In a game of generally low quality Altrincham came away from bottom club Gateshead with a 1-0 win, thanks to Jimmy Knowles's 21st minute goal, scored when he broke clear up the inside left channel before slotting the ball past goalkeeper Jameson.

However, Knowles (right) did less well, in the 81st minute, having his penalty saved by the keeper.

After Alty had taken the lead in the first half, the final 10-15 minutes before the interval saw Gateshead enjoy a lot of forward momentum but without seriously threatening to score.

The Heed again saw plenty of the ball after the break before substitute and formner Alty man Kyle Ferguson brought down Lucas Weaver to concede the penalty that Knowles was to miss. Alty then enjoyed the upper hand before riding out seven added minutes to record a second clean sheet of the season and a climb of seven places to finish the night in third place in the National League, their highest position at this stage of a season since the last millennium.

After this game against the League's bottom club, it is a trip to runaway league leaders Boreham Wood next Saturday.

SCORERS:

• 21 mins: Jimmy KNOWLES (Gateshead 0 ALTRINCHAM 1)

REFEREE: Matthew McQuillan

ATTENDANCE: 441 (41 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Three changes were made to the starting eleven; Cooper, Hemmings and Khan came in for the injured Humbles as well as for Kirk and Reddin. The latter duo moved to the bench, where Raymond returned. New signing Harry Isted was named as cover goalkeeper as Acquah dropped out.

Three days ago, against Hornchurch, The Robins were without seven of their squad through injury (German, Jones, Olson, Dennis, Forde, Evans, Barnes) and they then lost Liam Humbles to a serious shoulder injury during that match so eight men were unavailable for selection tonight.

For Gateshead both of their Alty "old boys", Kyle Ferguson and Harrison Holgate, were non-starters tonight. Kyle Ferguson, Hiwula, Coyle and Lewis-Burgess moved to the bench. David Ferguson, Spellman, Lavery, Home and John came in to the eleven from the bench but Holgate was not in the squad.

LINE-UP:

GATESHEAD (White and black halved shirts, black shorts, white socks): GATESHEAD: 12. Peter Jameson, 2. Tommy Lavery, 3. David Ferguson (c), 4. Josh Home, 5. Alex Lankshear (c), 6. Jack Robinson, 25. Alfie McCalmont, 20. Fenton John, 21. Michael Spellman 27. David Eguaibor, 19. Luke Supyk. Subs: 24. Kyle Ferguson, 29. Freddie Issaka, 1. Noah Phillips, 7. Jordy Hiwula-Mayifuila, 17. Rocco Coyle, Billy Chadwick, 38. Keon Lewis-Burgess

ALTRINCHAM (Yellow shirts with black chest band, black shorts, yellow socks): 13. Andy Firth, 14. Matty Kosylo, 21. Reuben Lopata-White, 5.Jake Cooper, 2. Lewis Banks, 15. Sam Taylor, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 7. Otis Khan, 10. Aidan Barlow, 11. Jimmy Knowles, 28. Kane Hemmings,. Subs: 4. Jack Hinchy, 12. Kian Breckin, 17. Lucas Weaver, 16. Remi Raymond, 20. Kahrel Reddin, 23. Charlie Kirk, 34. Harry Isted (gk)

BACKGROUND:

Altrincham arrived on the back of a run of six wins in their previous seven matches and they lay just two points behind the National League's second-placed club.

> In contrast, Gateshead were bottom of the table with just 4 points earned from their ten fixtures. Just hours before kick off the Heed announced the resignation from their Board of their main investor.

REPORT:

On a damp and misty night in Gateshead, Barlow kicked off for Altrincham, playing the ball directly back to goalkeeepr Firth who kicked, long, upfield.

After a scrappy five minutes Knowles laid a testing low cross across the face of the Gateshead goal but no team-mate got on the end of it. However, a corner followed which, taken by Khan, but this came to nothing,

As Alty began to settle, a foul by the hosts' Robinson earned him an early booking (8 mins).

The first real chance of the game arose from a shrewd through ball by Crawford to Hemmings but keeper Jameson rushed out to thwart the Alty striker (10 mins).

