MID-CHESHIRE F.A. YOUTH: 1. Luke HEBBLEWHITE, 2. Damon MARSH, 3. Tom SLATER, 4. Eddie FOY, 5. Darren FOX, 6. Andy RAWLINGS, 7. Ross FARRON, 8. Matt WOOLLEY, 9. Matt DAVIES, 10. Craig HUMPHREYS, 11. Louis BENTLEY. Subs: 12. Gareth HAREWOOD, 14. Gareth EVANS, 15. Gareth BYRNE, 17. Martin POND, 18. Tom HAYWARD.

ALTRINCHAM & DISTRICT F.A. YOUTH : 1. Andrew JONES, 2. Jack KIMBER (capt), 4. Jake WATSON, 5. Alex MURPHY, 3. Ben OLIVER; 7. Dominic LILLIE, 6. Steven CRANE, 8. Danny BROWNE, 11. Chris FRANCIS; 9. Tom BAILEY, 10. Sam MADELEY. Subs: 12. Paul BARRY, 14. Luke FLANAGAN, 15. Jason MELLING-FONG, 16. Emmanuel LADU GK. Lee BERRILL.

The following match report is courtesy of George Heslop.

Altrincham arrived at Witton Albion FC's ground to start their defence of their Cheshire County FA District Youth Cup which they had won for the previous two seasons. The Altrincham FA squad today was entirely made up of Altrincham FC Youth players. And two more players from Altrincham, Jack Ladd and Jack Powell, were representing Macclesfield & District in the same competition.

The game kicked off in quite pleasant conditions, though a stiffish breeze was blowing. Altrincham started the better of the two sides having the greater share of the ball and of territorial advantage. In the 17th minute Sam Madeley drove into the heart of the Mid-Cheshire defence and set up Tom Bailey whose very good strike beat the keeper but hit the crossbar. Four minutes later, a clearance came to Danny Browne but his shot was parried by goalkeeper Luke Hebblewhite. These unsuccesful afforts proved costly as in the 22nd minute Mid-Cheshire took a one-goal lead. As Mid-Cheshire worked the ball forward, Altrincham stood off and the ball came to the hosts' left-winger, who cut in and scored.

Three minutes later, Mid-Cheshire were again saved by their goalkeeper, from a Chris Francis strike. In the 32nd minute Altrincham looked as if they had equalized when Steven Crane headed home but this was disallowed for offside. After 40 minutes, Madeley was again thwarted by the home side's custodian who emerged as the man keeping Altrincham at bay and, but for him, Altrincham could have been three-up by the interval.

The second half started with the holders still trailing by a goal. Altrincham soon cleared a Mid-Cheshire attack and worked the ball forward to their opponents' penalty area. With the centre-half and goalkeeper favourites to deal with the danger, Madeley thought otherwise and pressured the centre-half into losing the ball and the Alty striker poked it past the goalkeeper to level the scores (49 mins).

After 60 minutes, Dominic Lillie played a good first-time ball into the path of Madeley whoese volley was well held by Hebblewhite. This was followed, shortly afterwards, by a Mid-Cheshire shot which flashed across the Altrincham goalmouth. After 70 minutes disaster nearly struck Altrincham when a tremendous shot from Mid-Cheshire hit the crossbar and fell at the feet of an attacker. He ballooned the chance over the bar - to Altrincham's relief.

After 71 minutes Oliver's long throw was directed into the opposition box where it fell to Madeley, who kept his composure to volley Alty into a 2-1 lead. After 73 minutes Altrincham were unlucky when a ball bounced off the goalkeeper's arm onto a defender's arm and Steven Crane scrambled the ball into the net only to have the effort disallowed for alleged handball when it had been an opponent who had touched the ball.Two minutes later Barry came on for Lillie. Crane was then thwarted again when his shot went narrowly past the post (84 mins). After 88 minutes Alty brought on Ladu for Bailey and Melling-Fong for Crane. The referee played five added minutes but Altrincham reached the final whistle having secured a 2-1 win.

The performances of both sides may have been affected by their having a combined total of five players in this game who had played the day before for the Cheshire County FA in its 3-2 win over the Isle of Man. The five were Alty's Bailey, Lillie and Francis and Mid-Cheshire's midfielders, Foy and Woolley. Nevertheless this was a well-earned victory for Altrincham. This year the final is not between the two group winners but a semi-final stage has been created. So the top two teams in each group will qualify for the semis, the idea being to ensure that every game in the competition now has something at stake.