Altrincham put vital distance between themselves and the bottom four with this ultimately hard-earned win over a spirited Braintree Town.

Goals early in each half had put Altrincham 2-0 up but The Iron pulled back a goal midway through the second half and then applied considerable pressure, with the hosts grateful to Tylor Golden for a headed clearance off the line to preserve their lead.

In a game played in heavy rain Scunthorpe loanee Declan Howe put Altrincham ahead in the eighth minute after good work by Crankshaw on the left. Howe had the ball in the net again after 38 minutes but the effort was ruled offside.

When the Robins doubled their lead inside ninety seconds of the second half it looked to be all over for the visitors. This time Howe was the provider as he passed the ball inside from the right to Crankshaw whose effort struck the upright as Terry dived to try and stop it to his left. The ball rebounded off the post and into the net off the back of the Iron goalkeeper for an own goal.

But the visitors made a triple substitution before the hour mark and one of the trio of new players, Jon Akinde, then fed Harris who made it 2-1, beating Hutchinso at his near post (66 mins).

The Iron then enjoyed sustained pressure which culminated in Golden's back-post header off the line to preserve the Robins' lead (85 mins).

The win lifted Altrncham four places but with an excess of eight away games in their final thirteen fixtures, safety has not yet been reached.

SCORERS:

• 8 mins: Declan HOWE (ALTRINCHAM 1 Braintree Town 0)
• 47 mins: Own Goal IMason Terry) (ALTRINCHAM 1 Braintree Town 1)
• 66 mins: Taylan HARRIS (ALTRINCHAM 2 Braintree Town 1)

REFEREE: Mr Niall Smith

ATTENDANCE: 1,603 (47 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

For Altrincham, in addition to their five long-term absentees in defence (Ross, Barnes, Banks, Sass-Davies and Reed), a sixth defender (Cooper) was also now injured and to this litany was added a trio of recent signings (Breckin, Khan and Olson) who were also now sidelined by injury. The continuing absence of a seventh defender, team captain Baines, was finally explained to some degree before kick-off by news that he had been loaned out to Solihull Moors. More positive news was the return of Olly Crankshaw, who started, whilst on the bench, Liam Humbles and Sam Barnes were named after their respective injury absences.

LINE-UP:

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with white pinstripes, black shorts, 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, 11. Jimmy Knowles, 7. Olly Crankshaw, 9. Declan Howe. Subs: 20. Kahrel Reddin, 24. Sam Barnes, 28. Liam Humbles, 17. Lucas Weaver, 27. Louie Fallon (gk), 26. Anthony Forde, 40. Charlie Kirk

BRAINTREE TOWN (White shirts, orange shorts and socks) 1. Mason Terry, 3. Ryan Clampin, 21. Ben Drake, 4. George Langston (c), 2. Aidan Francis-Clarke, 17. Jacob Pinnington. 6. James Vennings, 11. Chay Cooper, 39. Elliot Thorpe, 8. Taylan Harris, 9. Lewis Walker. Subs: 14. Jon Akinde, 13. Josh Blunkell (gk), 16. Goran Babic, 18. Sahid Kamara, 5. Manny Omrore, 24. Zavier Massiah-Edwards

BACKGROUND:

Altrincham had not played for 11 days owing to the postponement of the away game at Woking seven days ago so this was the club's fourth successive home fixture..

With Altrincham 19th and Braintree 21st at kick-off this was also a clash of the teams with the fourth and fifth lowest potential maximum points this season. Alty were four points ahead of The Iron before this game.

REPORT:

In a match which was to be played in heavy rain, Braintree kicked off defending the uncovered away end in which a loyal cohort of their fans was getting soaked. To cheer them, it was the Iron who started the better, winning a throw in near the corner flag and then a corner itself, both inside the first five minutes.

However, it was Altrincham who landed the first shot on target when Crawford's effort from outside the box was deflected to the keeper, Terry (6 mins). And it was not long before Crankshaw jinked his way towards the bye-line left of goal and, from his cross, a Knowles header was blocked by Terry's legs, only for Howe to pounce from close range to record the first Altrincham goal of his loan period from Scunthorpe United (8 mins).

With rain pelting down, Golden went close to adding a second goal just a few minutes later (12 mins), with a shot from about 20 yards. Altrincham were looking comfortable as the game passed the quarter of an hour stage.

But the visitors then spurned an opening at the other end when Chay Cooper lost his footing inside the Altrincham box (15 mins). But Alty threatened again soon afterwards when a Howe shot was fielded by Terry. Next a CrAnkshaw effort earned his side a corner on the left.

After a stoppage to treat Braintree's Thorpe, Golden added to the hosts' pressure on the Braintree goal with a 25 yarder which Terry, by far the busier keeper, again stopped (18 mins). But Braintree were far from out of the game and looked dangerous on the counter. Indeed a Clampin cross soon earned the Iron another corner on their left. The corner-ball was worked to Vennings whose effort, from five yards outside the box, went narrowly wide of Hutchinson's right upright (26 mins).