Both sides were losing the ball cheaply with Lopata-White and Khan doing so in succession which allowed Gateshead to lay a ball across the face of the Alty goal but, as earlier, with Altrincham's similar cross, no one was there to convert it (15 mins).

The lack of quality in the match continued as a poor back pass by Kosylo went will wide of Firth and gave the Heed an unearned corner (16 mins), which Firth punched clear.

However, a few minutes later Jimmy Knowles got the better of Ferguson some 30 yards out and the forward raced owards goal, slotting the ball past the advancing Jameson to give Altrincham a 1-0 lead (21 mins). It was his fourth goal of the season.

Four minutes later, a promising move by Altrincham ended with a Hemmings shot being blocked by a defender.

A couple of Alty fouls gave Gateshead freekicks, which came to nothing, before the visitors created a good chance when Khan, Barlow and Knowles supplied Hemmings but his mis-pass brought the move to a disappointing conclusion inside the Gateshead box (32 mins).

With drizzly rain still falling there were chants from the home fans of "We want Cattermole out" addressed to the Gateshead manager.

Kosylo's grab on a player as he threatened to get away from him earned the Alty right-back a yellow card (36 mins).

Alty had an alarm when Andy Firth slipped over on the wet surface but he was fortunate that the ball from a Gateshead player was underhit and he managed to gather it (38 mins).

In fact, the ten minutes or so before the interval saw Gateshead largely on the front foot but without creating any real threats.

The nearest to danger came when Firth palmed out an aerial ball and an opponent headed over the bar (39 mins).

After that, The Heed won a corner on their right (41 mins) which was overhit by John and led to an even wilder ball back from the left by McCalmont (42 mins)>

By the interval Altrincham had failed to build on their lead and their performance had, in fact, tailed off in the closing stages of a generally tawdry first half.

After Gateshead had kicked off, Hemmings went down injured, off the ball (48 mins) and was replaced by Weaver (50 mins)

Jimmy Knowles then went close with a well-struck shot from the front edge of the box, to the right of goal (52 mins) but play was generally of a scrappy nature. Weaver did soon make himself an opening with a smart turn but he fired well over the bar (56 mins).

Crawford's ball to Taylor now gained Alty a corner on the left, off Lavery, but Barlow's flag-kick curled out of play near the back post (63 mins).

The hosts soon made a change with Hiwula replacing the booked Robinson (65 mins). Cooper then joined Robinson in the book for a profesional foul (67 mins) before The Heed won a corner which again came to nothing (70 mins).

Alty did finally threaten when Kosylo got forward and put in a low cross but Jameson smothered this well as Barlow closed in (73 mins)

With rain still falling, former Alty man Kyle Ferguson joined the game, replacing Lavery (77 mins). But Alty were now enjoying a decent spell with Khan making a promsing run before Kosylo impressively contrilled an "up and under" to win a thow (79 mins).

Kyle Ferguson then presented his former team with a golden chance to wrap up the game as he fouled Weaver inside the box to concede a penalty. With Hemmings off the pirtch Knowles took the spot-kick but it was well saved, low to his left by Jameson (81 mins). Weaver's follow up was also blocked by the keeper with only a corner resulting.

A triple substitution for Gateshead soon followed as Lewis-Burgess, Issaka and Chadwick replaced Eguaibor, Lamkshear and Home (86 mins). When play resumed Alty still had the better of proceedings as Weaver raced forward but his effort gained a corner rather than earning a goal (89 mins).

Two changes followed with Hinchy coming on for Barlow (89 mins) and Reddin for Kosylo (90 mins). Seven added minutes were then announced with Alty now deploying a back four; Banks was at right-back, Taylor on the left and Cooper and Lopata-White central.

Disaster almost struck when Khan underhit a back pass and, for the second time, Firth slipped on the wet surface but the keeper was fortunately able to thwart the nearby Hiwula's attempt to take advantage ((0 =5 mins).. Gateshead were not threateneing otherwise and when Reddin won a late corner it was effectively all over for the hosts (90+5 mins).

So Alty had made it seven wins in their last eight fixtures but this was not a performance out of the drawer by any stretch of the imagination. Nevertheless it saw Altrincham occupy 3rd place for at least 24 hours before the Wednesday fixtures.