MORECAMBE "A": 1. Kevin ATHERTON, 2. Andrew LEIGH, 3. James SNAITH, 4. Phil MEEKES, 5. Andy LANGFORD, 6. Gary BALL, 7. Jack HELM, 8. Gary JONES, 9. Louis WILLIAMS, 10. Michael WEST, 11. Paul JARVIS. Subs: Stephen HOOTON, Colin CARTILEDGE, Paul TURNER, Thomas PICKERSGILL.

ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH : 1. Danny CHEBRIKA, 2. Tom BARCLAY, 3.Tom BANE, 4. Kieran RAYNES, 5. Michael RISK, 6. Dean WHITE, 7. Hassan ZAREH-OURANG, 8. Andy KEOGH, 9. Ben DEEGAN, 10. Matty WILLIAMS, 11. Anthony DAVIES. Subs: 12. Curtis CONNELL, 14. Ashley McGRATH, 15. Dale BENSON, 16. Ben SHANKS-PEPPER, 18. John WILLIAMS (gk).

REPORT

Based on information kindly supplied by George Heslop.

On a very hot, sunny day Altrincham kicked off the new season with an away fixture against last season's league champions. Despite the heat, Alty played at a good pace and tempo throughout the game. But, after dominating the open quarter of an hour, Alty went behind to a sloppily conceded goal after 18 minutes. This came after an Alty throw on the left well inside the Morecambe half. Alty lost possession and a Morecambe ball down the middle bounced over the Robins' defence and left an attacker with an unopposed run and he lobbed the ball over Chebrika and into the net. Otherwise, Chebrika had little to do in this match.

Going behind, however, did not affect Alty's commitment and they maintained their tempo. They got their reward after 42 minutes when a well-flighted freekick from Bane was met by Deegan's head as he and the keeper went up for the ball on the edge of the box. Deegan's power and strength won the day and he scored to make it 1-1.

Just a minute later Alty made it 2-1 when Deegan attacked on the right and he got in a cross under the crossbar which Williams was adjudged to have forced over the line.

Early in the second half, Alty got a freekick wide on the right which Deegan fiercely struck home for what looked Alty's third goal. However, the linesman had flagged for an earlier offence and a freekick was given to Morecambe in the Alty half. This was awarded after a long discussion between the two match offcials and was apparently awarded for an offence which the referee had earlier waved on.

After further attacking pressure from Deegan, a ball was half cleared to Keogh whose shot hit the bar. But, after 69 minutes, the hosts equalised from a corner. The ball came to the back post, where bad marking meant that Morecambe had three attempts to get the ball into the net, the last of which was successful. The game finished with the sides evenly matched despite two late substitutions by Alty which saw Benson replace White (78 mins) and Connell come on for Williams (88 mins). Overall, a draw was a fair result, particularly so for Altrincham as the visitors were the league champions.