YOUTH REPORT

Right - Declan Wakefield in action against Marine.

Altrincham were without the injured Dominic Lillie, so Charlie Weir started in his place whilst, up front, Sam Madeley returned from injury in place of Matthew Nee. On the bench, Tom Cosgrave and Rohin Lalli returned to the squad. The game was played in unseasonally warm and sunny weather, the fixture having been hastily arranged after Alty's planned away game at Daisy Hill had fallen victim to the cumulative effects of the recent wet weather.

Although Alty enjoyed the better of the opening minutes, Marine won the game's two corners (8 and 11 mins). Alty's Francis got in a header at the back post which went to the keeper but there were no other serious goal threats before play was halted for lengthy treatment to Killilea. After 25 minutes Alty won themselves a corner which was followed by Killilea's cross from the right, which the Marine keeper fumbled but gathered at the second attempt. On the half hour mark another Marine corner arrived but still the game remained goalless and with relatively little goalmouth action to record. By now Alty keeper Jones was suffering with what seemed to be a groin strain and Alty captain Jack Kimber took over the goal kicking for the rest of the game.

With no keeper on the bench, Jones continued in nets after a stoppage for treatment to him by Gareth Thomas. Altrincham were enjoying a fair amount of possession but making little impact with it until Kimber and Killilea combined well on the right and fed Madeley, who had got behind the defence, but his shot from right of goal was saved (38 mins). Alty manager George Heslop was far from happy with his side, telling them "We're not working, we're giving them too much room all over the pitch". Marine fired a shot over the bar after a freekick had been half-cleared (43 mins) and, as the interval approached, the visitors pressed forward. But the break arrived with the game still awaiting its first goal.

After the referee and his assistant had pegged down a gap in the net, the game restarted, still under warm sunshine. Early on, a fine ball forward from Browne set Bailey in on goal but his effort was saved by the keeper (50 mins). Alty then had a scare when Jones's attempted kicked clearance came back off a Marine player towards the Alty goal but Wakefield cleared it before any harm could be done (51 mins). A 25-yarder from Astbury was then saved by Jones as the visitors enjoyed territorial dominance. However, 12 minutes into the half, a Bailey shot earned his side a corner and another Alty corner followed five minutes later. Now, Killilea was replaced by Lalli on the Alty right (63 mins).

The substitute's first touch was to get on the end of a cross from the left and, from close-in at the back post, Lalli played the ball back into the goalmouth where, at the second attempt, Charlie Weir forced the ball home to give Altrincham the lead (64 mins). The lead did not last long, however. An impressive ten-or-so passes were put together by Marine as they advanced up the left and when Ivison got into the box, he was brought down by Murphy to give the visitors a penalty. Ivison got up to beat Jones's dive and make it 1-1 (69 mins).

At this point, Nixon replaced Clarke for the visitors. Next, Jones had to make a superb save from a well-hit shot by Astbury at the cost of a corner. Danny Browne was now booked for kicking the ball away before Marine had two successive shots blocked, as they continued to look the more likely to score, with most of the play being in the Altrincham half. Alty now brought on O'Connor for Madeley up front (74 mins). Tom Bailey was then hurt in a block tackle and needed lengthy treatment after which he was still hobbling. O'Connor soon had a shot saved at the second attempt before Bailey had to be replaced by Oliver (79 mins). Charlie Weir was pushed up front as a consequence of this change.

Alty's Browne was now sent off after earning a second yellow card, presumably for dissent, leaving Alty to play the final period with ten men. Marine made their second and final change as Tyson replaced Daley (81 mins). Curiously the loss of a player seemed to stir Alty to greater efforts and O'Connor soon saw a shot saved by Cummings (88 mins). But, with just ten seconds of play left before the start of added time, Astbury made advances through the Alty defence and fed Brown, to his right.

His well-hit, rising shot from the centre of the box powered into the net, just under the crossbar, to give Marine all three points, and a double over Altrincham this season. This was a bad day for Alty, not only losing their first home league game of the season through a disappointing performance but also having Browne sent off and both Bailey and Jones injured. Hopefully they can regroup for next Sunday's Neil Thomason Trophy match at home to Bootle.