Two first-half defensive lapses left Altrincham with too much of a challenge to retrieve anything from this game.

Phil Parkinson had made four changes as Reed, Ward, Knowles and Reddin all dropped to the bench with Kirk, Barnes, Weaver and Crankshaw starting instead.

But his changed side was chasing the game after only five minutes. The hosts had put together an impressive passing sequence before Crankshaw lost possession just outside the Pools penalty area.

Play switched upfield where Reid was loosely marked and he advanced to fire a shot from fifteen yards or so which seemed to go through the hands of loanee keeper Hutchinson.

In the final minute of the first half before added time, Hartlepool doubled their lead and it came from a corner from the left which McNally netted at the back post.

Altrincham applied sustained pressure for the first twenty minutes of the second half but the Pools weathered the storm and ended the game with their third clean sheet of the campaign.

SCORERS:

• 5 mins: Alex REID (ALTRINCHAM 0 Hartlepool United 1)
• 45 mins: Reiss McNALLY (ALTRINCHAM 0 Hartlepool United 2)

REFEREE: Mr Greg Rollason

ATTENDANCE: 1,751 (337 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Centre-backs Baines, Cooper and Sass-Davies all remained out of action today, as did midfielder Osborne and keeper Ross.

Manager Parkinson made four changes, all for rotation purposes, as all those dropped came on during the second half. The changes saw Reed, Ward, Knowles and Reddin all move to the bench with Kirk, Barnes, Weaver and Crankshaw starting instead.

No fewer than twelve of Tuesday's 18-man Altrincham squad which faced Hartlepool had previously started seven or fewer Altrincham games in all competitions and two of those players were debutants.

The eleven starters included seven such players; Barnes (0 previous starts), Crankshaw (6), Gale (2), Hutchinson (2), Kirk (0), Sassi (2) and Weaver (6).

The bench included five more with just six previous starts between them; Fallon (1), Knowles (1), Raymond (0), Reed (2) and Ward (2).

So, just six players (Banks, Crawford, Golden and Marriott, who all started the match, and two subs, Reddin and Kosylo) had started more than 19 games in all competitions for the club previously.

Pools made a simngle change with Kouogun replacing Parkes in the starting eleven.

LINE-UPS:

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with narrow white stripes, black shorts and white socks): 30 Luke Hutchinson, 2 Lewis Banks (c), 34. Dan Sassi, 24. Sam Barnes, 23 Tylor Golden, 8 Isaac Marriott, 22. Tom Crawford, 7. Olly Crankshaw. 17 Lucas Weaver, 40 Charlie Kirk, 9 James Gale. Subs: 3 Sam Reed, 14 Matty Kosylo, 16 Remi Raymond, 20 Kahrel Reddin, 11 Jimmy Knowles, 10 Keaton Ward, 27 Louie Fallon.

HARTLEPOOL UNITED (White shirts with blue pinstripes, blue shorts and soscks ): 1. Harvey Cartwright, 3. Cameron John, 5. Maxim Kouogun, 6. Reiss McNally, 23. Besart Topalloj, 18. Jamie Miley, 14. Nathan Sheron (c), 2. Jay Benn, 7. Jermaine Francis, 9. Danny Johnson, 19. Alex Reid. Subs: 10. Adam Campbell, 11. Luke Charman, 28. Matty Daly, 15. Jack Hunter, 4. Tom Parkes, 40. Adam Smith, 38. Brad Walker

Pools were unbeaten, with a draw and a win and had yet to concede a goal this season. But they had not yet scored from open play, with a penalty and an own goal accounting for the two goals they had netted this season.

REPORT:

Hartlepool kicked off towards the Golf Road end and they won an early freekick but this was headed wide (2 mins).

It was ironic that Altrincham had just put together their first really flowing passing move of the evening when they fell behind. Crankshaw lost the ball, through a heavy touch, to Sheron deep in the Pools half and the visitors' captain played a fine ball inside Sassi to locate Reid, in the inside-left channel. He advanced and struck a firm, rising shot which seemed to go through Hutchinson's hands into the net (5 mins).

Neither side threatened a further goal over the next ten minutes with Altrincham not helped by Kouogun's repeated holding of Gale which the referee chose to ignore.

With the Alty support subdued, play was halted for treatment to Benn, who proved unable to continue and he was subbed by Daly (20 mins).

Alty did threaten soon afterwards as Weaver got forward on the right but his low cross went unconverted. And it was Weaver who threatened again after 25 minutes when he got into the box to win a corner on the left (25 mins).

As the half-hour mark passed ALty were now enjoying plenty of the ball but Mr Rollason was again unresponsive when Gale was blatantly wrestled to the ground inside the box (33 mins).

An Altrincham corner soon followed (35 mins), taken by Kirk who played the ball straight to an opponent ahead of the near post.

Things improved with a good run by Crankshaw and a one-two which culminated in the winger's shot, which just cleared the bar. For their part Pools had not threatened to add to their early goal as half-time approached (40 mins).

Gale, again, ended up on the deck without any reward from the referee before Hartlepool won a corner on their left through Johnson. The corner was met at the back post by McNally's header into the net as Altrincham defended the corner poorly (45 mins).

Following the decreed three added minutes Daly won a corner from a save by Hutchhinson, diving to his right (45+4 mins). There remained time for Altrincham to win an even later corner but the interval was reached with Alty two goals adrift.

Altrincham kicked off the second half and were soon showing more intent than in the first half. Having failed to apply sanctions in the first half against Kouogun for his policing of Gale, Mr Rollason now surprisingly booked the defender for holding the striker (52 mins).

Altrincham soon threatened through Waever as he burst up the centre-right but his pass to an overlapping team-mate was slighlty too strong; however, a corner resulted (56 mins).

As the hour-mark approached Altrincham maintained pressure on the visitors without getting a clear sight of goal. Manager Parkinson prepared to reinvigorate his side with three subs (Reddin, Knowles and Ward) but he stood them down as the onfield players were still applying pressure on the visitors.

However, when Hartlepool won a 66th minute corner it was a sign that the visitors had weathered the Alty second-half storm. So the changes were belatedly made; Knowles replaced Gale (67 mins) whilst Ward and Reddin replaced Crankshaw and Weaver respectively (68 mins).

Golden, Crawford and Marriott had all been playing well but, on 75 minutes, Golden was replaced at left-back by Sam Reed. In goal, Hutchinson had had nothing to do in the second half but, at the other end, his counterpart Cartwiright had to beat out a string Reddin shot from a Crawford feed.

Another change saw Kosylo come on in place of Marriott in midfield (78 mins). By now, however, Hartlepool were looking solid at the back and Alty hopes of a comeback were ebbing away, despite winning a corner through Reddin (83 mins).

Hartlepool wound things down with a double swap of Charman and Walker for Reid and Miley (84 mins).

Reed then won Alty a corner (86 mins) before a cross from Kirk went disappointingly to Cartwright (88 mins).

A first instance at the JDS this season of the implementation of the new "eight-second rule" saw Cartwright penalised or dawdling on the ball with a corner being awarded to Altrincham. Although two more corners followed in quick order there was no way through the viitors' resolute defence.

Indeed, it was Hartlepool who gained the last corner of the contest (90+3 mins) before the final whistle confirmed an impressive away performance by the visitors which had earned them three points.

Altrincham's young and inexperienced team had improved markedly in the second half but two defensive errors in the first half had left them with too much to do to gain anything from the match.