Altrincham, having made four changes to their starting eleven for the second match in a row, secured a hard-earned point at the New Lawn as the hosts succumbed to their tenth draw of the season, the joint highest total in the National League and clearly the team's weak spot is a recurrent failure to convert parity into a win.

In awful swirling rain and wind, Altrincham started well and went ahead in the 11th minute. Matty Kosylo, playing at right-back, fed Jimmy Knowles to his right and he found olly Crankshaw whose shot was curled into the net from a central position, his fifth league goal of the campaign..

Crankshaw was later to force a near post save from keeper Isted's legs (26 mins) as Robbie Savage's men faltered. The FGR boss responded to his team's lacklustre showing with a triple change at the interval and a fourth substitution within ten minutes of the second half resuming.

An improved Rovers dominated the second half, especially up their left flank, and they levelled in the 58th minute with a low shot from 20 yards by substitute Jayden Clarke.

Alty defended for much of the rest of the game and barely threatened at the other end as FGR increased the corner count which finally amounted to sixteen against Altrincham's six, with the shots' count reflecting similar numbers, 17 v 5.

But stout defending, with Cooper particularly effective, saw Altrincham's run of defeats terminated by this battling draw.

SCORERS:

• 11 mins: Olly CRANKSHAW (Forest Green Rovers 0 ALTRINCHAM 1)
• 58 mins: Jayden CLARKE (Forest Green Rovers 1 ALTRINCHAM 1)

REFEREE: Mr Matthew Scholes

ATTENDANCE: 1,251 (15 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Four changes were made to the Altrincham starting eleven as Forde, Kirk, and Golden moved to the bench, with Gale moving out of the squad entirely. Into the starting eleven came Kosylo, at right-back, Knowles, Marriott and Humbles.

Altrincham team captain Lewis Baines was once more not in the squad, for unstated reasons, but Kahrel Reddin, rumoured to be interesting Carlisle United, was back on the bench after missing Saturday's game with a "knock".

So, Tom Crawford again wore the captain's armband.

FGR had their new striker Ricardo Rees from Merthyr Town suspended after a red card last time out at Sutton United.

Two players familiar to north-west supporters, Kengni and Haughton, came into the starting eleven for FGR, replacing Rees and Bunker.

LINE-UP:

FOREST GREEN ROVERS (All yellow/green) 42. Harry Isted, 17. Elijah Morrison, 32. Abraham Kanu, 3. Neil Kengni, 6. Laurent Mendy (c), 11. Tom Knowles, 26. Chibuzu Nwoko, 24. Jili Buyabu, 8. Nick Haughton, 7. Kyle McAllister, 27. Temi Babalola. Subs: 14. Jayden Clarke, 16. Harvey Bunker, 18. Isaac Moore-Taylor, 29. Kairo Mitchell, 12. Fiachra Pagel, 21. Tre Pemberton, 25. Gabe Kircough

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with white pinstripes, black shorts, white socks shorts and black socks): 30. Luke Hutchinson, 14. Matty Kosylo, 5. Jake Cooper, 34. Dan Sassi, 33. Eddy Jones, 8. Isaac Marriott, 28. Liam Humbles, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 7. Olly Crankshaw, 10. Otis Khan, 11. Jimmy Knowles. Subs: 6. Josh Grant, 26. Anthony Forde, 17. Lucas Weaver, 20. Kahrel Reddin, 23. Tylor Golden, 27. Louie Fallon (gk), 40. Charlie Kirk

Altrincham were on a run of five successive league defeats and were facing title contenders in FGR.

Swirling rain and winds were affecting the New Lawn.

REPORT:

Altrincham's Isaac Marriott kicked off the game which had Altrincham playing into the wind for the first half. The Robins started well and a good move featuring Liam Humbles led to an early corner on the left, taken by the loanee midfielder himself (4 mins).

FGR then gained possesssion off Kosylo but a resulting shot by Tom Knowles was blocked. After this the ball had to be replaced which seems to be a relatively frequent occurrence this season (8 mins).

Altrincham soon put together a passing move of some 20 touches but this did not end in a goal threat as Kosylo's final pass was overhit (9 mins). But Kosylo was then instrumental in feeding Jimmy Knowles, forward to his right. Knowles than laid the ball inside for Cranksahw to finish first-time with a right-footed curling shot into the net which gave the Robins a 1-0 lead (11 mins).

