ALTRINCHAM RESERVES : 1. Anthony CUMMINS, 2. Keith WEDGE (capt),3. Joe WATERHOUSE, 4. George MELLING, 5. Adam HITCHEN, 6. Ben DEEGAN, 7. Daniel HEFFERNAN, 8. John MALONEY, 9. Astley MULHOLLAND, 10. Aaron EDWARDS, 11. Paul COLLINS. Subs: 12. Laurence BALL, 14. Michael RISK, 15. John OAKES.

REPORT

Report courtesy of information supplied by Neil Brown.

Altrincham showed eight changes from their previous game with only Keith Wedge, George Melling and Ben Deegan remaining in the starting line-up from the previous match. Today's line-up included three young defensive trialists; Adam Hitchen who was formerly with Liverpool, Joe Waterhouse who was at Wigan Athletic and had played in a cup game for the Latics, and Paul Collins, who had been with Manchester City.

The game took place on the artifical surface at Woodley, whose officials had made Altrincham very welcome. However, it took Alty some time to adjust to the artificial surface and to deal with the bounce from the high balls from the Woodley side. But after 10 minutes they had to reorganise when Danny Heffernan damaged his ankle and had to give way to Laurence Ball, who took over the right-midfield role rather than operating in his usual centre-back position. However, Alty took the lead after 36 minutes when Hitchen bundled home a corner. He repeated the act after 42 minutes from Maloney's corner. Ball had swung a leg at the ball and not made contact before Hitchen found the top corner of the net to give Alty a two-goal interval lead.

At half time, Waterhouse and Collins swapped roles with Joe going to the left flank and Paul to left-back. And, after 52 minutes, Michael Risk came on for Hitchen, with Ball moving to centre-back and Risk going into central midfield, with Maloney moving to the right. The third change came after 62 minutes when John Oakes replaced Joe Waterhouse. Oakes went up front as Astley Mulholland moved to the left flank. Ball was now forming an effective partnership at the back with George Melling, whilst Risk settled well in his midfield role, too.

Aaron Edwards netted the third goal after 80 minutes when he advanced on goal and took advantage of two rebounds to score. A curious feature of the game was that both goalkeepers had to replace their boots after damaging them!