Altrincham enjoyed the majority of possession and territory in this game but bowed out of the National League Cup at the semi-final stage after conceding either side of half-time. They got a goal back midway through the second half but could not find an equaliser.

Altrincham started with just four players who had started last Saturday's league game, as Phil Parkinson rightly gave priority to the quest for a place in the National League play-offs.

The opening goal came when a late challenge by Golden gave Leeds a freekick inside the "D". Chadwick's freekick came back off the inside of Ansen's right upright and diverted across goal to for Monteiro to score (38 mins).

With the volatile Kosylo getting wound up before the interval he was subbed at half-time.

Eight minutes into the second half, McDonald got behind Golden and advanced into the box, jinking his way past a potential challege before netting smartly.

Despite dominating the final half-hour of normal time Altrincham could only score once. That came when a slick move produced a goal for Amaluzor (66 mins).

During the second half, Griffiths, Cooper and Wilson all left the field injured and it remains to be seen whether those injuries affect their league availability.

SCORERS:

• 38 mins: Diogo MONTEIRO (ALTRINCHAM 0 Leeds United U21s 1)
• 53 mins: Josh McDONALD (ALTRINCHAM 0 Leeds United U21s 2)
• 66 mins: Justin AMALUZOR (ALTRINCHAM 1 Leeds United U21s 2)

With securing a play-off place the club's priority, Altrincham fielded a team with just the mandatory four players who had started their last league game. They were Ansen, Banks, Golden and Kosylo. Starters from the previous Saturday who were omitted from the squad completely were Marriott, Newby, Olson and Linney, whilst Baines, Crawford and Amaluzor were on the bench for this tie.

Also on the bench were Academy players Max Whittle and Blyth Bywater, joined by Remi Thompson and Harvey Randle.

In addition to his chosen omissions, Phil Parkinson was without a cohort of injured players including Ethan Ross, Rob Lainton, Jake Bickerstaff, Joe Nuttall, Eddie Jones, James Jones and Ollie Crankshaw

Of Alty's two recent loan signings, Callum Dolan started but a cup-tied Brandon Powell was not involved. Elliot Osborne captained the side, with Weaver, Reddin, Wilson and Cooper also joining him in promotion from the bench for last Saturday's game. Into the squad came Regan Griffiths who, like Dolan, was making a first start this season.

Leeds named only five substitutes in a squad showing several changes from their NLC tie at Aldershot Town.

ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 21. Caleb ANSEN (gk), 2. Lewis BANKS, 5. Jake COOPER, 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE (c), 19. George WILSON, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 77. Callum DOLAN, 17. Lucas WEAVER. Subs: 4. Lewis BAINES, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, , 22. Tom CRAWFORD, .

LEEDS UNITED UNDER-21S (All dark blue): 1. Rory Mahady, 2. Connor Douglas, 3. Connor Ferguson, 4. Diogo Monteiro, 5. James Debayo, 6. Kris Moore, 7. Sam Chambers, 8. Alfie Cresswell (c), 9. Harvey Vincent, 10. Rhys Chadwick, 11. Josh McDonald. Subs: 12. Owen Grainger (gk), 14. Joe Richards, 15. Brooklyn Nfonkeu, 16. Will Firth, 17. Oliver Pickles.

For this first competitive clash between the clubs, Altrincham were hoping for an upturn in form, having secured no wins in their seven previous league games.

REPORT:

After the sprinklers had been applied to a bobbly playing surface, Leeds kicked off towards the Golf Road end on a fine evening.

Altrincham started the better with both Reddin, on the left, and Dolan in a no.10 role, looking lively. The first real hint of a goal threat came when Dolan played an excellent ball for Weaver but the latter's poor touch let him down and the ball ran to the Leeds keeper (10 mins).

That was followed by a poor clearance from Ansen which gave Vincent a pot at goal but the ball went comfortably back to the Alty keeper (11 mins). As the game improved, skill from Reddin, up the left ,won his side a corner (12 mins).

From Griffiths's corner a Dolan shot was cleared.

The Robins were now on top and it was not until the 19th minute that a Leeds shot by Ferguson forced a save from Ansen.

