ALTRINCHAM RESERVES (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Richard ACTON, 2. James MARSDEN, 3. Keith WEDGE, 4. Stephen ROSE, 5. Colin McALLISTER, 6. John MALONEY, 7. Mike BROWN, 8. Daniel HEFFERNAN, 9. Lee HENDLEY, 10. Mark SMYTH, 11. Pat McFADDEN. Subs: 14. Paul MONAGHAN 15. Richard NORRIS, 18. Craig ELLISON (gk).

SOUTHPORT RESERVES 1. Barry TIERNEY, 2. Craig DONOVAN, 3. Daniel TIMSON, 4. Lee CREHAN, 5. Dan BROMILOW, 6. Dan CARLIN, 7. John PRESTON, 8. Paul WORDLEY, 9. Rob DUTTON, 10. David BROOKS, 11. Dave McCOY. Subs: 12. Luke TONER, 14. MArk HOUGHTON, 15. Liam HEALEY, 16. Mike EDGAR, 17. Paul JOHNS.

Alty showed numerous changes compared with the line-up in their game last week, which had been used to give many first-team squad members a run out. Tonight, Richard Acton, Stephen Rose, Lee Hendley and Pat McFadden were the only first team squad players in the eleven. Missing to tonight was Reserves' regular Laurence Ball but re-joining the starting line-up came a number of other regulars - James Marsden, Colin McAllister, John Maloney, Mike Brown and Daniel Heffernan, whilst newcomers Keith Wedge and Mark Smyth retained their places from last week. Further changes were necessary before kick off as Ashley Brown turned his ankle in the warm-up and Keith Wedge had to switch to left back.

REPORT

Reserves' manager and Alty groundsman Neil Brown had worked hard to get the pitch playable after so much rain in the past few weeks. Alty created some early chances and, from the first of these, Hendley's effort was saved after a good build up between Wedge and Smyth . But at the other end Acton soon had to be alert to make a good save after an advance up the Port left (5 mins). McFadden and Heffernan then combined well to find Smyth but the ball was cleared from his cross. After chasing a ball out of play Smyth then walked off the pitch behind the goal, presumably having suffered a strain of some kind (11 mins). As Alty played on with ten men, Acton produced a superb one-handed save, spreading himself well to beat out a firm shot, again from the Southport left (14 mins). Paul Monaghan now came on for Smyth and he soon fed Hendley but the ball ran from the striker to the goalkeeper.

After a Southport corner had been seen off, a fine ball from Mike Brown found Hendley and then Monaghan but the defence got the ball away (20 mins). Hendley was then fed by McFadden but his shot hit the keeper's legs to produce a corner (24 mins). McAllister rose well to head Brown's corner but, as the ball was cleared, the retreating McAllister could not stop as an opponent ran across him and the Southport man in question was knocked to the ground. The refree rather harshly booked the Alty man for this accidental collision. Following the resulting free kick, Southport again advanced on the left and when the cross came in, Acton went up for it with Southport's Brooks but the ball came off the Port man's head towards the line. Wedge retreated to try and hook it off the line but could only help it into the back of the net to give Southport the lead (26 mins).

Alty came back and McFadden forced a good save. Indeed, Alty were still creating chances and soon Hendley advanced on goal but elected to shoot rather than find McFadden, to his right, and the effort was blocked by a defender (30 mins). After Alty had cleared a Southport corner, Heffernan found McFadden and, as he advanced past a defender, he was tripped on the very edge of the penalty area by the Southport captain (33 mins). Although the freekick came to nothing, Alty were then awarded a corner by the referee when Hendley got onto McFadden's well directed cross but, after much protesting by the Southport bench, the referee consulted his linesman, who had raised his flag, and changed his mind to award a freekick for offside instead of the flag-kick. Despite three minutes of added time, Alty could not find a goal and went in for half-time trailing nil-one.

Southport started the second half the better and after three minutes had doubled their lead. A Southport player got into the box and Acton came out and half checked him, driving him to the right of goal. With Alty's keeper on the deck, and defenders retreating to cover the goal, Acton pulled the Southport man's leg but he did not go down. But the referee awarded a penalty which Duttonconverted comfortably (48 mins). Alty rallied and after winning a corner on the left, McAllister rose well to head for goal but the ball came back to him from a defender and McAllister did well to hammer the ball back into the net to make it 1-2 (50 mins).

As Southport won a corner, rain started to fall on the already soft pitch. From the corner, Marsden was well positioned by the post to head the ball off the line after Bromilow had headed firmly at goal (54 mins). Stephen Rose now had to come off injured and was replaced by Richard Norris, who was continuing his rehabilitation after being absent from the game all season with injury (55 mins). So Heffernan now went to centre-back as Norris slotted into central midfield. But, as the rain got heavier, the visitors won another corner. However, a bad challenge by Timson on Marsden now saw the Southport man booked (69 mins). As the rain eased off, Southport's Toner replaced Preston (71 mins).

Heffernan then advanced impressively up the middle before the ball came to McFadden whose first shot was blocked but he got the ball back, rounded the keeper and then uncharacteristically knocked the ball wide of the far post (62 mins). From a Marsden freekick Maloney got in a shot which the keeper saved before Marsden was soon in action again, geting in a fine tackle to stop Southport's advance. The chances continued to come as McFadden fired in an excellent volley which prompted an excellent save at the cost of a corner (75 mins).Southport's Healey no replaced their Wordley and three minutes later the visitors made it 3-1, as Dutton got past McAllister on the left and fired past Acton (78 mins).

Alty soon won a corner but this came to nothing. However, continuing pressure finally paid off when Wedge's freekick was met by Heffernan's excellent header into the net to make it 3-2 - but the goal arrived with just a minute plus added time left on the clock. In the 90th minute McCoy got free but fired wildly over the bar and a minute later Dutton also fired wildly off target.

Altrincham Reserves have played very few games since Christmas due to the weather and irregular fixture list and their rhythm has also been disrupted by the need to change personnel regularly to accommodate first-team players but they have hit a rough patch just when the league title was within reach. There is still time to get back on track. They created plenty of chances tonight but missed too many to recover from the three goals conceded.