Altrincham slumped to a second defeat in ten days at Rochdale, making it four losses in their last five league and FA Trophy fixtures.

Without Regan Linney who had been surprisingly suspended for three games following video review of an alleged elbowing incident at Southend last Saturday, and with Banks and Osborne dropped to the bench whilst Joe Nuttall was not in the squad at all, into the starting eleven in their places came Bickerstaff, Pasiek, Amaluzor and Wilson. In addition, goalkeeper Ross, as well as a trio of defenders in Olson and the two Joneses, all remained unavailable through injury.

After Altrincham had been caught offside four times in the opening 15 minutes, the game reached half-time goalless, with the Dale having had the better of things. However, just before the interval Newby came off second best in a one on one against the keeper, which might have put Alty ahead.

At the other end, Alty were indebted to two first-half saves from Lainton in as many minutes. The first was a point blank reaction save from a McBride header (35 mins) and the second was from a shot by Barlow (37 mins).

That brace came immediately after Alty's best spell of the half, when three corners had been won in succession.

The second half saw Rochdale largely dominate before two goals in four minutes effectively settled the outcome. The first came when Marriott lost possession deep in the Rochdale half and Bird adavnced before feeding Allarakhia to his left. His cross into the goalmouth was converted by Barlow (64 mins).

The second goal came when Baines lost out some 35 yards from his goal and Bird advanced to fire past Lainton (68 mins).

The third goal followed a long punt upfield by the home keeper Waller from which substitute Mitchell got the better of Baines and, despite a mishit shot, his effort bobbled past Lainton into the net (82 mins).

SCORERS:

• 64 mins: Jay BIRD (Rochdale 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 68 mins: Aidan BARLOW (Rochdale 2 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 82 mins: Kairo MITCHELL (Rochdale 3 ALTRINCHAM 0)

With Linney unexpectedly suspended just a couple of hours before kick off and Nuttall apparently unavailable, Phil Parkinson had to make a late adjustment to his team. His choices were limited as Crankshaw, Ross, Olson, Eddy Jones and James Jones all remained sidelined by injury. As a result, Alty fielded only six substitutes.

As for Rochdale, they brought in McBride for Gordon as their only starting change from Saturday's league win over Wealdstone.

ROCHDALE (All blue): 13. Sam Waller, 28. Jack Kingdon, 26. Liam Hogan, 33. Sam Beckwith, 4. Ryan East, 8. Harvey Gilmour, 14. Tobi Adebayo-Rowling, 7. Tarryn Allarakhia, 18. Aidan Barlow, 21. Connor McBride, 27. Jay Bird. Subs: 6. Ethan Ebanks-Landell (c), 9. Kairo Mitchell, 16. Kyle Ferguson, 18. Leon Ayinde, 30. Jili Buyabu, 31. Curtis Weston, 40. Ian Henderson

ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts and white socks): 26. Rob LAINTON, 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 5. Jake COOPER, 4. Lewis BAINES (c), 32. Kacper PASIEK, 8. Isaac MARRIOTT, 19. George WILSON, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 10. Alex NEWBY, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF Subs: 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 2. Lewis BANKS, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 17. Luke WEAVER, 21. Caleb ANSEN (gk).

This match had been scheduled for New Year's Day but the pitch at the Crown Oil Arena had been unfit and now bore a new rectangular section in its centre..

Although this was their first meeting in the league this season, the clubs had met just ten days earlier when Alty lost 2-1 in the FA Trophy.

REPORT:

A feature of Alty's defeat at Rochdale in the FA Trophy ten days earlier had been their being caught offside repeatedly. History repeated itself as they were flagged offside no fewer than four times in the opening 15 minutes as theur tactic appeared to be to lift balls over the Rochdale backline for Bickerstaff or Newby to latch onto.

The opening stages were fairly uneventful, before a Gilmour cross was headed over the bar by Rochdale loanee Bird (10 mins).

A promising Alty move then reached the edgeof the box but was halted by the Rochdale defence and the ball ended up being passed back deep into the Altrincham half (14 mins).

For Rochdale, former Alty loanee Jack Kingdon, playing at right-back, was proving a formidable barrier as Alty probed on the left (16 mins). Pasiek, who went on to have a decent game, lost possesion twice in a minute, leading to a blocked shot from Beckwith (18 mins).

