Altrincham started well, winning two corners in the first three minutes. But Rochdale soon got on top and deservedly took a 14th minute lead through Exeter loanee Bird who turned smartly in the box before scoring comfortably freom 15 yards.

Alty responded quite well but Rochdale doubled their lead through Allarakhia (38 mins) so the hosts led 2-0 at the interval.

Altrincham had good spells in the second half, with Amaluzor hitting the post, Newby forcing a fine save from Waller, and Linney spurning a good chance but they were also caught offside far too often.

But they could not find the net and so a great chance of getting to Wembley disappeared.

SCORERS:

• 14 mins: Jay BIRD (Rochdale 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 38 mins: Tarryn ALLARAKHIA (Rochdale 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)

Before the match Altrincham were hit by further player unavailability issues, to add to the absences of Luke Weaver (cup tied) and Ross, Marriott, Wilson, Olson and Crankshaw's medium to long-term absences, when Kian Taylor was ruled out with illness.

Better news was that Alex Newby does start after missing recent games with an injury, as Bickerstaff moved to the bench. There were two other changes.

In goal, 35 year-old Rob Lainton was preferred to loanee Caleb Ansen, who displaced Randle from the bench. Compared with the side which faced AFC Fylde last week, the only other change saw Kosylo replace Taylor.

For Dale, there were three changes as Allarakhia, Rodney, Bird came in for Ayinde, Henderson and Buyabu.

LINE-UPS:

ROCHDALE (Blue and white) 13. Sam Waller, 2. Kyron Gordon (c), 4. Ryan East, 7. Tarryn Allarakhia, 8. Harvey Gilmour, 10. Devante Rodney, 14. Tobi Adebayo-Rowling,, 18. Aidan Barlow, 26. Liam Hogan, 27. Jay Bird, 33. Sam Beckwith. Subs: 16. Kyle Ferguson, 21. Connor McBride, 31. Curtis Weston, 9. Kairo Mitchell, 15. Leon Ayinde, 30. Jili Buyabu, 40. Ian Henderson.

ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts and white socks): 26. Rob LAINTON, 2. Lewis BANKS, 16. James JONES, 4. Lewis BAINES (c), 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 9. Regan LINNEY, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 10. Alex NEWBY, 14. Matty KOSYLO. Subs: 5. Jake COOPER, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 15. Regan GRIFFITHS, 21. Caleb ANSEN (gk) 24. Joe NUTTALL, 32. Kacper PASIEK. 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF

Having reached the semi-final of the National League Cup in midweek, Altrincham were hoping to make it a double by reaching the same stage of the Isuzu FA Trophy.

Alty were the highest placed team left in the competition but had drawn an away tie at the next highest placed team. In contrast this was Rochdale's first tie against a fellow National League club and their first home game in the Trophy.

REPORT:

After Rochdale had kicked off, it was Altrincham who started as the brighter side, with the visitors winning two corners inside the opening three minutes.

Rochdale soon responded with Barlow shooting wide and Rodney almost embarrassing a dallying Lainton (7 mins).

The next few minutes saw Rochdale getting on top and winning their first corner (12 mins). And a couple of minutes later, their debutant loanee striker City, Jay Bird, had scored with a left-foot effort (14 mins). Rochdale had advanced up the right and a low ball found Bird, with his back to goal with James Jones in close attendance behind him. The Exeter loanee turned smartly and fired past Lainton's right-hand dive.

Altrincham reacted well, winning a corner (17 mins), after which Newby fed Linney whose shot was saved by Waller's left leg (18 mins).

Next, Banks set up Kosylo, who miscued his shot into the road outside the ground (20 mins).

At the other end an Allarakhia effort went narrowly wide, from the edge of the box, with Lainton motionless (24 mins).

After Banks had had to concede a corner, the hosts had the ball in the net but Gilmour had fouled Linney in the process (27 mins).

Newby had picked up a booking before a shot from distance by Amaluzor ended up, like Kosylo's earlier effort, outside the stadium (32 mins).

Much better was an audacious effort from nearly halfway by Banks which Waller did well to save and gather at the second attempt (33 mins).

Although Altrincham were seeing plenty of the ball, they now conceded a second goal as Allarakhia netted at the back post (38 mins). A low cross evaded a couple of Altrincham defenders and reached the unmarked Allarakhia who had time to stop the ball before firing past Lainton.

Alty's bad habit of being caught offside continued as Kinney was flagged behind the defence once again (42 mins).

In the second and final added minute of the half, Altrincham were fortunate not to concede once more as Bird got the better of Baines and forced a save from Lainton before the striker put the rebound over the bar .

Inside sixty seconds of the second half Bird got himself booked for kicking the ball away at an Altrincham freekick.

The match went through several minutes of uneventful play before a Banks foul on Allarakhia gave the Dale a freekick in a dangerous position but it came to nothing (53 mins).

Rochdale made the first change with Mitchell replacing Bird (54 mins). Next, an Alty corner won by Linney came and went (55 mins) before Alty made a swap with Reddin replacing Kosylo (57 mins).

Another Alty long shot went way off target, this time from Osborne, as the hour mark approached (60 mins). At this point, Henderson replacd Barlow for Rochdale.

The Robins were forced into a second change when James Jones went down injured, Jake Cooper being his replacement (64 mins). Almost immediately, Amaluzor got into the box but Linney made an uncharacteristic mess of trying to convert the chance (65 mins).

The offside errors continued with Newby the guilty party this time (67 mins). After a poor challenge on Amalauzor had produced a freekick, an Altrincham corner followed (71 mins).

Following this, a fine shot from the edge of the box by Newby prompted a great save from Waller who tipped the ball onto the bar as it headed towards the top corner of the net (72 mins).

Alty's threatening spell continued as Amaluzor hit the post from six yards (73 mins). Mitchell was then booked for a foul on Golden (73 mins).

Linney now won a corner, following which Waller needed to save an Alty effort (74 mins).

A double change for Rochdale brought on Ayinde and Buyabu for Rodney and Allarakhia (76 mins).

Yet again Alty were flagged offside, this time as Linney rounded the keeper from an Amaluzor feed. Following this, Linney went down looking for a penalty but he was unrewarded by Mr Kettle (78 mins).

Gilmour was now booked for pulling Amaluzor back (82 mins) before a Newby shot found only the sidenetting.

Another foul saw Beckwith booked (84 mins). Strangely, as time ticked away, despite having two strikers on the bench and chasing the game, Altrincham declined to bring on either Bickerstaff or Nuttall.

Rochdale, however, did make another change with Weston appropriately replacing East (87 mins).

Five added minutes were to be played during which Altrincham never looked like retrieving their two-goal deficit and so they bowed out of the FA Trophy. Had they won they would have been the highest place club left in the semi-finals; instead that honour fell to Rochdale.