It took seventeen goals, eleven of which were in a penalty shootout, to settle this game in favour of Altrincham who, by National League Cup rules took two points from the drawn 90-minute match, leaving Rovers with a single point.

In the match itself, Altrincham led three times, only to be pegged back each time.

783 spectators had taken advantage of free entry to this match and it took Altrincham only eight minutes to take the lead when the busy Kosylo's effort was half-blocked but looped over the keeper, Barrett.

Blackburn had chances to level but failed to do so until after the break when Mafoumbi tapped home after a team-mate had got to the bye-line left of goal (47 mins).

An excellent low shot from 25 yards by Tom Crawford, captain for the night, restored Alty's lead (55 mins).

Stritch made it 2-2 when he scored from a rebound after a team-mate had hit the post (79 mins).

Alty led for a third time in the 84th minute when Weaver was set free and, as he got round the stranded keeper, he looped the ball skilfully into the net from 30 yards (84 mins).

Blackburn substitute Leatherbarrow made it 3-3, netting just inside Randle's left upright (88 mins).

And so to the evening went to penalties to determine the winner of the additional point available in this competition.

Crawford and Banks converted their kicks before Blackburn hit the bar, leaving Alty 2-1 ahead. It became 3-1 when Newby scored, then 4-2 after Eddy Jones had done the business too.

With Alty then 4-3 ahead Kahrel Reddin saw his effort saved and Blackburn regained parity at 4-4. Kosylo and Weaver made it 6-5 before Powell hit the bar to hand Altrincham the shootout victory.

SCORERS:

• 8 mins: Matty KOSYLO (ALTRINCHAM 1 Blackburn Rovers U21 0)
• 47 mins: Exauce MAFOUMBI (ALTRINCHAM 1 Blackburn Rovers U21 1)
• 55 mins: Tom CRAWFORD (ALTRINCHAM 2 Blackburn Rovers U21 1)
• 79 mins: Zack STRITCH (ALTRINCHAM 2 Blackburn Rovers U21 2)
• 84 mins: Lucas WEAVER (ALTRINCHAM 3 Blackburn Rovers U21 2)
• 88 mins: Freddie LEATHERBARROW (ALTRINCHAM 3 Blackburn Rovers U21 3)

For details of the penalty shootout, see below...

The Robins fielded an eleven in which six players had started at least one National League game this season. But, apart from Tom Crawford, none of the other five had started more than four times.

Alty's bench comprised five first-team regulars plus Academy players Lucas Edwards and Max Whittle. Gaining match fitness after suspension, Tom Crawford was named captain.

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 30. Harvey RANDLE, 31. Connor TEALE, 25. Joel BAILEY, 3. Eddy JONES, 22. Tom CRAWFORD (c), 18. Owen GERMAN, 7. Oliver CRANKSHAW, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 21. MAx HAYGARTH, 24, Joe NUTTALL. Subs: 1. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 6. Elliot OSBORNE (replaced by 23. Tylor GOLDEN), 8. Max WHITTLE, 10. Alex NEWBY, 12. Lucas EDWARDS, 23. Tylor GOLDEN.

BLACKBURN ROVERS UNDER-21S (Blue and white halved shirts, white shorts, blues socks): 1. Jack Barrett, 2. Lucas Houghton, 3. Brandon Powell, 4. Tom Atcheson, 5. Charles Olson (c), 6. Kristi Montgomery, 7. Rhys Doherty, 8. Adam CAddick, 9. Exauce Mafoumbi, 10. Thomas Bloxham, 11. Zack Stritch. Subs: 12. James Edmondson, 13. Solomon Honor (gk), 14. Lewis Bell, 15. Igor Tyjon, 16. Matthew Litherland, 17. Frank Vare, 18. Freddie Leatherbarrow.

This was the first match for Altrincham in the new National League Cup, in which regional groups of four clubs (two each from the NL and the PL/EFL) met at the NL clubs' stadiums.

As well as Blackburn, Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Manchester United were in Altrincham's group. This match followed Alty's league defeat at Braintree last Saturday.

Courtesy of local property firm Longworth & Taylor Ltd, entry to the game was free to all spectators which meant a record attendance to date for an NLC game beating the 455 who attended Oldham's recent fixture in the competition.

ALthough their first team is nowadays in the Championship, Rovers Under-21s play in the Premier League 2 and are managed by former player Mike Sheron. At kick-off they lay 25th out of 26 teams and had conceded the most goals in the division, 19 in 6 games.

The game got underway with Altrincham deploying a back three of recent signing Connor Teale (right), Academy graduate Joel Bailey (central) and Eddie Jones (left).

From the start the visitors were playing at pace but it was Altrincham who enjoyed the better opening period and they took an early lead. Kosylo, deployed on the right, cut in and, though his shot was half-blocked, it looped over the wrong-footed keeper Barrett and into the net (8 mins).

After a Reddin effort had cleared the bar (10 mins), a freekick, conceded by Kosylo, allowed the visitors a freekick, taken by Powell, which went wide (15 mins).

