After a dismal first half in which Altrincham enjoyed some 63% of the possession but failed to land a shot on target, apart from a shot by Howe which the keeper helped over the bar, the visitors found themselves trailing at the interval to a bullet header from former Robin, Kennedy Digie. He headed home a freekick from the right awarded when Tylor Golden fouled an opponent after miscontrolling the ball (17 mins). That was the only effort on goal from either team in the first 45 minutes.

Tamworth started the second half the better but a quick free kick by Matty Kosylo set Jimmy Knowles running at goal and he calmly made it 1-1 (52 mins). Less than two minutes later, Altrincham were reduced to ten men when Dan Sassi tangled with an opponent and was sent off for apparently kicking out at a Tamworth player whilst both were on the ground.

Alty survived the resulting freekick from the edge of the penalty area but, another couple of minutes later, they had Tylor Golden sent off for deliberate handball on the goal-line, an action which denied a certain goal (57 mins). So, Altrincham were down to nine men.

The resulting penalty by Mols saw the Tamworth man stop in his run-up before netting, which made it 2-1 as referee Westgate allowed the goal to stand (58 mins). This prompted mayhem as Hutchinson and Crawford, and Howe were all booked.

Altrincham weathered the next 15 minutes before Acquaye made it 3-1 when his shot deflected off Cooper and Hutchinson fumbled the ball into the net (72 mins). Four minutes later Rye made it 4-1, scoring from right of goal.

Eight added minutes were decreed and, in the fourth of them, Cullinane-Liburd netted with a rising shot from 25 yards to make it 5-1.

SCORERS:

• 17 mins: Kennedy DIGIE (Tamworth 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)
• 52 mins: Jimmy KNOWLES (Tamworth 1 ALTRINCHAM 1)
• 58 mins: Stefan MOLS (penalty) (Tamworth 2 ALTRINCHAM 1)
• 72 mins: Ben ACQUAYE (Tamworth 3 ALTRINCHAM 1)
• 76 mins: Joe RYE (Tamworth 4 ALTRINCHAM 1)
• 90(+4) mins: Jordan CULLINANE-LIBURD (Tamworth 5 ALTRINCHAM 1)

REFEREE: Mr James Westgate

ATTENDANCE: 697 (107 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Altrincham's injured list remained extensive with Crankshaw, Jones and Grant added tonight to Saturday's absentees (Ross, Banks, Sass-Davies, Breckin, Khan and Olson). The plastic pitch probably influenced the omission of Crankshaw and Jones.

Into the side came Forde, Reddin and Cooper, whilst Bailey and Reed came in on the bench.

Tamworth were unchanged.

LINE-UP:

TAMWORTH (Red with blck tri, black shirts and socks) 1. Jas Singh, 12. Joe Rye, 18. Jordan Cullinane-Liburd, 5. Kennedy Digie, 11. Luke Fairlamb, 4. Tom Tonks, 45. Ryan Howley, 14. Stefan Mols, 42. Teo Kurtaran, 31. Ronan Maher, 27. Oliver Lynch, Subs: 3. Callum Cockerill-Mollett, 6. Alfie Bates, 8. Ben Milnes, 24. Ben Acquaye, 26. Haydn Hollis, 20. Tyler Roberts, 46. Daniel Isichei.

ALTRINCHAM (Black shirts with yellow diagonals, yellow shorts and black socks): 30. Luke Hutchinson, 23. Tylor Golden, 34. Dan Sassi, 5. Jake Cooper, 26. Anthony Forde, 8. Isaac Marriott, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 14. Matty Kosylo, 11. Jimmy Knowles, 20. Kahrel Reddin, 9. Declan Howe. Subs: 3. Sam Reed, 24. Sam Barnes, 28. Liam Humbles, 17. Lucas Weaver, 25. Joel Bailey, 27. Louie Fallon (gk), 40. Charlie Kirk

BACKGROUND:

At kick-off, Tamworth had won only once in their last nine league games, whilst Altrincham had just recorded a second successive home victory. Away from home, however, Alty's form was poor, with just two league games won on the road this season.

