ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH (1) 2
F.C. UNITED OF MANCHESTER YOUTH (1) 1
on Thursday, 23 August, 2007, at 6.30pm
LINE-UP
ALTRINCHAM YOUTH (Pale blue shirts, dark blue shorts, pale blue socks):: 1. Andrew JONES, 2. Jack KIMBER (capt), 4. Tom BAILEY, 5. Declan WAKEFIELD, 3. Jimmy LADD; 7. Paul BARRY, 6. Steven CRANE, 8. Luke FLANAGAN, 11. Chris FRANCIS; 9. Charlie WEIR, 10. Sam MADELEY. Subs: 12. Jake WATSON, 15. Ryan DALY, 16. Emmanuel LADU, GK. Callum DANAHER.
F.C. UNITED OF MANCHESTER YOUTH (Red shorts, white shorts) 1. Jake EDWARDS; 2. Danny HUME, 14. Nick SWITHAR? 5. Jamie CAMPBELL, 6. Johnny HALL (capt); 7. Callum ROTHWELL, 16. Matty KIRKWOOD, 10. Sared ALI, 11. Liam JAMES; 8. Sean MILLS, 9. Vidal MIKE. Subs: 4. Perry JOHNSON, 17. Marcel MIKE, 12. Boumba BOUBTA, 3. Andre HOLDER, 15. Joe HALFPENNY.
REPORT
In their opening league game of the season Altrincham had lost three defenders injured during the first-half (Oliver, Zareh-Ourang and Cosgrave), who were all unfit for today's match. To add to their woes centre-back Alex Murphy and midfielder Dominic Lillie had also picked up injuries and three other players from the last game were also unavailable; Danny Browne (on holiday), Jason Melling-Fong (coaching course commitment) and goalkeeper Ben Rigby (who has left the club). So there were eight changes to the Alty squad tonight and, positionally, striker Tom Bailey had to revert to his college-team position of centre-half.
The match was delayed by ten minutes due to the late arrival of the match officials and when they arrived referee Howarth swapped duties with one of his assistants and ran the line instead. After changing ends, the game got under way in bright evening sunshine and both sides committed a number of early errors. But Alty went close after ten minutes when good work from Weir led to a a header from Madeley which the keeper, Edwards, just touched over for a corner. However, it was FCUM who were to take the lead when a cross from the right came off Declan Wakefield's head into the path of an opponent who headed past Jones from close range even though the Alty keeper had done well to get a hand to the ball (12 mins).
Alty repsonded by pressing the opposition goal and soon Madeley sliced wide from Weir's feed. Alty then won two quick corners and, after 20 minutes, from Ladd's well-taken freekick from half way, Weir rose well to head against the crossbar. Alty then won a corner before FC United enjoyed a good spell during which they won a corner and Jones had to save well from a firmly hit shot from Kirkwood (23 mins). Then, another visitors' corner had to be dealt with by the new-look Alty defence (32 mins). Next, Weir did well to dispossess Swithar and his shot needed a smart tip over the bar by Edwards. But Alty were being caught offside too often at this stage, but nevertheless won another corner, which keeper Edwards punched clear. However, the referee spotted an offence in the box which, from his actions, appeared to have been an elbowing incident. He pointed to the spot and Madeley converted comfortably for Altrincham, to make it 1-1 (42 mins).
| Half-Time: ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH 1 F.C. UNITED OF MANCHESTER YOUTH 1 |
After a shortened interval play resumed and Alty won two early corners, the second coming after Weir had forced a save with a header and Francis's follow-up shot had been deflected out of play. Tom Bailey then came forward and hit the bar from 20 yards before Weir forced another save from Edwards (54 mins). But FC continued to be a danger themselves and Jones did well to tip over another good shot from Kirkwood (52 mins). Madeley now gave the visitors some trouble as he dribbled into the box before the game saw its first booking as the FC captain was cautioned after Barry had been fouled (64 mins). Johnson then came on for Campbell for the visitors but Alty continued to be on top as Weir fired wide.
Weir then played the ball forward for Madeley, who looked to be offside. But the flag did not go up and the striker kept his head as he progressed into the box, feeding the ball to his left where Francis netted from close range to give Alty the lead (69 mins). Soon afterwards Madeley fired just wide before a Crane effort also narrowly missed the target.
FC brought on Marcel Mike for Liam James (75 mins) as Alty stuck with their unchanged starting line-up. Just after Madeley had shown determination to keep the ball despite being on his back inside the box, Alty got a freekick when the linesman detected the FCUM keeper had handled the ball outside his box whilst kicking upfield. The freekick came to nothing, however (80 mins). Alty continued to have the better of the game but could not finish the game off whilst FCUM continued to pose a sporadic threat at the other end, not least when Vidal Mike made a great surging run into the box. Tom Bailey was injured in the closing minutes but hobbled on to the final whistle which confirmed Altrincham's first win of the season. They had deserved the three points but, as in their previous league game, they had struggled to translate a lot of second-half possession into goals. But considering the very weakened state of their squad this was a good performance and especially so by the defence who were effectively untried as a unit before today.
| Full-Time: ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH 2 F.C. UNITED OF MANCHESTER YOUTH 1 |