When Allarakhia attempted to catch a ball before it had gone out for a throw, Altrincham looked for action agauinst the Dale man, which was not forthcoming from Mr Moreland.

Next, Allarakhia got the better of Golden, on the Rochdale left, and crossed for a close-range header by Bird which was well blocked at the near post by Lainton, at the cost of the match's first corner (22 mins).

At the other end, Newby fed Golden whose cross was cleared (26 mins). At the other end Bird got past Pasiek and laid the ball, low, across the six-yard box but no one was there to convert it (29 mins).

As the half-hour mark passed, Altrincham enjoyed their best spell of the game so far, winning three corners in succession, won by Bickerstaff, then Newby, twice (33 mins).

The Dale switched to the other end where Adebayo-Rowling's cross presented McBride with what looked like a certain goal. But Lainton impressively blocked the Dale man's point-blank header as he threw out his arm to the right, at hip level, a corner resulting (35 mins). Lainton did less well from the corner, not getting to the ball before it was cleared (36 mins).

But the Alty keeper was to redeem himself moments later with a fine diving save, to his left, from a goalbound Barlow shot (37 mins). The danger to Altrincham continued a few minutes later when Barlow's cross was put over the bar by Bird.

There was time before the break for Allarakhia to win a 44th minute corner, after which a ball up the middle from the Alty half set Newby free just inside the Rochdale half. Pursued by three retreating Rochdale players, Newby got clear but could not beat Weller as the keeper came out to meet him (45 mins).

A single minute of added time saw Gilmour booked for a foul on Amaluzor, who had been subject to a number of first-half fouls by Rochdale (45+1 mins).

So half-time arrived with the home side having been the better overall but the Robins had enjoyed a good spell after the half-hour mark and were disappointed that Newby had been unable to convert his one-on-one chance just before the break.

Rochdale started the second half well and should have gone ahead in the 48th minute when Bird's downward effort bounced over the bar.

A home corner came and went (53 mins) before Lainton had to tip away an Adebayo-Rowling cross from the right (55 mins). McBride became the second Rochdale name in the book for a foul on Wilson, an offence which prompted a crowd scene of Alty players around the referee (56 mins).

The resulting frekick immediately led to a foul on Newby, ten yards to the right, just outside ythe "D", but the freekick was tamely hit into the defensive wall (58 mins). Next, Bickerstaff got to the left bye-line but his shot deflected easily into Waller's arms (59 mins).

The first personnel change of the night saw Ayinde come on in place of McBride (62 mins). Almost immediately, Marriott was dispossessed inside the Rochdale hlf, allowing Bird to advance up the middle and feed Allarakhia who was advancing up the left. His cross provided Barlow with a straightforward chance from six yards or so, which he duly took to put his side ahead (64 mins).

Within four minutes Altrincham had lost possession again; this time Bird advanced past Baines from about 35 yards out and advanced towards Lainton before firing into the net to make it 2-0 (68 mins).

Things got worse moments later as Marriott's poor challenge on Bird earned him a yellow card (70 mins). Although that freekick went into the wall from Beckwith, another Rochdale freekick soon followed.

Alty attempted to steady their sinking ship by bringing on Osborne for Marriott (74 mins). They almost got back into the game when Amaluzor cut in from the right and fired narrowly wide of the back post (76 mins). Next, Banks came on for Pasiek (77 mins) before Cooper's foul on Ayinde saw him booked (80 mins).

There were then four changes, two for each side. Henderson and Buyabu replaced Barlow and Allarakhia for the hosts, whilst Reddin and Weaver came onfor Wilson and Amaluzor (81 mins).

The final nail in Altrincham's coffin came in disapppinting fashion as a punt upfield by keeper Waller saw Mitchell get the better of Baines in the outer reaches of the box, right of centre. His mishit shot somehow bobbled past Lainton into the net to make it 3-0 (82 mins).

Weston then replaced Gilmour for the Dale (87 mins) before five added minutes were decreed. As time ticked away, Reddin and Golden combined to set up Weaver at the back post but he ballooned his effort over the bar to sum up Altrincham's disappointing evening (90+3 mins).

So just as last season, Richdale had won 3-0 in their home match against Altrincham in the National League and this time they had also completed a "double", having knocked out Altrincham from the FA Trophy ten days earlier.