In fact, Kosylo was popping up everywhere as, next, he cut out a Haughton cross at the other end, albeit at the cost of a corner (16 mins).

Soon, a lengthy stoppage ensued for Tom Crawford who, after treatment on the pitch, had to levae the game for a head bandage to be applied (20 mins).

By the midway point of the half, Rovers were improving and, when Khan lost possession some 25 yards out from his own goal, an FGR shot had to be diverted onto the upright by Hutchinson (23 mins). However, Altrincham continued to be a threat themselves as a fine ball by Kosylo fed Jimmy Knowles and his pass led to Crankshaw firing at goal, only for Isted to block the effort at the near post (26 mins).

The swirling wind then caused Hutchinson to punch an aerial ball which, otherwuise, he would have caught and this led to a home corner which, fortunately, came to nothing.

The rain briefly eased as FGR continued on the front foot for the next few minutes before Humbles turned smartly and fed Jimmy Knowles, who won a corner for Altrincham which was soon followed by another flag-kick, earned by Crawford who was now sporting a head bandage (36 mins). Indeed, Altrincham were not looking like a team on a run of six successive defeats in all competitions whilst FGR were not looking like title aspirants.

Humbles continued to impress on his second debut for Alty and his fine ball to Crawford saw the Alty captain win a freekick (42 mins). Following the freekick, Crankshaw had a shot blocked before Humbles hit an effort over the bar (43 mins).

With the game just into added time, a Kosylo foul gave the hosts a freekick from 22 yards. However, with Crankshaw acting as the prostrate "draught excluder", FGR could do no better than hit the freekick into the defensive wall.

However, the remainder of the five added minutes did see the hosts gain two corners but the interval arrived with Altrincham still holding their lead.

Robbie Savage made a triple change for the second half as Clarke, Bunker and Mitchell replaced Kengni, Haughton and Morrison.

Nevertheless, it was Altrincham who started the brighter, winning two successive corners followed by a freekick for a foul on Humbles by McAllister (49 mins).

But then FGR began to get a hold on the game, aided by a further substitution as Pemberton replaced Tom Knowles (53 mins), a change which was sandwiched between two home corners (53 mins).

The home pressure, applied mainly up the left flank with Buyabu often involed, got its reward before the hour mark. After Hutchinso had parried away one effort, the ball came out to Clarke whose low shot from just outside the box found its way into the net through a crowded box (58 mins).

Six Forest Green corners, gained in a spell of thirteen minutes (62-75 mins), underlined the pressure under which Altrincham were defending in the horrible weather conditions. At the other end, Isted was untroubled in the FGR goal.

Neil Gibson now made a triple change with Reddin, Grant and Golden replacing Knowles, Humbles and Jones (77 mins). The changes soon led to Altrincham's first proper effort on the hosts' goal for the best part of half an hour but Kosylo's effort was comfortably saved by Isted (82 mins)

Jake Cooper had been solid at the back for Alty but, when he grabbed an opponent who was trying to get past him, he became the first name in the referee's book (85 mins). Alty remained under the cosh as, when they did clear the ball, with no outlet upfield, it soon came back in their direction. Just before six added minutes were decreed, McAllister blasted a shot out of the ground to Alty's relief (89 mins). But, next, a needless foul by Reddin, committed in his own right-hand corner area gave the hosts a freekick and earned the winger a yellow card (90+2 mins).

As the minutes pased, Alty brought on Forde for Crankshaw (90+4 mins) before Buyabu was announced as the home side's man of the match for his repeated threat from the left side.

Even deeper into added time, Alty got forward on their right and Mendy's foul on Reddin earned the home captain a yellow card (90+6 mins). Forest Green did win another corner (90+7 mins) but Altrincham were soon able to celebrate a hard-earned point (90+8 mins).

Statistics of 17 shots to five and 16 corners to six underlined the pressure exerted by the Gloucestershire side but Altrincham had defended impressively to earn a vital point and end their long run of successive defeats. FGR have now drawn ten league games, the joint most in the division whilst Altrincham' third draw of the campaign leaves them still with the lowest tally of drawn games in the National League.

It gets no easier for Altrincham next time out, with a visit from Boreham Wood on Saturday.