ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS


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AFC FYLDE (0) 0
ALTRINCHAM (3) 5

Vanarama National League match
played on Saturday, 26 October, 2024 at 5.30pm.


SUMMARY:

Altrincham were two-up after ten minutes against a poor-looking Fylde side who, nevertheless, were fresh from an away win at Boston last time out.

Both of Altrincham's early goals were superbly taken by Regan Linney. The first from a Newby pass saw the striker curl a shot from the left edge of the box across the keeper into the far corner of the net (5 mins).

The second was equally well-taken as Wilson and Humbles exchanged midfield passes before the latter fed Linney. This time, from just left of the "D", he curled another shot past the keeper (10 mins).

As half-time approached, a home move broke down and Alty counter-attacked with Newby and Linney exchanging passes before Linney tapped in from 5 yards, left of centre, leading to an interval score of 0-3 (41 mins).

Alty added a fourth when a superb chip forward by Linney set Newby in on goal and he calmly lobbed the advancing Richardson to make it 0-4.

Fylde continued to labour and, just after Nuttall had put a freekick over the bar, Fylde lost the ball to substitute Osborne after the resulting goalkick. The midfielder finished smartly from the left to make 0-5 (80 mins).

The only real blemish was an unnecessary foul by Banks which earned him his fifth yellow of the campaign.

Linney's was the first Altrincham hat-trick since loanee Joe Piggott achieved the feat in a 0-6 win at Curzon Ashton in 2019.


SCORERS:

  • 5 mins: Regan LINNEY (AFC Fylde 0 ALTRINCHAM 1)
  • 10 mins: Regan LINNEY (AFC Fylde 0 ALTRINCHAM 2)
  • 41 mins: Regan LINNEY (AFC Fylde 0 ALTRINCHAM 3)
  • 54 mins: Alex NEWBY (AFC Fylde 0 ALTRINCHAM 4)
  • 80 mins: Elliot OSBORNE (AFC Fylde 0 ALTRINCHAM 5)


REFEREE: Mr Matt Corlett


ATTENDANCE: 1,392


TEAM NEWS:

Liam Humbles and Tylor Golden came into the starting eleven at the expense of Justin Amaluzor and Eddy Jones. Amaluzor was not in the squad but Eddy Jones was on the bench, where Elliot Osborne returned from injury.

Fylde again started without the league's leading scorer, Nick Houghton, with manager Kevin Phillips telling the DAZN inteviewer beforehand that Houghton needed to prove in his training performances why he should start.


LINE-UPS:

AFC FYLDE (White) AFC Fylde: 1. Theo Richardson, 4. Harry Davis, 17. Corey Whelan (c), 6. Adam Long, 3. Owen Evans, 18. Lincoln McFayden, 8. Ethan Mitchell, 40. Joe Riley, 20. Gavin Massey, 21. Tyler Roberts, 11. Jon Ustabasi Subs: 31. Ben Winterbottom (gk), 2. Patrick Gamble, 7. Charlie Jolley, 9. Offraned Zanzala, 10. Nick Haughton, 29. Danny Ormerod, 34. Taelor O’Kane

ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 1. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 16. James JONES, 4. Lewis BAINES (c), 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 15. Liam HUMBLES, 19. George WILSON, 20. Kharel REDDIN, 10. Alex NEWBY, 9. Regan LINNEY. Subs: 3. Eddy JONES, 5. Jake COOPER, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 24. Joe NUTTALL, 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF, 30. Harvey RANDLE (gk)


BACKGROUND:

This match had been moved to a 5.30pm kick off at the request of the DAZN streaming service and the National League. Following the afternoon National League fixtures, Altrincham started this evening game in sixteenth place.



REPORT:

Altrincham started brightly when Newby fed Linney in the left of the box. The striker curled a superb right-foot shot past the statuesque keeper into the far corner of the net (5 mins).

With Fylde struggling to get going, Linney doubled the lead with another excellent finish. This time Humbles gained possession and fed the Alty striker. From just left of the penalty area "D" he again curled a shot past Richardson and into the net to the keeper's left. So, after just ten minutes, it was already 0-2.

