ALTRINCHAM YOUTH (2) 2
WARRINGTON TOWN YOUTH (0) 0

Pre-season friendly game, played on Sunday, 22 July, 2007
at Blessed Thomas Holford at 2pm.


LINE-UP

ALTRINCHAM YOUTH: 1. Ben RIGBY, 2. Jack KIMBER, 3. Ben OLIVER, 4.Alex MURPHY, 5. Reza ZAREH-OURANG, 6. Chris FRANCIS, 7. Paul BARRY, 8. Steven CRANE, 9. Tom BAILEY, 10. Ryan Daly, 11. Simon WILKINSON. Substitutes: 12. Tom COSGRAVE, 14. Declan WAKEFIELD, 15. Rohan LALLI, 16. Adam ALWILL, GK. Andrew JONES.


REPORT

The home line up showed several changes from the side which had drawn with the Manchester FA a week earlier. Into the starting eleven came keeper Ben Rigby, centre back Alex Murphy, midfielder Chris Francis and strikers Tom Bailey and Ryan Daly. On the bench, Tom Cosgrave returned after injury and there were two newcomers, Rohan Lalli and Adam Alwill.

For the second succesive game at BTH, the sun was shining brightly after a preceding week of sustained rain. Almost immediately after kick-off Bailey and Daly combined well, which was to be a feature of the first half. After Daly had seen a first-minute header saved, Crane saw his shot clear the bar. But Warrington also threatened when Barry was dispossessed and the visitors' no.20 fired in a good, strong shot but Rigby saved it well at the cost of a corner (6 mins). A huge punt from Rigby then forced a back-pedalling Warrington defender to head narrowly wide of his own goal to concede a corner to Altrincham (8 mins). Though this was cleared, Alty soon won a freekick when Barry was fouled as he advanced towards the box. From 20 yards, slightly right of centre, Francis sent a superb kick into the net just inside the keeper's right upright (9 mins).

Warrington gained a corner soon afterwards before the ball came up to Daly whose excellent turn and shot was unlucky not to be rewarded with a goal but the ball came back off the inside of the post from the striker's acrobatic shot. The Town keeper then saved Bailey's follow-up at the cost of a corner (13 mins).

Above: Ryan Daly's fine shot comes back past the keeper off the inside of the post in Sunday's youth team win over Warrington Town.

Alty were now on top and more good play involving Barry and Daly ended with the latter's shot narrowly wide (19 mins). Kimber's fine ball then almost got Tom Bailey into a scoring position before Barry lashed a shot against the crossbar (20 mins). Daly went close again soon afterwards before Alty won two more corners. In between these the Warrington no.20 shot narrowly wide (30 mins). Then the visitors made their first substitution as the second corner was about to be taken. This immediately led to a third flag-kick for Alty. Next, a late lunge by the Warrington no.14 earned him the game's first booking after 43 minutes. The game continued to be interrupted by regular freekicks but just before the break a good ball forward found Barry and though his well hit shot was saved, it could not be held by the keeper and Bailey was on hand to net from close range to make it 2-0 (45 mins).


Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM YOUTH 2
WARRINGTON TOWN YOUTH 0

Above: Everyone listens to coaches Gareth Thomas (foreground) and Tony Spilsbury (background) as they give the half-time team-talk..

As planned, Alty utilised all five subs at the interval. Into goal came Andrew Jones, Rohan Lalli replaced Paul Barry on the right of midfield, Tom Cosgrave came on for Reza Zareh-Ourang at centre-back whilst Declan Wakefield replaced Chris Francis in centre-midfield. The other changes saw Francis move to left midfield in place of Williamson and Adam Alwill come on for Ryan Daly up front.

When second-half play got under way, the already booked no.14 committed another offence which was penalised but no further action was taken in keeping with the good spirit of the game as a whole. After a scrappy start by Altrincham, the visitors had the better of the opening stages of the half before making a substitution (51 mins). Belatedly Alty came to life and after Crane had shot over the bar, they won a corner from a good advance up the right by Lalli (53 mins). Following the corner, Alwill did well and from his cross from the right, Oliver had a good header saved. At the other end Jones held a freekick well but the game's flow was still being interrupted by freekicks at regular intervals. Warrington made a couple more substitutions, one of them being their goalkeeper (64 mins). More good work from Lalli now set up a header for Crane which was well saved by the new custodian . The next Alty chance came when Oliver rose well but headed narrowly wide from a well-taken freekick by Kimber (67 mins).

The visitors' no.20 was then booked for a foul on Oliver, whose long throws had again been a useful weapon in the Alty armoury. Wakefield earned himself a silly booking for booting the ball away when his side had actually been awarded a freekick decision in their favour; manager George Heslop was not impressed at his action. But as the freekick continued Alty brought back Williamson for Wakefield (74 mins). Bailey then had a shot saved and, after that, a good cross from Williamson just evaded Bailey's head before Crane had a header saved (76 mins). Warrington made a further change of personnel just before a fine ball over the Alty defence set their no.9 in on goal but his shot went narrowly wide (81 mins).

With Jim Vince and the subs kept busy retrieving balls punted over the fence, manager George Heslop was particularly impressed when Jim went for one lost ball, only to emerge from the woodland with two - he had found one that had been lost the previous Thursday! After an Alty corner had been cleared, Alwill became Alty's second person to be cautioned and not long afterwards Crane followed him into the book. Though Alty won a last minute corner and then Bailey did well to fed Crane for a shot which cleared the bar, Altrincham never really got going in the second half. But the management had had the chance to run their eyes over their new recruits for the coming season. The Umbro Tournament, starting on Wednesday will further help them to crystallise their thoughts as the league season approaches on 19th August.


Full-Time: ALTRINCHAM YOUTH 2
WARRINGTON TOWN YOUTH 0