REPORT:

Alty's injury-ravaged side kicked off on the artificial surface at The Lamb and this was followed by an uneventful ten minutes before Knowles won the first corner of the evening from a Kosylo feed.

Kosylo was surprisingly deployed on the left after recent matches in which he has figured on the opposite side of the pitch.

On the right in this match, Reddin was looking lively as Altrincham enjoyed comfortably more possession than the hosts, who were content to let the visitors pass the ball about unthreateningly in their own half.

However, superiority of possession counted for nothing when Golden mis-controlled the ball and fouled his opponent near the left touchline about 40 yards from goal. The defender was booked and, from the curling freekick, Digie was allowed a free header from about 15 yards which arrowed into the bottom of the net to Hutchinson's left, giving the Lambs a 1-0 lead (17 mins)

Before this, Tonks had hurled several of his long throws into the Alty box and these had been the main element in the Tamworth armoury. However, the Lambs were soon presented with an alternative route to goal with another potentially threatening freekick, awarded midway through the half when Crawford was harshly penalised for an alleged "foot-up" offence, just outside the box in a central position.

The goalbound freekick was dealt with by Hutchinson, diving to his right to push the ball away (24 mins).

Two more long throws from Tonks soon followed and, as the half-hour passed, it had been twenty minutes since Altrincham had last threatened the Tamworth goal. Some five minutes later, however, Reddin won possession off Maher and fed Howe whose smart shot from the right forced Singh to tip the ball over the bar for a corner (36 mins).

A poor challenge on Reddin saw Maher booked (39 mins) before a Crawford effort was skied miles over the bar. As the first 45 minutes ended a foul on Crawford gave the visitors a freekick but Forde hit this opportunity wide. So the interval arrived with Alty a goal behind, after 45 minutes of generally uninspiring football.

Tamworth kicked off the second half and enjoyed the better of the opening minutes, with two more Tonks projectiles forming the basis of the home side's attacking strategy (49 mins).

However, when Howe was fouled towards halfway, a quickly taken freekick by Kosylo set Knowles advancing up the inside left channel. He went on to slot the ball past Singh and draw Altrincham level at 1-1 (52 mins). So, it seemed that Alty had a platform from which to impose themselves on the game.

But a crazy five minutes was to follow. Firstly, Sassi and an opponent went for an aerial ball just outside the Alty box. Both players fell to the ground and in attempting to regain his feet, the Alty defender was deemed by Mr Westgate to have kicked out deliberately at his opponent. A red card was produced and off trudged Sassi (54 mins).

Worse was to follow as a Tamworth shot, hit towards Hutchinson's left post, was clearly handled by Golden on the line and he was shown his side's second red card (57 mins). A penalty was duly awarded. Mols's run up saw the Tamworth stop in his approach before stroking the ball into the net but the goal was awarded to make it 2-1 (58 mins).

Altrincham players immediately surrounded the referee in protest. Their actions brought three yellow cards, for Hutchinson, Crawford and Howe (59 mins).

Moments later Neil Gibson brought on Barnes, back from injury for his first appearance in 14 league games, to replace Knowles (60 mins) (60 mins)

Alty's night did not improve when Kosylo's lunge earned him a yellow card (70 mins) and, just two minutes later, Tamworth made it 3-1 as Acquaye's shot deflected off Cooper and Hutchinson fumbled it into the net (72 mins)..

One threat to Alty did diminish when Tonks was substituted by Milnes (74 mins). Next, Altrincham made a double change as Humbles and Reed replaced Reddin and Howe (78 mins).

Soon afterwards, Isichei and Roberts replaced Mols and Lynch for Tamworth (82/83 mins).

To Altrincham's dismay, eight minutes of added time were decreed during which Bates replaced Howley (90+2 mins). Sadly for Altrincham, Tamworth netted a fifth goal when centre-back Cullinane-Liburd advanced and fired a fine shot from 25 yards into the Altrincham net (90+4 mins).

There was remaining danger to the Alty goal when Hutchinson was unable to hold a Tamworth shot but he managed to recover possession and win a freekick from an opposing player (90+6 mins).

So ended a disastrous night for Altrincham who now go into next Saturday with two players suspended on top of the nine injured squad members who were not involved in this match.