ALTRINCHAM RESERVES (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Chris ROWLEY, 2. Keith WEDGE (capt), 3. Colin McALLISTER, 4. Laurence BALL, 5. Danny HEFFERNAN, 6. Michael RISK, 7. Lee MANNION, 8. Aaron EDWARDS, 9. Ben DEEGAN, 10. Astley MULHOLLAND, 11. Justin BOWLER. Subs: 12. Michael SIMCOCK, 14. Andy KEOGH, 15. Aaron WALTERS.

REPORT

Based on information kindly provided by Neil Brown.

This was meant to be a home match for Altrincham in the League Cup, which is played on a group basis. However, the game was switched to Woodley's all-weather pitch after the recent deluges - more than five inches of rain had fallen in South Manchester in the previous two and a half weeks. This game was Alty's first since 15th November, almost nine weeks earlier.

Midfielder John Maloney was unavailable through illness. As this game clashed with a first-team game, none of the first-team squad was available to manager Neil Brown, apart from winger Justin Bowler. Youth team midfielder Michael Simcock came into the Reserves for the first time, initially on the bench, where there was another new face, Aaron Walters, a left-winger from Trafford Hawks. After scoring twice in the Reserves' last game, Rick Chetcuti was unavailable after collapsing at home with acute appendicitis. He has now been operated on and is making a good recovery.

Altrincham opted to play the first half with the wind behind them and having played three recent practice sessions on an all-weather pitch, should have been well prepared for the game. They took the lead after just two minutes when Colin McAllister's long throw was allowed to reach Ben Deegan, who flicked his head at the ball to divert it into the net. After 16 minutes Lee Mannion played a ball through and as a defender attempted to clear, Edwards and Mulholland closed him down. The ball came to Mulholland who went one-on-one against the keeper and flicked it past him into the net.

But despite Altrincham's lead it was Woodley who played the better, passing football in the first half. Altrincham, having been encouraged to shoot on sight with the advantage of the wind, failed to do so, to the annoyance of their management.

In contrast to Alty's performance, Woodley did make good use of the conditions in the second half, shooting from distance and after about 65 minutes, following some pressure, they won a corner. Following this, a shot hit the Alty bar and came back into play and a Woodley player headed the loose ball home to make it 1-2. Ten minutes later, a thirty-yard effort from Woodley made it 2-2.

During the second half, Deegan was fortunate to escape with only a yellow card following a clash with an opponent. Overall this was a very disappointing performance from Altrincham which could only partly be explained by their long lay-off since their previous match.