ALTRINCHAM & DISTRICT FA YOUTH (Yellow shirts with blue trim, blue shorts and socks): 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 (capt), 10. Matty WILLIAMS, 11. Astley MULHOLLAND. Subs: 12. Curtis CONNELL, 14.Richard GRESTY, 15. Michael DARBYSHIRE, 16. Ben SHANKS-PEPPER, 17. Phil LEAFF (gk).

REPORT

Report courtesy of information provided by George Heslop.

Before this very important game in the District Under-18 Cup, The Wirral had won both their games, beating both Crewe and Runcorn 3-1, whilst Alty had also won their only match to date. Hassan Zareh-Ourang came into the Alty side in response to the home side's reputation for having a very strong midfield. On the bench goalkeeper Phil Leaff joined the squad which had played the last league game.

For the first half, Altrincham had the wind behind them and took an early advantage, scoring after just two minutes. A freekick wide on the left was well delivered by Tom Bane to the head of Ben Deegan and the Akty striker scored a good goal. Alty played comfortably during the following minutes but were unable to add to their goal. And in the 18th minute disaster appeared to have struck when goalkeeper Danny Chebrika was adjudged to have won a ball illegally with his feet and a penalty was awarded. But Chebrika atoned for this slip up and made a fine save to his right. Neverthless, Wirral equalised just five minutes later when, in a rare attack, a cross from the right was met by a diving header into the net (23 mins).

Matty Williams was cautioned for over vigorous play after 28 minutes as Wirral stood up to a lot of Altrincham pressure. However, an Alty attack won a corner after 32 minutes, which was taken by Dean White. From this Kieran Raynes rose above everyone to nod the goal which put Altrincham ahead, 2-1. And that was how it remained till half-time.

With the wind against them, Alty played the ball well to feet to keep possession in the second half. However, after 55 minutes, when Tom Bane made a well-judged tackle, the referee bemused everyone by awarding a penalty to the Wirral and he even booked the Alty defender. The penalty was converted to make it 2-2. But, just 60 seconds later, Alty advanced up the left and a sliding tackle by a Wirral defender led to the ball rebounding onto his hand and the referee awarded his third penalty of the game - which might be viewed as a case of rectifying a wrong decision made a minute earlier. Deegan drove the penalty into the keeper's bottom right corner as he dived the other way (56 mins). After an hour, Alty brought on Richard Gresty to replace Kieran Raynes. who had taken an earlier knock .

Alty were now playing confidently and keeping the ball on the deck. After 63 minutes, great harrying by Matty Williams back towards the half way line earned him possession and he fed Deegan smartly, further up the pitch. The Alty captain bustled through the defence to complete his hat-trick and make it 4-2 to Alty. Then Gresty burst through the middle after 74 minutes and fed a similar ball to Deegan to the one from Williams which had resulted in the fourth goal; and this time it led to the fifth as Deegan finished well again to record his own fourth goal.

After 81 minutes, Ben Shanks-Pepper came on for Astley Mulholland on the left. Astley and his fellow wide man, Dean White had worked hard in the second half. After 85 minutes Alty conceded a freekick in their own half. From the freekick came a deep cross which cleared the Alty defence and left a Wirral player clear to make it 3-5. Just before the end, Dean White was booked for shirt-pulling. But Alty recorded a very important victory as they seek to reach the District Cup Final. Their next game in this competition is on Sunday October 23 against Runcorn at Shawe View, the home of Trafford FC (2pm). Please do come along and support Alty's latest generation of youth players!.

Despite his recent return from injury, Richard Gresty has been named in the Cheshire FA squad along with team-mates Ben Deegan and Tom Bane.