An impressive run forward by Kosylo soon earned Altrincham a freekick, some thirty yards out. Taken by Crankshaw, keeper Terry parried the shot away (30 mins).

After Alty had lost possession, Braintree then got forward but, as Pinnington went down in the box, his appeals for a penalty went unanswered.

But Terry was soon in action again at the other end, making at least his sixth decent save of the half as he parried a long-distance effort from Alty (33 mins).

Play switched again and, at the other end, a 25-yarder from Drake deflected off Sassi for a corner (37 mins).

However, controversy soon followed another switch of play as Crawford got forward leading to Howe finding the net. As the loanee striker ran off to celebrate, a late flag ruled his effort out for offside. Despite Alty's protests there was, of course, to be no change of decision (39 mins).

But the chances kept coming as, now, Crawford and Crankshaw combined for another crack at goal, which was blocked (40 mins). Yet it was Braintree who were winning the corner count and just after they had won another one on the left, the visitors made an enforced change when Thorpe, who had been treated earlier, came off to be replaced by Babic (42 mins).

With the rain still pouring down, three added minutes were computed during which Babic counter-attacked and fed Cooper for a curling shot which went narrowly wide of Hutchinson's left upright (45+3 mins).

So Alty led by just a single goal at the interval but it could easily have been more, given the number of saves required by goalkeeper Terry.

The rain had eased a little during the interval and Altrincham fans were, in some cases, not yet back in their viewing positions when Altrincham doubled their lead just over a minute into the second half. Having kicked off, Alty got up the right, from where Howe fed the ball inside to Crankshaw. His shot beat the diving Terry, to his left. It ran on to kiss the post, rebound and strike the prostrate keeper's back, and cross the line to make it 2-0 through an own goal, which was harsh on the hardworking keeper (47 mins).

After an Alty corner had come to nothing, Terry sat down to prompt a team talk on the touchline for both teams before the visitors' keeper resumed his custodian duties.

As the game approached the hour mark, Braintree made a triple substitution with Omrore replacing Clampin, Kamara coming on for Cooper and, finally, Akinde, a nuisance in the past for Alty, took over from Walker (56/57 mins).

There was no immediate impact for the visitors as Altrincham twice went close to making it 3-0 in the next few minutes with, first a Crankshaw effort having to be beaten out by Terry and, then, a Knowles effort had to be cleared off the line by a defender (58 mins).

However, the substitutes did then begin to have an influence as they advanced on the left, a move which required a great block from Eddy Jones to stop a goalbound Kamara effort, from an Akinde feed.

As the game approached the halfway point of the second half, Braintree scored and, again, Akinde was involved, feeding Harris who made it 2-1 (66 mins).

Alty responded with an impressive run by Knowles which fed Crankshaw but his shot produced no more than a comfortable save by Terry (67 mins).

Buoyed by their goal, Braintree dominated the next ten minutes or so, with their loyal band of supporters giving them good vocal support, now safely housed under cover in the family stand. Alty responded by bringing on Reddin for Crankshaw (70 mins).

However, the momentum remained with the Iron as an Omrore effort needed a routine save before an Akinde deflected shot flew inches wide to earn a corner (73 mins).

But Altrincham then wasted a good chance to wrap up the points when an impressive run by Reddin, on the right, gave Knowles an opening which he struck disappointingly wide (75 mins).

Not having booked anyone in the match so far, for some reasom Mr Smith felt that Kamara's routine foul merited a first yellow card of the afternoon (77 mins). After this, Massiah-Edwards replaced Drake (79 mins).

A fine dribble by Massiah-Edwards now fed Akinde but he was deemed offside.

Alty's second change brought Kirk onto the pitch, on the left, to replace Knowles (82 mins).

Braintree continued to get forward and a fierce shot of theirs from 25 yards flew into the side netting to Alty's relief (83 mins). The Iron came even closer when Babic's effort was athletically headed out of play at the backpost by Golden as it curled towards the far, top corner (85 mins)

Next, Humbles came on in place of Knowles (85 mins), after which Marriott was booked for a foul (86 mins).

A worse foul, by Sassi, then went unpunished by more than a freekick as Alty remained largely on the back foot.

With the fourth official seemingly unable to work his electronic board, spectators had no idea how much added time was to be played. During this period, Akinde (90+2 mins) and Babic (90+4 mins) found themsleves both booked.

The final stages saw Altrincham get forward, on the right, and when Howe charged down a Terry clearance, the keeper was releived to save the resulting shot (90+5 mins).

The final act of note was a corner for Altrincham which, predictably, they took short to wind down the clock before the final whistle sounded to confirme that they had won a vital three points which lifted then four places to fiteenth but still far from safe, especially as eight of their thirteen remaining games are away from home, where they have won just twice this season.