitless, prompting a Boston counter-attack (6 mins).

After a curler from Linney had flown high and wide at one end, Boston went closer at the other end when Sam Osborne cut inside James Jones on the left and his well-struck effort forced an excellent save by Ross, low down to his right, as he beat the ball away (9 mins).

And it was very soon afterwards that Green was on target with another strong shot which, again, Ross had to beat away (11 mins). The match was open and being played at some pace before Alty won a 15th minute corner, which was again taken short and this time it led to a well-hit shot from Elliot Osborne which, however, went straight to the keeper.

After a Golden cross had come to nothing (20 mins), his mis-pass at the other end allowed Weston a shot which he put wide (23 mins).

Altrincham now increased their lead in the corner tally but again this came to nothing (26 mins). As the half-hour mark passed Altrincham were still failing to create clear sights of goal. Neverthless, Reddin was looking lively and won his side a freekick off Green but Linney was flagged offside from this (34 mins).

Banks now did well to halt Maguire inside the box and, soon afterwards, Amaluzor was briefly spoken to by the referee for his fourth foul of the afternoon. A minute later, however, Banks was less fortunate, finding himself cautioned for a foul on Maguire (39 mins).

The resulting freekick earned Boston a corner, after which Sam Osborne had to go off, to be replaced by Ward (41 mins).

Next, a Boston throw on their right led to Rowe shooting narrowly wide (41 mins).

Somehow a rugby tackle by Newby on Hill avoided punishment by a yellow card (42 mins). As half-time approached, Ward had a shot blocked before Ross once again kept his side level with another fine save, this time from the dangerous Maguire, the Alty keeper once more beating the shot away (44 mins).

After one added minute, the goalless first half came to an end with Boston denied goals by three excellent saves from Ross whilst Alty had forced just one routine save from Gregory, the visitors' keeper.

After the interval, Ross was again making a fine save to deny Boston when he thwarted Hazel who had been played into the box. Immediately play switched and Amaluzor was set galloping up the inside-right channel. Out raced goalkeeper Gregory to take out the advancing Amaluzor some thirty yards from goal.

Referee Bannister had a simple decision to show a red card to the keeper (50 mins).

The Alty man is strongly built so Gregory had come off worse and needed more than five minutes' treatment after remaining prostrate from his clash with Amaluzor.

After walking off to some boorish booing from some young fans, Boston withdrew Hill to allow substiute keeper Craven to take over between the posts (56 mins).

Newby's freekick restarted the game but it went easily to Craven. Ward then got himself needlessly booked for throwing the ball down at a throw-in award against him (57 mins). Now Osborne mishit a thirty-yarder well wide before Newby won a corner on the left (62 mins).

After this, Newby played Amaluzor into the box but the winger slipped and the chance was gone as he went down under a challenge (63 mins).

Alty came close to taking the lead when a better long-range effort from Osborne smacked against the crossbar from twenty yards (64 mins). After this Amaluzor won a corner as Alty dominated possession and territory (65 mins).

Following the corner the ball came out to Newby who fired home a low shot to break the deadlock (66 mins).

Immediately Ian Culverhouse brought on Aderoju for Weston which signalled positive intent for the ten men rather than damage limitation (67 mins).

Inside a minute Alty had doubled their lead when a decent move culminated in Reddin feeding Linney who, from left of goal, hit a fine shot into the far side of the net. At 2-0 it seemed that collecting three points would now be a formality for Altrinham (68 mins).

Next, Amaluzor's ball across the box went unconverted before Banks fired wise from 25 yards (70 mins).

Boston refused to accept defeat and soon won a corner. However, when this was cleared by a high ball forward, Newby impressively brought th ball under control and it was relayed via Linney to Amaluzor. But the Alty man's one-on-one with Craven ended in the substitute keeper's favour as he blocked the winger's shot with his legs (74 mins).

Linney was withdrawn soon afterwards in favour of loanee Bickerstaffe (76 mins). Almost immediately he had a shot from the left saved but Boston went upfield and won another corner (78 mins).

Following this, Ross produced his fifth fine save of the afternoon, once again beating a strong shot away, from the Boston left. However the ball came out to Ward who hammered it home to make it 2-1 (79 mins).

Altrincham responded with a corner from which Crawford rose well and his goalbound header had to be cleared by a defender (80 mins).

Boston made a double change with Leak replacing the veteran captain Bostwick and the equally experienced Adam Marriott coming on in place of Hazel up front as the ten-man visitors sensed an opportunity to take something from the game (81 mins).

A horrible miskick by Osborne suggsted that Alty were rattled and, following that, Golden's skied shot did not help to foment confidence in the home support (84 mins).

And the misgivings came to fruition moments later when Green advanced on the left and hit a superb low shot across Ross into the net to make it 2-2 (84 mins).

Altrincham now brought on Cranksahw for his first appearance since last August; he replaced Amaluzor (86 mins). Alty's discomfort continued as Newby's petulance earned him a booking (89 mins).

Eleven added minutes were decreed as a Crawford shot went well off target.

As Alty pressed for a winner Bickerstaff fired narrowly over the bar (90+4 mins). Alty now laid siege to the visitors' goal winning a corner (90+6 mins) but the ten men continued to hold out.

Crankshaw was looking lively on the right wing after his long lay-off but he could find no way through the Boston defence. As the game went past the one-hundred minutes' mark, Boston even got forward and won a freekick deep in the Altrincham half.

Soon afterwards the final whistle signalled that the game was up for Altrincham.

How a two-nil lead against ten men ended in a 2-2 draw will be the subject of a through post-mortem at Altrincham's training base next week. The result meant that Alty dropped to seventeenth as the season continued in disappointing fashion.

Boston deserved their point, not only for their positive response to going behind with ten men, but also because it needed five excellent saves from Ross to prevent them winning comfortably against an Altrincham side which, so far this season,S has lost its goalscoring potency.