This goalless draw against a side bottom of a league two tiers below Altrincham in the pyramidmeant that it was now more than seven years and six home ties since Altrincham had last won an FA cup match at their Moss Lane home.

And this first drawn match of the season in their fourteenth outing meant that Alty have now won only two of their last fourteen FA Cup ties, home or away.

Having said that, in this match they dominated possession and territory throughout most of the ninety minutes but scarcely tested the visiting keeper.

Two home "goals" were ruled out for offside but Altrincham failed to convert numerous other balls into the United box throughout the game. And Alty were grateful that LeFondre failed to convert a late chance with an underhit shot at Isted.

A replay is now called for at Broadhurst Park on Tuesday night.

SCORERS:

• NONE

REFEREE: Mr Michael Barlow

ATTENDANCE: 3,005 (1,017 in away section)

TEAM NEWS:

Altrincham made three changes from last Saturday with Lopata-White dropping to the bench and both Jake Cooper and Kahrel Reddin being omitted from the squad.

Into the starting eleven came Aidan Barlow, Sam Barnes and Leo Farrell.

On the bench was Eddy Jones where Kristian Dennis was also named, in his case for a second time, though neither had yet to play any competitive football this sseason through injury.

FCUM also made three changes with Sudworth, Harris and Buckley out and Thompson, Atkinson and former Liverpool man Wisdom starting in their places.

LINE-UP:

ALTRINCHAM (Red shirts with white sleeves and trim, red shorts and white socks): 34. Harry Isted, 14. Matty Kosylo, 5.Jake Cooper, 2. Lewis Banks, 15. Sam Taylor, 22. Tom Crawford (c), 7. Otis Khan, 23. Charlie Kirk, 10. Aidan Barlow, 11. Jimmy Knowles, 39. Leo Farrell. Subs: 3. Eddy Jones, 4. Jack Hinchy, 12. Kian Breckin, 9. Kristian Dennis, 17. Lucas Weaver, 21. Reuben Lopata-White, 13. Andy Firth (gk).

FC UNITED OF MANCHESTER (Purple shirts and socks, black shorts ) 1. Dan Atherton, 2. Matty Thompson 3. Matty Devine, 4. Andre Wisdom, 5. Charlie Hayes-Green, 6. Declan Evans, 7. Matty Grivosti, 8. Aaron Atkinson, 9. Adam Le Fondre, 10. Ruben Grewal, 11. Niall Watson. Subs: 12. Micahel Donohue, 14. Leliendal, 15. Adam Sudworth, 16. Charlie Finney, 18. Matthew Fearnley, 19. Donald Chimalilo.

BACKGROUND:

Whilst FCUM started the game bottom of the NPL they had enjoyed a good run to date, with three wins, all by at least three-goal margins.

In contrast, Altrincham were in good form in the National League but their FA Cup record over recent years had been very poor.

Before kick off the sizeable away support chanted "Bring on United" for several minutes and their repertoire also included the appropriated Manchester United lyric "We are the Busby Boys"

REPORT:

On a sunny afternoon, Altrincham kicked off to a nearly full away end, with Barnsley loanee Farrell leading the home attack with Kirk deployed on the left and Knowles on the right. The hosts started quite brightly with Taylor getting to the by-line barely five yards from the keeper's right upright but he could not find a team mate with his cut-back ball (5 mins).

Farrell soon had visiting keeper Atherton in action but it was a routine save from Alty's first shot on target (7 mins). At the other end Alty had to be alert to see off Givosti from a United counter-attack (7 mins).

Alty should have taken the lead in the 14th minute after a Khan freekick from 25 yards out. This was cleared to Kirk, on the left and, from his cross, Taylor should at least have found the target, if not scored, but he misheaded his effort disappointingly.

But despite Altruncham enjoying more of the ball, it was United who won the first corner through Watson (20 mins).

Although Altrincham were enjoying the majority of possession, the away crowd remained in good voice. But for all their possession the Robins were not testing Atherton in the visitors' goal. However, FCUM were fortunate when Farrell was hauled down inside the box that the referee saw no foul (30 mins).

When Watson was brought down by Kosylo, the Alty right-back was booked (34 mins). Soon afterwards Kosylo advanced up the right but was unable to find Farrell who was in a promising position.

Next, Kirk and Taylor combined on the left to win an Altrincham corner. Taken by Kirk, the corner-ball came out to Kosylo but his effort from 30 yards cleared the bar (37 mins).

As half-time approached Altrincham continued to string together multiple passes but without threatening to score. A single minute of added time was announced in which Alty won a corner but this came to nothing.

Whilst Isted had been virtually a spectator in Altrincham's goal, his FCUM counterpart, Atherton, was a little busier but he was not seriously tested before the interval.

Altrincham started the second half on top, earning three corners in as many minutes but still not going close to converting any of them (48 mins).

Then, after a multiple passing move, a Kosylo cross was met by another mistimed header by Taylor which went well wide (51 mins).

FCUM now bbroght on Sudworth for HAyes-Gree (51 mins).

As the hour-mark neared Altrincham continued to dominate possession and they won two corners (55-57 mins). The second was won by a rare shot on target, Crawford's well-struick 20 yard shot being pushed away by Atherton.

Donohue now replaced Atkinson for the visitors (58 mins) after which Knowles won his side another corner. Kirk's corner from the right was headed narrowly wide by Sam Barnes.

Altrincham then went as close as they had done to scoring when Taylor got forward on the overlap and, from his cross, Crawford saw an effort cleared off the line (60 mins).

When Farrell and Craford now exchanged passes, the Barnsley loanee put the ball in the net but was flagged offside (62 mins). Three minutes later Alty went close again when Crawford got forward and fed Barlow, who rounded the keeper, but saw the ball cleared by a defender (65 mins).

A slick counter-attack saw Khan, Farrell and Barlow combine to feed Knowles who netted but, again, he was offside (67 mins).

All 21 players (excpet Alty keeper Isted) wer camped in the visitors' half before FCUM won a freekick and then brought on Chimalilo for Watson (71 mins).

Another FCUM freekick, in the circle, was followed by LeFondre mis-hitting a shot which ran comfortably to Isted, the keeper's first serious action of the game (73 mins).

FCUM enjoyed a little respite from defending to win a corner (74 mins) before the hosts made a double change with Lopata-White replacing Barnes and Weaver coming on for Farrell, who had made little impact against a resolute back line (76 mins).

Another lengthy passing sequence earned Altrincham a corner which, yet again, went unconverted (79 mins). Fearnley now replaced Grewal (81 mins) as FCUM won a freekick 35 yards out from which a Grivosti header went wide (82 mins).

The visitors were beginning to get forward a little more now and a foul by Banks gave them a freekick just outside the box. From this, a Grivosti shot forced Isted to make another save (84 mins).

Kristian Dennis now made his Altrincham debut in place of Kirk (86 mins) before Crawford's foul on Chimalilo saw the Alty captain booked (87 mins)..

LeFondre got himself booked for a foul (89 mins) before Khan won his team a corner. However, Alty were almost undone in the 90th minute when LeFondre was put clear but shot weakly to Isted.

For Alty Weaver twice gave the ball away in his late cameo and in added timea needless foul by Lopata-White added further pressure on to his side.

It was FCUM who were now on the front foot, winning a late corner through Evans but neither this nor an Alty corner, won by Kniowles (90+5 mins), came to anything.

So Altrincham had lacked the guile to unlock a resolute FC United defence and will now face the Moston-based club on their own patch on Tuesday night.