Altrincham finally secured a first win of the season, in their fourth outing, with this ultimately narrow, but deserved, victory over the Shaymen.

The Robins took a sixteenth-minute lead when Jimmy Knowles took advantage of a lapse by Bardell to finish impressively past the keeper, Grant.

Altrincham doubled their lead in first-half added time as Crawford volleyed home after Kirk's freekick had come out to him from Lopata-White. It was fitting that Alty's captain scored as it was he who had been fouled to earn the freekick from the right.

Halifax made two changes at the interval and soon had a goal disallowed for offside before they went on to keep Altrincham penned back for a period.

However, Alty seemed to have weathered the pressure until Bray got forward on the right. His cross was inadvertently powered into the net by the retreating Matty Kosylo as he and David Kawa went for the same ball (81 mins).

Altrincham had a third goal disallowed (85 mins) but retained their lead without two many alarms in the closing stages.

SCORERS:

• 16 mins: Jimmy KNOWLES (Altrincham 1 FC HaLifax Town 0)
• 45(+1) mins: Tom CRAWFORD (Altrincham 2 FC HaLifax Town 1)
• 81 mins: OWN GOAL (Matty Kosylo) (Altrincham 2 FC HaLifax Town 1)

REFEREE: Mr Alan Young

ATTENDANCE: 1,861 (423 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Lucas Weaver was a notable absentee from the squad tonight and, it seems, he was not present at the match itself. Alty also continued to miss five the injured players; Charlie Olson (hamstring), Eddie Jones (hamstring), Owen German (ruptured achilles), Sam Barnes and Kristian Dennis (the latter pair with unspecified injuries).

For this match Jake Cooper dropped to the bench as loanee Reuben Lopata-White started alongside Lewis Banks at centre-back. Captain Tom Crawford returned after injury whilst Jack Hinchy moved to the bench. Remi Raymond gave way to new signing Kane Hemmings on the bench.

The Shaymen started with the eleven who had begun the win over Tamworth, last time out in the league. New signing Hill was named on the Shaymen's bench, where Crowe gave way to Allen.

LINE-UP:

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with white sleeves and trim, red shorts and white socks): 1. Owen Evans; 14. Matty Kosylo, 21. Reuben Lopata-White, 2. Lewis Banks, 15. Sam Taylor, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 8. Liam Humbles, 7. Otis Khan, 10. Aidan Barlow, 23. Charlie Kirk, 11. Jimmy Knowles. Subs: 4. Jack Hinchy, 5.Jake Cooper, 12. Kian Breckin, 13. Andy Firth (gk), 26. Anthony Forde, 20. Kahrel Reddin 28. Kane Hemmings

FC HALIFAX TOWN (All lime green/yellow with black trim) 33 True Grant, 2 Max Bardell, 8 Will Flint, 5 Shane Hobson, 3 Raheem Conte, 4 Will Hugill, 30 Cody Johnson (c), 17 Ben Tollitt, 10 Zak Gilsenan, 11 Connor Douglas, 9 Connor Carty. Subs: 1 Sam Johnson, 7 Owen Bray, 22 David Kawa, 16. Deniche Hill, 20 Tayt Trusty, 27 Cruz Allen, 14 Amari Morgan-Smith

BACKGROUND:

Alty had yet win this season whereas Halifax had broken their duck last time out with a 4-1 win over Tamworth. The Shaymen had lost just one of their six league games at the JDS since Altrincham's return to the top flight in 2020. But all of those six games had been either draws or decided by a single-goal margin.

REPORT:

On a bright, dry evening, after earlier rain, it was Halifax who kicked off towards Golf Road. However, it was Altrincham who won the first corner of the evening, from a Kirk cross (3 mins).

Taken short, the corner led to a 25-yard effort from Sam Taylor which was held by goalkeeper Grant (4 mins). Halifax responded with a ball over the top which set Gilsenan free on the visiors' left, behind Matty Kosylo. But the Halifax man could only win a corner on the left (5 mins).

Having employed floodlights in their previous afternoon fixture, despite there being bright sunshine, tonight it was getting distinctly gloomy before the illumination came (8 mins). The traditional technology of floodlights slowly coming on gradually, a section at a time, has been replaced this season by instant brightness from the revamped lights of the JDS.

Next, Altrincham failed to clear their lines which allowed the visitors a shot which Owen Evans had to beat away (9 mins). End to end play continued as a good Altrincham move culminated in Kosylo feeding Crawford, on the right, and the Alty captain won his side their second corner (10 mins)

The Robins now enjoyed the upper hand, without troubling Grant, but a more promising move was ended when Humbles was ruled offside (13 mins).