Haygarth and Nuttall then conspired to win Alty's first corner (18 mins), which was taken short, and following it Kosylo's excellent cross from the right was met by a firm, downward header by Crawford at the back post but he directed his effort across goal and wide (19 mins).

With the absence of a large crowd lending the evening a quiet backdrop, assistant coach Neil Sorvel could be heard exhorting the Altrincham players to keep up their performance, the majority of them not having played at all regularly with each other.

Altrincham had a lucky break soon after this when a ball up to Stritch saw him get past the covering Kosylo and lash a shot from the left onto the underside of the bar from where it rebounded to safety for the Robins (22 mins).

And the Alty goal again led a charmed life in the 27th minute when Randle came off his line only for the ball to ricochet beyond his reach and allow the visitors' Bloxham a crack at goal which Bailey did well to clear off the line. At the other end a well-struck 30-yarded from Crankshaw was comfortably pouched by Barrett.

Randle then saved a Doherty effort as Alty looked less than totally secure at the back.

Alty gained a corner through Crawford (36 mins) but when the same player then lost the ball, Blackburn won themselves a corner at the other end (38 mins). The visitors applied pressure before the break, earning another corner (41 mins) before Reddin responded with a well-hit but misdirected shot which went well wide (42 mins).

Blackburn went close again in the final minute of the first 45 when Bloxham attempted to lob Randle but the young keeper caught the ball safely above his head, leaving Alty one-up at half-time and Blackburn rueing several missed chances with Randle having been the busier keeper.

To start the second half Alty brought on Weaver at the head of their attack, replacing Nuttall, who has yet to complete 90 minutes or score his first goal in Alty colours. In fact, inside two minutes Blackburn were level when they got to the bye-line left of goal and laid on a tap-in goal for Mafoumbi (47 mins).

It now took an excellent block from the hardworking Kosylo, inside his own penalty box, to prevent a shot reaching goal. Rovers continued to be wasteful when Mafoumbi sliced a shot badly wide (52 mins).

Alty's game picked up as a well-hit shot from German had to be pushed over the bar by Barrett for a corner (54 mins). Soon afterwards Crawford hit a superb goal, shooting low from 25 yards to find the far corner of the net, restoring Altrincham's lead (55 mins).

Randle continued to be the busier keeper as he made a fine block to concede a corner. Now the visitors made a double change with Tyjon replacing Mafoumbi and Edmondson coming on for Houghton (64 mins).

Two minutes later Alty trumped them with a triple substiution, Banks, Golden and Newby replacing Bailey, Haygarth and Crankshaw (66 mins). Golden presumably had been a late switch for Osborne on the team-sheet. Randle mis-clearance to an opponent went unpunished, the young keeper proving an excellent shot-stopper but less adept at distribution with his feet (68 mins).

Just after a good strike from Newby had been beaten away by the keeper's legs, another change brought Litherland on for Rovers in place of the captain Olson (71 mins) and a further stoppage then introduced Bell for Doherty and Leatherbarrow for Bloxham (77 mins).

Coincidentally or otherwise, the changes produced an equaliser just two minutes later when Tyjon equalised after a Stritch effort had come back off the upright (79 mins).

However, Alty took the lead for a third time when a ball up the middle set Weaver free from just inside the Rovers half. Exposed keeper Barrett rushed out only for Weaver to get the better of him with a well-judged lob shot from about thirty yards which found the back of the net for his first goal for the club (84 mins).

Alty won a corner soon after the restart but, as a prepared Whittle waited for an eternity to make his first-team debut, Blackburn scored a third equaliser as Leatherbarrow scored with a low shot inside the far post to Randle's right (88 mins).

Finally Whittle got onto the pitch to replace German (89 mins) before the eventful game ended at three apiece.

With a number of fans having left the stadium, not realising that a shoot out was to ensue, Alty started the sequence of penalties at the upopulated Venditan Terrace (Hale) end.

1. CRAWFORD just beat the keeper, who got a hand to the spot-kick. 1-0
2. Edmondson scored off the underside of the bar. 1-1
3. BANKS's effort was almost saved by the keepr, low to his right, but it squiremed over the line 2-1
4. Stritch hit the bar. 2-1
5. NEWBY sent the keeper the wrong way. 3-1
6. Montgomery rolled the ball in after sending Randle the wrong way, to his left. 3-2
7. Eddy JONES blasted his penalty home. 4-2
8. Tyjon made it 4-3
9. REDDIN had a chance to win the shootout but had his effort saved by Barrett. 4-3
10. Litherland levelled the score. 4-4
11. KOSYLO sent the keeper the wrong way. 5-4
12. Bell levelled again. 5-5
13. WEAVER netted. 6-5
14. Powell's kick hit the bar to leave Alty the winners. 6-5

So Altrincham took two points for the draw and Rovers just the one. The match gave the opportunity for fringe players to regain or maintain their match fitness and, hopefully, will not have left a legacy of any injuries to affect the league campaign.