In a match of extremely poor quality, Altrincham succumbed to a 21st defeat of the season as Solihull ground their way to a first win in eleven outings at a windy Armco Arena.

The deciding moment came in the tenth minute when Sam Reed overran the ball leading to Sbarra finding the net.

Without loanee Declan Howe, following his recall to Scunthorpe, Altrincham were toothless and, at the back and in midfield, error-prone

Defeat dropped Altrincham to fifteenth.

SCORERS:

• 10 mins: Joe SBARRA (Solihull Moors 1 ALTRINCHAM 0)

REFEREE: Mr Dale Baines

ATTENDANCE: 1,107

TEAM NEWS:

With Alty in a sequence of six games in seventeen days, squad rotation was to be expected and, consequently, manager Neil Gibson made four changes for this match. Into the starting eleven came three defenders Reed, Sassi and Cooper and forward, Weaver.

Making way for these four were Howe, who had been recalled by parent club Scunthorpe United, whilst Grant, Barnes and Golden dropped to the bench. Returning to the bench were loanee Breckin and Kosylo, both of whom had recovered fitness.

Once more, Altrincham were without seven injured players in Ross, Banks, Sass-Davies, Khan, Olson, Crankshaw and Forde.

Solihull made one change, loanee Daniel Cox came in for the ineligible Lewis Baines, who could not play against Alty, his parent club. The Baines clan were involved however, as the referee was a Mr Dale Baines.

LINE-UP:

SOLIHULL MOORS (Yellow shirts, blue shorts and socks): 1. Laurie Walker, 14. Dan Cox, 5. Alex Whitmore, 26. Tyler French, 3. Cameron Green, 4. Jamey Osborne, 11. Ben Worman, 8. Isaac Moore, 19. Emmanuel Sonupe, 22. Joe Sbarra, 9. Tobi Sho-Silva. Subs: 33. Aaron Flahavan, 23. Finn Howell, 21. Oscar Rutherford, 29. Bradley Stevenson, 7. Callum McFarlane, 16. Oliver Tipton, 10. Conor Wilkinson.

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with with white pinstripes, black shorts and white socks): 30. Luke Hutchinson, 33. Eddy Jones, 5. Jake Cooper, 34. Dan Sassi, 3. Sam Reed, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 28. Liam Humbles, 8. Isaac Marriott, 20. Kahrel Reddin, 11. Jimmy Knowles, 17. Lucas Weaver. Subs: 27. Louie Fallon (gk), 23. Tylor Golden, 24. Sam Barnes, 6. Josh Grant, 12. Kian Breckin, 14. Matty Kosylo, 40. Charlie Kirk

BACKGROUND:

Both sides had drawn in midweek, resuts which had left 14th placed Altrincham two points and three places ahead of their hosts.

REPORT:

Alty started reasonably well and, as early as the third minute, Sam Reed had a shot blocked before Solihull responded when Sbarra fired over the bar. But, after a fairly even opening period, the Moors took advantage of Reed overruning the ball and they scored through Sbarra's effort into the bottom corner of the net, from a Moore feed, in just the tenth minute.

After that, following a foul on Jones deep in his own half, the freeklick was taken short and Jones himself advanced some fifty yards up the pitch before firing a twenty-five-yarder, low, at the Moors goal. Keeper Walker dived to save it but did not hold the ball. So Alty had landed the first meaningful shot on target (20 mins).

Next, after a smart one-two betwen Humbles and Marriott, the former's shot cleared the bar from 18 yards.

Indeed, Altrincham were enjoying a good spell as, now, Weaver turned smartly past his marker and his well-struck shot grazed the outside of the upright (24 mins).

A stiff wind was behind Altrincham and this, combined with a less than perfect playing surface, meant that flowing football was at a premium.

However, Weaver soon threatened again as Reed found him. But, as he fell, Weaver's shot forced a Walker save and earned Altrincham a corner (27 mins).

Walker was in action again two minutes later whwn Humbles advanced and shot at goal (29 mins). Soon, Weaver again hit the target but his shot did not unduly trouble Walker (31 mins) .

The visitors were certainly the more attacking force at this stage as, next, Reddin advancedo n the right and found Reed, to his left, but the left-sided player's right-foot effort was well off target (33 mins).

A long throw from Osborne now led to a Solihull corner but Alty responded with a corner of their own before the hosts put together an impressive passing move to yield another corner (43 mins).

When Weaver dragged a shot wide as half-time approached (44 mins), Altrincham had constructed half a dozen decent openings in the first half but had failed to convert any of them, with their best finisher, Jimmy Knowles, curiously not involved in any of them.

Playing into the wind in the second half, Altrincham had an early scare when Cooper and Hutchinson got in a mix-up as the centre-back failed to nod the ball back to his keeper but Hutchinson did well to block Sho-Silva's resulting point-blank effort.

Play soon descended into a scrappy affair with neither side creating anything of note as their respective moves foundered after, at best, a handful of passes.

A poor challenge from behind on reed earned Sonupe a yellow card (54 mins), with the offender immediately transgressing again as he fouled Humbles but without further sanction.

At last Alty landed a decent second-half shot on goal when Humbles's twenty-yarder was fumbled out for a corner by Walker (57 mins). Just after Solihull's Green had earned his side a corner, Alty brought on Golden for Reed at left-wing-back (58 mins).

Next, Wilkinson replaced Sho-Silva for the Moors (60 mins). Further scrappy play ensued before three more changes of personnel ensued.

McFarlane replaced Osborne for the Moors and Kosylo came on for Reddin (69 mins) with Kirk taking the place of Weaver (70 mins) for the Robins.

The sides soon exchanged corners (73 mins) before Sbarra and Kosylo got booked for a spat over a freekick (77 mins). In a second half largely devoid of chances, Alty almost equalised in bizarre fashion when a Humbles shot was deflected and looped forward to Golden whose stabbed effort cleared the bar (78 mins).

Play meandered on with little to stimulate the crowd. As the ninety-minute mark approached, Sassi was troubled by cramp before six added minutes were decreed. After Moore had been booked for a foul, Sassi was replaced by Barnes (90+3 mins).

And so Alty sank to a 21st league defeat this season and dropped a place to fifteenth. For Solihull it was a first win in eleven outings and it took thm above their visitors. For the spectators it was an afternoon to forget.