When Conte upended Crawford on the Altrincham right, some 35 yards from goal, nothing came of the freekick but, in its wake, Halifax's Bardell gave the ball away to Knowles. He advanced up the middle towards goal and coolly slotted the ball past the advancing keeper to put Alty one-up (16 mins).

It was not long before Altrincham created another chance when Taylor again advanced on the left and, via Barlow, fed Crawford but the captain's attempt to place the ball into the bottom corner, to the keeper's right, was misjudged and the ball drifted comfortably wide of the upright (22 mins).

Another opening was soon created by the hosts when Barlow fed Humbles whose excellent feint made him space but his resulting left-footed curler went wide (24 mins)

As play continued, Neil Gibso had obviously spotted something and he stepped back from the technical area and put his arm around the as yet unsued substitute Kahrel Reddin before pointing to areas of the pitch which, presumably, he envisaged would be profitable for the winger to exploit when called upon.

Alty's dominance at this stage was halted when Barlow dived in on an opponent and was duly booked (27 mins).

Halifax's only effort at this stage was a skied shot into Golf Road (29 mins). At the other end Humbles battled for possession on the front edge of the box but his effort narrowly cleared the bar (30 min).

However, the hosts needed some luck when Gilsenan got free but he made a hash of his intended pass.

Soon, Taylor again got forward up the left and, via Kirk, the ball found Humbles who jinked into the box to win another home corner on the left, which was poorly executed (32 mins).

Throughout the game a notable feature in the Altrincham technical area was the stream of loud instructions to the players on the pitch which emanated from substitute goalkeeper Andy Firth and supplemented those of the management duo of Lee Jones and Neil Gibson.

Alty's continued dominance next saw Taylor win another corner, on the left which, as is nearly always the case these days, was taken short (36 mins).

Play went through a relatively quiet patch as the interval approached but, in the 45th minute, Tom Crawford was again upended, some 35 yards out towards the right touchline. As he got up, the Alty captain showed a considerable number of fingers to the referee to suggest repeated offences by Halifax.

With one added minute having been announced, Kirk took the freekick which came back out of the goalmouth to Crawford who, with poetic justice, volleyed the ball into the net, making it 2-0 (45+1 mins). It marked a deserved lead for the hitherto winless Robins after an entertaining first half.

The Shaymen made a double change for the second half as Bray and Kawa eplaced Douglas and Tollitt.

Altrincham soon found themselves on the back foot and their failure to clear a Halifax threat produced an early corner on the left for the visitors (47 mins). Further attacking pressure from the right culminated in the ball hitting the back of the Altrincham net but the effort was chalked off for offside (50 mins).

It then took a fine tackle by Banks to thwart the visitors but his challenge on Gilsenan was harshly judged to have been a foul and Banks was even booked (53 mins).

Altrincham remained on the back foot and it was noticeable that in this game keeper Evans was employing long balls more often than trying to play out from the back.

If Banks had been unlucky to be cautioned, Kirk could have no complaints about his yellow for a cynical foul on Bardell after the Halifax man had got past him (58 mins). Halifax's rehearsed move at the freekick foundered but the pressure continued with the Shaymen gaining another corner (61 mins).

But for all their possession, Halifax were not landing too many threatening efforts on goal as Bray's wild volley wide of the target demonstrated (64 mins).

Alty gained some espite when a rapidly advancing Kosylo was chopped down just outside the Halifax box by Conte who was shown a yellow card (65 mins). After Kirk's freekick had struck the wall, he and Humbles were withdrawn as Breckin and Reddin joined the match (68 mins).

Halifax responded with Cruz replacing Hugill (70 mins).

Almost immediately Knowles found Breckin whose excellent pass inside fed the unmarked Reddin in the box but his effort was saved by Grant (71 mins).

Alty's improvement after the personnel changes continued as Barlow's low shot drew a save from Grant (78 mins). Another Altrincham change soon arrived with Knowles giving way to new signing Hemmings at the head of the attack (80 mins).

But barely a minute later, Halifax scored when Bray did well on the right and his low cross was struck into his own net by the retreating former Shaymen, Kosylo, as Kawa closed in behind him (81 mins). An Alty v HAlifax match without Kosylo being in the headlines is a rarity!

From being relatively comfortable with their 2-0 lead, the introduction of the tall Amari Morgan-Smith confirmed the visitors' intention to put Altrincham under pressure in the closing stages. Morgan-Smith replaced Carty (85 mins).

However, it was Altrincham who soon had the ball in the net at the Halifax end but their effort was ruled out (89 mins).

Four added minutes were computed during which defende Cooper replaced number ten Barlow to shore up the defence (90+3 mins). Soon after Owen Evans had been announced as man of the match, despite a fairly quite night for the keeper, the game ended with Altrincham having deservedly secured their first points of the season.