Altrincham's first win in eight league games and a first home win in six outings in the National League saw the Robins remain in touch with the play-off places after a dreadful run of form in recent weeks.

But this was a match of low quality on a difficult bobbly surface.

Altrincham took the lead on the half-hour when Tylor Golden nipped in to divert a curling shot from Crawford into the net after a Regan Linney effort had been blocked at the near post.

Just two minutes later, Yeovil were level when a defensive error allowed Terry to poke the ball past an exposed Caleb Ansen.

With the second half also largely devoid of quality, Alty applied some sustained late pressure and it paid off when Lewis Baines fired home after an Osborne corner had come back out to him in the 89th minute.

SCORERS:

• 30 mins: Tylor GOLDEN (ALTRINCHAM 1 Yeovil Town 0)
• 32 mins: Frankie TERRY (ALTRINCHAM 1 Yeovil Town 1)
• 89 mins: Lewis BAINES (ALTRINCHAM 2 Yeovil Town 1)

REFEREE: Mr Dale Baines, whose three previous games involving Altrincham comprised a draw and two defeats!

ATTENDANCE: 1,851 (192 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Compared with the side which bowed out of the NL Cup in midweek, Altrincham made five changes. However, there were just two changes from their last league game, with Marriott and Newby dropping to the bench. Dolan and Osborne were their replacements.

The bench today was not the strongest with Cooper and Wilson now added to an injured list already comprising Ross, Lainton, Crankshaw, the two Joneses, Nuttall and Bickerstaff. So with these nine men missing, today's bench included three players with a single league start between them (Randle, Powell and Penney), the latter two also both being left-backs!

Yeovil with two successive wins before this match, were unchanged as regards their starters. Two ex-Alty players were in their squad. Kyle Ferguson, no longer red-headed, started whilst Matt Gould was in his customary role on the bench.

ALTRINCHAM (Red and white striped shirts, black shorts, white socks): 21. Caleb ANSEN (gk), 2. Lewis BANKS, 31. Charlie OLSON, 4. Lewis BAINES (c), 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 77. Callum DOLAN, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 9. Regan LINNEY. Subs: 8. Isaac MARRIOTT, 10. Alex NEWBY, 17. Lucas WEAVER, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 30. Harvey RANDLE (gk), 33. Brandon POWELL, 42. Matt PENNEY. .

YEOVIL TOWN (All green): 1. Aidan Stone, 3. Alex Whittle (c), 40. Frankie Terry, 26. Kyle Ferguson, 33. Dom Bernard, 29. Otis Khan, 5. Finn Cousin-Dawson, 16, Sonny Lo-Everton, 24. Charlie Cooper, 35. Ciaran McGuckin, 19. Josh Sims. Subs: 22. Matt Gould (gk), 6. Jacob Wannell, 27. Harvey Greenslade, 8. Harry Kite, 37. Ryan McLean, 28. Marcel Lavinier, 23. Michael Smith

Altrincham had lost four and drawn once in their last five home league matches which had been a large part of the reason why they had dropped out of the play-offs into eighth place.

REPORT:

Altrincham kicked off towards the away end which housed almost two-hundred Yeovil fans who, commendably, had made the long journey from Somerset. At least they were rewarded with a sunny afternoon in the open end.

There was an early skirmish on the touchline between Linney and Terry (2 mins) but when the Alty man was clearly held when play resumed, Mr Baines failed to award a freekick, a recurrent feature of the referee's laissez-faire performance in the first half.

Yeovil had marginally the better of the opening stages which, for the spectators, were a pretty unedifying spectacle comprising throw-ins, fouls and mispasses in a spectacle devoid of flowing football and skill.

The bobbly andworn playing surface did not help the flow of the game either. And matters were not helped by Linney twice being flagged offside in the first 18 minutes.

There was a stoppage midway through the half when Whittle and Amalauzor collided in the air and the Yeovil captain needed treatment for a bleeding head injury.

Play resumed and, just after a rare piece of flowing play by Altrincham, the visitors made a double change with McLean and Kite replacing the injured captain (Whittle) and the manager's son, Charlie Cooper (27 mins).

The breakthrough came when Kosylo fed Linney, on the left. The striker advanced towards the near post only for his shot to be beaten out, low down, at the near post.

The ball found its way to Crawford, right of goal about thorty yards out. His curling shot-cum-cross was met by Golden, entering the goalmouth from the left and he finished smartly to give Altrincham the lead (30 mins).

The lead did not last long as Alty's defence was caught out in the middle front of their own box, where Yeovil poked a ball through to Terry. Unmarked, the Yeovil man hooked the ball past the unprotected Ansen to level the score (32 mins).

As the game continued in the absence of any serious goal threat, Banks and Ferguson clashed and both players were booked by Mr Baines (38 mins).

Following an Olson foul on McGuckin, the resulting freekick, from 35 yards out, was nodded goalwards. Ansen saved the ball, to his left, at the cost of a corner when it looked as if he might have caught the ball.

A minute after the Yeovil corner had come to nothing, Altrincham won a corner themselves, through a combination of Kosylo and Linney (42 mins). Another Alty corner followed, this time on the right, but there was no goal threat before three added minutes were decreed.

In the last of these added minutes Linney laid a ball across the face of goal which went unconverted. So ended a first half of little finesse.

Mark Cooper made another change at the interval with Wannell replacing Sims. Sadly, the second half was proving no better than the first forty-five minutes in terms of a flowing football spectacle.

However, Alty were fortunate that Khan shot straight at Ansen from a promising position (57 mins). On the hour, came Yeovil's fourth change of personnel with Greenslade replacing McGuckin

Linney was looking Alty's most lively player and a trademark cut-in forced a block (62 mins). Next, Ansen's unforced kick into touch from a back pass epitomised the overall standard of the game (66 mins).

Alty made a first change as Reddin replaced Kosylo (70 mins). Not for the first time, Linney now went down too easily under a challenge looking for a foul from the rightly unresponsive referee (72 mins).

Soon afterwards Linney was more positive, as he got past Bernard who had become the pantomine villain of the Alty crowd for his first-half antics in demanding a delay for him to have some water.

Next, Linney's efforts won his side a corner but Osborne overhit this (75 mins).

Osborne once again overhit tha ball from a freekick soon aftrwards (77 mins).

At last there was something a bit better for the spectators as Crawford and Linney combined but Alty's leading scorer hit his shot disappointingly wide (81 mins).

Almost immediately, Cousin-Dawson was booked for a foul on Newby (82 min). And then, for a foul on Olson, Lavinier was also booked (83 mins).

Next, Bernard became the fourth player from Yeovil to be cautioned for a foul on Reddin (85 mins).

For the closing stages Altrincham had the forward momentum and even centre-back Baines was upfield and he remained there as Alty won a late corner. Osborne's corner was again not threatening but it found its way to Baines who drove it home impressively to give Altrincham a late lead (89 mins).

Plans to bring on Isaac Marriott, who had been readied on the touchline for a substitute appearance, were aborted.

Three added minutes were calulated and, in the second of these, a well-struck Newby shot hit the outside of the keeper's left upright.

And so ended a game of generally indifferent quality but whose outcome bolstered Altrincham's hopes of regaining a play-off place after their run of seven league matches without a win.