But Altrincham soon won another corner when a Weaver effort was blocked (23 mins). However, Altrincham nearly paid for allowing Monteiro to advance unchallenged and unleash a well-struck shot which went only narrowly wide (26 mins). Whilst Altrincham had been the better side, it was Leeds who had gone the closer to scoring.

After Osborne had received a lecture for a foul, it was Leeds's Chadwick who became the first name in the referee's notebook, for a foul challenge (34 mins).

From the resulting freekick on the left, taken by Osborne, Cooper managed to get on the end of it beyond the back post and a home corner was the outcome.

Next, when the referee allowed a Leeds challenge to go unpunished, as Alty claimed a foul, the Yorkshiremen advanced to win a freekick as Golden brought down an opponent inside the "D". Chadwick's well-struck freekick hit the inside of Ansen's right-hand post and rebounded across goal. There, it found Monteiro who scored to make it 1-0 to Leeds (38 mins).

When Weaver was hauled down shortly afterwards, Moore was booked. He was soon followed into the book by Chambers who cynically brought down Kosylo as he threated to get away on the right wing.

An Alty corner soon arrived after which a now pumped-up Kosylo fouled an opponent and he was duly booked (45 mins).

Two added minutes were announced during which a long shot from Vincent was saved by Ansen (45+1 mins).Reddin then fed Kosylo whose cross from the right gained his side another corner (45+2 mins). This led to an opening for Reddin but, inside the box, he slipped and the chance was gone.

The half ended with a Leeds corner which came to nothing (45+3 mins).

At the break Leeds brought on Nfonkeu for Chambers and Altrincham introduced Amaluzor for the volatile Kosylo.

Just 45 seconds after Alty had kicked off the half, a well-struck effort from Dolan was saved, and gathered, at the second attempt, by Mahady (46 mins).

But Alty suffered a blow when Griffiths, on his full debut, needed tratement before limping off with a groin problem (47 mins). This obliged Alty to bring on Crawford for the injured midfielder (48 mins).

Vincent now went close for the visitors, firing inches wide of Ansen's left upright (49 mins).

A few minutes later some 35 yeards from goal on the Leeds right, McDonald got behind Golden and advanced towards goal, jinking past a challenge inside the box before slotting the ball home to make the score 0-2 (53 mins).

Alty suffered a further blow when Cooper went down injured and could not continue, with Baines having to be introduced as his replacement at centre-back (56 mins).

From around the hour mark, when Wilson shot wide from right of centre, Altrincham were largely dominating possession and territorial advantage.

And they got a reward in the 66th minute when a neat four or five pass move forward up the middle culminated in Amaluzor, facing away from goal, turning smartly to fire into the net.

Moments later, another Alty player sat down, apparently injured (68 mins). This time it was George Wilson who, after treatment, had to be replaced by Remi Thompson (70 mins).

Altrincham pressure continued as two corners were won, the second being wasted by Osborne directing it into the side-netting at the near post, from the left (74 mins).

There was more wastefulness as Weaver put a cross into the crowd (75 mins). The referee now warned Mahady twice about timewasting but took no further action.

It was "all Alty" as the one-way traffic towards the visitors' goal continued, with another corner materialising, followed by Weaver forcing a save (83 mins).

When reddin got into the box once again, it led tpo a scramble with Leeds hacking the ball away off the line (86 mins)> Leeds went to the other end and had the ball in the net but they were offside.

Dolan earned Alty another corner which was recycled but Amaluzor headed a promising cross wide of goal (89 mins). Mahady was warned for a third time about timewasting which seemed absurdly tolerant of the referee before Mr Rhodes did book Monteiro for a foul (90 mins).

Six added minutes had been computed during which Thompson hit an effort into orbit (90+1 mins) and another poor corner by Osborne wasted another potential chance to get a draw (90=3 mins).

There was time for a remarkable fourth word by Mr Rhodes with the dawdling Mahady before the final whistle confirmed a narrow defeat for Altrincham who could have secured a deserved penalty shootout had they shown more composure in front of goal.

Excluding a "winning draw" against Newcastle United in the NL Cup, Altrincham have now won just once in their last twelve ninety-minute games in all competitions.