In a match of generally low quality Altrincham emerged with a 1-0 win, aided by poor finishing from the visitors who recorded eleven shots to Altrincham's four, but only won the "on target" count narrowly, four to three.

Wealdstone had much the better of the forward momentum in the first half hour before Altrincham took a 35th minute lead. It had been Altrincham who had repeatedly given the ball away before Wealdstone reciprocated to concede a corner to Altrincham.

Following the corner, taken short, Howe battled at the near post and the ball fell for Knowles to score from right of goal.

The goal lifted Altrincham's performance but they still had to withstand a fair amount of Stones' pressure in the second half which culminated in a plausible penalty appeal deep into added time which the referee turned down. But the Robins emerged with a precious three points and their first league clean sheet in fourteen attempts.

SCORERS:

• 35 mins: Jimmy KNOWLES (ALTRINCHAM 1 Wealdstone 0)

REFEREE: Mr Callum Jones

ATTENDANCE: 1,104 (45 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Neil Gibson made two changes to the starting eleven with Cooper and Kirk dropped to the bench in favour of Grant and Howe, the latter make his full debut and the former only his second start.

With recent signing Kian Breckin tonight added to the injured/missing list, there were no fewer than ten Altrincham absentees including six long-term cases affecting the defence; Ross, Barnes, Baines, Banks, Sass-Davies and Reed. Added to those, in addition to recent signing Breckin who is now injured, were midfielders Khan and Humbles, who had also missed the last two games, and were again out injured today. Also, The Mystery of the Missing Captain entered yet another chapter as team captain Baines's unexplained absence from the squad continued for a seventh successive league fixture.

For Wealdstone, Woodman, Hassan and Spencer came in for Boldewijn, Mussa and Georgiou.

Onto the bench for the visitors came Agyemang and Tiensia.

LINE-UP:

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with white pinstripes, black shorts and white socks): 30. Luke Hutchinson, 23. Tylor Golden, 34. Dan Sassi, 6. Josh Grant, 33. Eddy Jones, 8. Isaac Marriott, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 14. Matty Kosylo, 20. Kahrel Reddin, 11. Jimmy Knowles, 9. Declan Howe. Subs: 5. Jake Cooper, 25. Joel Bailey, 17. Lucas Weaver, 27. Louie Fallon (gk), 26. Anthony Forde, 31. Charlie Olson, 40. Charlie Kirk,

WEALDSTONE (Blue shirts and socks, white shorts) 1. Dante Baptiste, 31. Charlie Waller (c), 5. Deon Woodman, 22. Connor McAvoy, 7. Enzio Boldewijn, 17. Dom Hutchinson, 11. Sak Hassan, 20. Nathan Tshikuna, 8. Dylan Kadji, 24. Shay Spencer, 14. Micah Obiero, 9. Olufela Olomola. Subs: 3. Anthony Georgiou, 27. Sean Adarkwa, 12. Michael Adu-Poku, 28. Elijah Dixon-Bonner, 13. Endurance Johnson, 23. Terrell Agyemang and 29. Junior Tiensia

BACKGROUND:

This was Altrincham's third home game in succesion in a spell of eight days. After a draw with Morecambe and defest by Yeovil Town, Alty had dropped to 19th in the table as they welcomed 11th placed Wealdstone, manager Neil Gibson's former club, which he had kept in the National League by winning the Stones' last game of last season against FC Halifax Town.

Like Alty, the NW London club was not in good league form having only won one of their last seven league matches, a run of games which also included four defeats and two draws. Most recently a 97th minute goal had deprived them of a win at Eastleigh last Saturday.

REPORT:

On a wet night at the JDS, Wealdstone kicked off towards their supporters and started better than the hosts.

Nevertheless, it was Alty who earned the first corner when Knowles got forward and, though his attempt to find Howe was poor, it earned a flag-kick which was soon followed by Reddin also gaining a corner (5 mins)

There was then a bizarre moment as Grant misdirected a header at his own goal forcing Hutchinson to save at the second attempt (9 mins).

Wealdstone remained on top before Altrincham again won two successive corners which were unproductive.

Successive fouls by Sassi and Kosylo kept Alty on the back foot as the Stones won themselves a corner. After that it was Howe's turn to concede another in a series of freekicks before Hassan forced Hutchinson to tip a shot over the bar for a corner (25 mins).

Hutchinson then sat down, with cynics entitled to suggest that this was to facilitate a pitchside tactical talk for the rest of the team from Neil Gibson (28 mins).

This had no immediate effect as Wealdstone resumed their pressure on the Alty goal, aided by the hosts' generosity in conceding possession with frequency.

But it was then Wealdstone's turn to lose possession cheaply as Kosylo dispossessed Hassan and it was to prove costly as a corner was won from a deflected Howe effort, arguably the Robins' most threatening effort so far.

A short corner was again Altrincham's choice and, this time, as Howe battled in the box, the ball broke to Knowles who netted from close range, right of goal. It was a lead gained decidedly against the run of play (35 mins).

Following the goal Wealdstone resumed their forward momentum but Altrincham were looking a little more confident after taking the lead as good play from Kosylo fed Knowles for a shot which was blocked (41 mins).

Two added minutes left the interval score in Altrincham's favour.

The second half started with Altrincham winning a corner barely ten seconds after kicking off but yet again the short corner option came to nothing after defenders had made the effort to trot upfield.

When Crawford now went down after his misheader under pressure inside his own box, the Altrincham captain stayed down and needed some five minutes of treatment (47 mins).

When play resumed, the visitors gained two corners on their left, following which Tshikuna fired well over the bar. The Stones threatened again on the hour as another Tshikuna effort deflected to Hassan whose shot was poor.

The next five minutes saw Alty twice more lose possession as the visitors applied pressure, culminating in Kadji shooting well over the bar (65 mins).

When Alty did get forward again, Reddin was booked for a dive just outside the right of the box (71 mins). At this point Neil Gibson made a double change with Cooper and Forde replacing Grant and Knowles respectively (71 mins).

Whilst a Wealdstone player underwent treatment the Stones also made a change when Olomola gave way to Dixon-Bonner and Georgiou was brought on for team-captain Waller (73 mins).

After Obiero had then missed a good chance for Wealdstone, a third change followed with Adu-Poku replacing Hassan (77 mins).

Almost immediately a poor clearance by Altrincham allowed Adu-Poku to force a save from Hutchinsob (78 mins).

Alty responded as a Kosylo shot forced a parry by the underemployed Baptiste, the ball just being cleared before Howe could capitalise on it.

Next, a good Altrincham move ended with Reddin gaining his side a corner on the right (80 mins).

The hosts were looking quite comfortable at this stage and it was they who also created the next chance with Jones forcing a save from Baptiste (83 mins).

The Stones' final two changes introduced Adarkwa and Agyemang for Obiero and Kadji (84-85 mins). Next, a foul by Howe was followed by another Alty transgression which yielded a Wealdstone freekick just outside the "D", which Tshikuna put narrowly wide (89 mins).

The late Stones pressure continued as McAvoy won a corner (90 mins) before eight added minutes were proclaimed.

After another Stones corner had come to naught, Alty brought on Weaver for Reddin (90+3 mins). The visitors continued to press before they had a strong appeal for a penalty turned down when McAvoy appeared to be bundled over in the box (90+7 mins).

So Altrincham emnerged with a first win in four league fixtures. This was also Alty's first clean sheet in thirteen league games but it owed almost as much to Wealdstone's inept finishing as to resolute defending. At the other end, apart from the goal that they scored, Altrincham barely tested Baptiste.