With just nine points earned from their last 12 games of the season, Altrincham limped over the finishing line with a 1-1 draw against Tamworth. In a generally entertaining encounter it was probably a fair result and it left Altrincham to finish the campaign in ninth place.

Altrincham made five changes for this final match of the season before The Lambs went ahead after 15 minutes.

The goal arrived when Creaney's shot deflected off a defender to the left to find Fairlamb. From the bye-line his cross came to right-back Crompton beyond the back post and his chip over Ansen found the net towards the back post.

Tamworth also struck the bar in the first half after Ansen had flapped at a cross and the ball fell for Sundire, whose fierce shot from outside the box came back off the woodwork.

Alty levelled four minutes into the second half, just after Ansen had saved well from Ponticelli at the other end. Banks got forward on the right into the Tamworth box and laid the ball inside to Newby. His first-time shot had just about enough pace to beat a retreating defender and cross the line for the equaliser.

Both keepers made good saves in the second half but the score remained one apiece to the final whistle.

SCORERS:

• 15 mins: Ben CROMPTON (ALTRINCHAM 0 Tamworth 1)
• 47 mins: Alex NEWBY (ALTRINCHAM 1 Tamworth 1)

REFEREE: Mr Garreth Rhodes

ATTENDANCE: 2.371 (343 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Already without the injured Rob Lainton, Eddy Jones, Joe Nuttall, Jake Cooper and Ethan Ross, and with Crankshaw and Kosylo also missing, Altrincham made five changes as Baines and Marriott dropped out of the squad injured, whilst Wilson, Linney and Bickerstaff moved to the bench.

Into the eleven came Amaluzor, Crawford, Nuttall, Dolan and James Jones, the last-named as captain.

Apart from Tamworth's keeper and captain Jasbir Singh being suspended and replaced by Phillips, the only other change brought in Finn to replace Enoru.

Former Alty defender Kennedy Digie started for The Lambs.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts and white socks): 21. Caleb ANSEN (gk), 2. Lewis BANKS, 31. Charlie OLSON, 16. James JONES (c), 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 10. Alex NEWBY, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 77. Callum DOLAN. 24. Joe NUTTALL. Subs: 9. Regan LINNEY, 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF, 17. Lucas WEAVER, 19. George WILSON, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 30. Harvey RANDLE (gk), 42. Matt PENNEY,

TAMWORTH (White shirts and socks, gold shorts) 21. Leon Phillips, 33. Ben Crompton, 5. Kennedy Digie, 26. Haydn Hollis, 11. Luke Fairlamb, 28. Munashe Sundire, 4. Tom Tonks, 34. Jordan Ponticelli, 19. Tom McGlinchey, 7. Kyle Finn, 9. Dan Creaney. Subs: 2. Matt Curley, 3. Callum Cockerill-Mollett, 18. Jordan Cullinane-Liburd, 6. Alex Fletcher, 8. Ben Milnes, 14. Kai Williams, 38. Danny Waldron

Altrincham and Tamworth started the game on identical points in ninth and tenth places respectively. Neither could climb higher than eighth in the final table.

REPORT:

Alty kicked off towards the away end and supporters were soon treated to the spectatcle of Tonks's phenomenal long throw-in (2 and 6 mins) before a smart bit of footwork from Dolan brought approval from the home crowd.

Moments later it was also Dolan who started a slick move, feeding Golden whose cut back to Nuttall saw the big striker fire over the bar (9 mins).

Following a Golden foul, Sundire hit a freekick into the wall (13 mins) but it was not long before the visitors took the lead. Creaney's shot from left of centre reached right-back Crompton and he chipped a ball over Ansen and into the far corner of the net to make it 0-1 (15 mins).

Next, Nuttall outmuscled Digie and fed Newby to his right. His cross was a little behind the striker who could not direct his header on target.

Alty went closer moments later as Banks got forward to interchange passes with Dolan before the Alty right-bank got in a shot which keeper Phillips saved well, low to his left. The ball came out to Golden, whose well-hit shot was well held by the keeper (23 mins).

Alty responded well as Amaluzor gained possession off McGlinchey and forced Phillips into a fine save with his foot, which earned a corner (24 mins).

Soon Amaluzor won his side another corner which came to nothing (27 min).

But Alty could easily have fallen further behind when Osborne lost possession before Ansen flapped at a cross. The ball fell for Sundire who smashed a shot against the cross bar from the edge of the box (30 mins).

More presure from the visitors followed this escape before Altrincham responded with an Amaluzor shot into the sidenetting (34 mins).

That was to be the nearest to a goal before the half-time whistle was blown after one minute's added time.

After the break Alty needed a good stop from Ansen following a Tonks freekick before play switched to the other end as Banks got forward on the right and laid the ball inside to an unmarked Newby.

With Phillips out of his goal to confront Banks, the right-back stroked rather than hit the ball towards the empty net. It had just enough momentum to cross the line before a retreating defender could get to it.

So it was one apiece (47 mins). Alty went close again as Newby fed Dolan, who was having a good game for the Robins, and he forced Phillips to tip his shot over the bar

Just after Finn had got himself booked for kicking the ball away (54 mins), Amaluzor hit the sidenetting for the second time. Play was now end to end as the Lambs won a corner off Golden (57 mins).

The visitors soon won two more corners, the first through Cromton off Jones (60 mins) then, after an impressive dribble inside the box by McGlinchey, the flag-kick arrived via an Alty block as he seemed about to score (62 mins).

Next, there was almost a calamity for Alty as James Jones played a back pass from the left some 30 yards from goal which caught Ansen out of his goal and went only a couple of feet wide of the upright, for a corner (64 mins).

Alty's shaky spell continued as another error by Jones led to Ansen being stranded and it took an heroic and acrobatic goal-line clearance from a retreating Olson to save the day (66 mins).

Phil Parkinson made a change on 68 minutes as Amaluzor was withdrawn and replaced by Weaver (68 mins).

A foul on Dolan by Sundire won him a yellow card (69 mins) before an impressive counter-attack by Dolan led to Weaver feeding Newby whose shot was well saved by the keeper's legs (71 mins).

An off the ball spat between Nuttall and Olson developed into a wider fracas, following which both players were booked (73 mins).

Alty now enjoyed a good spell and won a corner at which point Linney replaced Newby (78 mins).

Soon after this Tonks was replaced by Fletcher (82 mins).

Despite four minutes of added play, the sides could not be separated. Although Altrincham arguably created the better chances, a draw was a fair outcome.

So ALtrincham finished in ninth place, a drop of five places from the previous season but, nevertheless, a heathy position.