Linney almost completed his hat-trick in the fourteenth minute from a similar position from which he had opened the scoring. This time his effort went past the back post.

The visitors' dominance continued as Golden laid a ball across the goalmouth, earning a corner (18 mins). Soon afterwards Crawford fouled an opponent near the touchline and Massey appeared on the scene and gratuitously elbowed the Alty midfielder in the throat area. However, the Fylde striker escaped with a yellow card (20 mins).

As Alty remained in complete control, a ball was nodded forward to Newby whose back header went comfortably to Richardson's arms (23 mins).

Belatedly the Coasters got in a shot at the other end but Massey's effort was wildly off target (24 mins).

Around the half-hour, Fylde began to improve a little but they were not troubling keeper Ross in the Altrincham goal.

But the hosts were not able to reach the interval just two goals adrift as Altrincham made it 3-0 with Linney completing a first-half hat-trick. This came from a superb counter attack which started in the outer reaches of the Robins' penalty area.

Linney exchanged passes with Newby as the duo raced upfield and with Davis losing track of Linney, the number nine was left with little more than an uncontested tap-in from about five yards (41 mins).

Two minutes of added time ended with Fylde having been outclassed in the first half.


Half-time: AFC FYLDE 0
ALTRINCHAM 3


Unsurprisingly, new Fylde manager Kevin Phillips made two changes for the second half.

On came Houghton and Ormerod in place of Massey and Riley respectively.

After an early Altrincham freekick had come to nothing, Fylde earned themselves a corner but within nine minutes of the re-start they had conceded a fourth goal.

A fine chip over the home defence by Linney set Newby in on goal, left of centre. As Richardson rushed out to meet him, Newby expertly lobbed the stranded keeper to make it 0-4 (54 mins).

And it should have become 0-5 when Linney was put through but Richardson won the one-on-one contest (57 mins).

It got no better on the hour-mark for the Coasters when Linney got in a dangerous low cross from the left which just evaded the incoming Reddin at the back post.

O'Kane now replaced Whelan for the hosts (60 mins) before Linney gave way to Nuttall for Alty (61 mins).

Almost immediately a corner from the right was met by Nuttall but his header went wide. Newby was then lucky not to be booked for kicking the ball after the whistle had gone before Alty's third change introduced Kosylo in place of Newby (52 mins).

Kosylo went ot the left-wing. Another stoppage was soon needed for Fylde to make a further swap of personnel as Jolley replaced Ustabasi (72 mins). Davis was then booked for dissent (72 mins) and five minutes later Elliot Osborne returned from his shoulder injury to replace Wilson in midfield (77 mins).

Two minutes later, Altrincham earned a freekick just outside the Coasters'penalty area (79 mins). Nuttall put the freekick narrowly over the bar and a short goalkick was taken. The Fylde recipient lost possession to Osborne just outside the box. This took the midfielder into the penalty area, left of goal, from where he finished efficiently to make the score 0-5 (80 mins).

Kevin Phillips made yet another change as the booked Long was replaced by Gamble (81 mins). After Mitchell had been booked for delaying an Altrincham freekick (84 mins), Altrincham picked up two equally ridiculous bookings in the closing stages.

The first of these was particularly disappointing as it was Banks who picked up a fifth yellow card of the season for a meaningless foul near halfway (86 mins).

Fylde then put together arguably their best move of the match which ended in a well-hit effort from Evans which forced a fine save by Ross, diving to his right (87 mins).

With Eddy Jones readied to come on, three added minutes were announced. In the second of these added minutes, Jones finally came on in place of Banks. There was still time for another wholly unnecessary yellow card for Altrincham as Kosylo's two-handed push on an opponent earned him a caution (90+4 mins).

But these two late bookings could not detract too much from a convincing Altrincham performance against a hapless Fylde display. It was a result which brought belated recompense for Fylde's 6-0 humbling of Neil Young's Altrincham at Moss Lane in 2016.

Remarkably over ninety minutes Alty had risen from sixteenth at kick-off to ninth place in the National League by the final whistle!


Full-time: AFC FYLDE 0
ALTRINCHAM 5