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ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH (Red & white striped shirts, red shorts and red socks): 1. Lewis BISHOP, 2. Michael HOWE, 3. Tom BARCLAY (capt), 4. Alex MURPHY, 5. Kieran RAYNES, 6. Marcus BAXBY, 7. Steven ROBERTS, 8. Michael SIMCOCK, 9. Tom BAILEY, 10. Rick CRAWFORD, 11. Anthony DAVIES (vice-capt). Subs: 12. Danny BROWNE, 14. Kirtis HOGAN, 15. James CORDINGLEY 16. Ryan BURGESS, GK. Scott BALL.

HANDSWORTH FC YOUTH (Amber & black striped shirts, white socks and shorts): 1. Jimmy McDONALD, 2. Josh ASTON, 3. Alex BARNES, 4. Greg ESCHOE, 5. Oliver JACKSON, 6. Tom HARTSHORN, 7. Joe CHARLESWORTH, 8. Gareth GRIFFITHS (capt.), 9. Matt ROBERT, 10. Tom ROEBUCK, 11.James LAW. Subs: 14. Daniel BEER, 16. Josh HACKFORD.

REPORT

Both sides fielded very young teams for this FA Youth Cup match, with Alty having the slightly older eleven. One Alty player was just 18 years old, 9 were aged 17 and 1 was aged 16 whilst Handsworth, had 7 players who were aged 16 and 4 who were 17. Alty's opposition, whom the FA official documentation for this match had termed Handsworth United (the name of a Birmingham club), were actually Handsworth FC Under-19s, a section of the Handsworth Junior Sporting Club from Sheffield. So, neither side was at all familiar with its opposition but the early stages suggested two well-matched teams as the game got under way in swirling rain on a very good surface.

An early Handsworth cross from the right caused some concern to Alty before the home team won the match's first corner, through Crawford, who was on the receiving end of a fine ball forward from Raynes (10 mins). Handsworth won themselves a corner five minutes later as the home side got off to a slightly disjointed start, being slower than their opponents to the 50/50 balls on several occasions. With Alty on the backfoot, a freekick conceded by Raynes, just outside the box, was driven into the Alty wall. But Alty now began to improve and won two corners in succession, both of them excellently taken from the right by Davies. The first was punched clear and the second was palmed away as it curled towards the goal line. Soon Crawford and Roberts combined to win another corner on the right. Again Davies delivered a testing corner which the keeper put out for another flag-kick, this time on the left, where it was taken by Baxby. From this corner, Raynes's firm header was tipped over for what looked to be Alty's fifth corner in as many minutes but the referee surprisingly gave a goalkick instead (22 mins).

With play remaining open, Alty won a corner through Crawford as the half hour mark approached. Baxby's corner-kick from the left was firmly headed at goal by an Alty player arriving in the box, only for the ball to be cleared off the line by a defender. However, the ball came out to Bailey who drove the ball just inside the keeper's right-hand post to put Altrincham ahead (30 mins). Almost immediately after the re-start, Handsworth won a freekick on the left which was curled narrowly wide of the back post. But the visitors went even closer after 37 minutes from another freekick. This time, Barnes's freekick from the right found the unmarked Law arriving late in the goalmouth and he poked the ball only narrowly wide of Bishop's left upright. Manager George Heslop was not happy with his team's marking, especially when Handsworth now advanced on the left and won two corners in succession. More slack marking allowed the visitors to threaten again soon afterwards but, in the last five minutes of the half, Altrincham raised their game. The spark for this came from a move on the left at the end of which Bailey's fast cross was met by an instinctive header from Crawford near the edge of the box. Despite the distance from goal and the speed of the cross, Crawford's header was powerful and pretty accurate but struck the top of the bar (44 mins). Soon, Bailey and Crawford combined again and forced the visitors' excellent keeper to tip the ball away as he advanced to meet Crawford near the edge of the box. So, half-time arrived with Alty one-up but the tie far from settled.

In the first minute of the half, Howe's probing ball allowed Crawford to toe-end the ball narrowly wide of the Handsworth goal. But Handsworth soon won two corners and, from the first of these, Bishop saved well from a header. The second corner was conceded by a sliced clearance which prompted manager Heslop to tell his team that they were playing as if they were "still in the dressing room". Alty did win a corner of their own soon after this but then Handsworth's Barnes fired narrowly wide from 22 yards. Fortunately, Alty's nerves were settled soon after this when a good move ended with an exchange of passes between Crawford and Davies, before the ball came back for Crawford to score from close range and make it 2-0 (55 mins).

The Alty midfield now came more into the game with Simcock catching the eye and forcing a corner on the hour mark. Alty were now getting the upper hand, though they were still prone to give the ball away, especially from throw-ins. However, when a ball came through to Crawford, just inside the box his effort was charged down by the keeper and came to Bailey who cleverly threaded a shot from the edge of the box through the goalmouth and past a covering player on the line to make it 3-0 (67 mins). But the Handsworth captain, Griffiths, had gone down as the goal was scored and, after treatment, he had to be replaced by Hackford (68 mins).

Handsworth were still competing well and soon fired a shot across the face of Bishop's goal. For Alty, Howe, Roberts and Bailey were beginning to reap dividends up the Alty right as the visitors made another switch, Beer replacing Aston (72 mins). After an Alty corner had been and gone, Hogan came on for Alty's Roberts (76 mins). A long range effort from Law was then saved by Bishop before Handsworth won another corner. After this, Alty brought on Browne in place of Simcock in midfield (83 mins). Altrincham were now in control, as the game went into the final five minutes, and they made their final change when Burgess replaced Baxby (87 mins). The visitors continued to battle and, from a corner on their left, a header bounced on the top of the Alty crossbar. Handsworth fought to the end and won a corner in injury time but the score remained 3-0 as the final whistle sounded.

This had been a very entertaining game, played in a good spirit, before a good crowd of 125. Altrincham will now travel to Worksop Town in the next round, in a fortnight's time. Altrincham ultimately won this game by a comfortable score but had the visitors converted some of their chances it could have been a different story. The home side played some very good football at times but at others they were careless and surrendered possession too easily. But these are early days for a squad which included a majority of players new to the team this season and growing familiarity with each other's game over the coming weeks should ensure a good season ahead.