YOUTH REPORT

Right: Alty midfielder Dominic Lillie is seen during the game against Bootle.

For the second week running it was bright and sunny but cold for an Alty Youth home match. Dominic Lillie returned to the side with Chris Francis moving to the bench. The Neil Thomason Trophy is named after Alty Youth's former coach, who sadly died at a young age three years ago.

Bootle won an early corner but soon Alty settled and gained the upper hand with a wave of attacks almost entirely up the right wing where Kimber, Lillie and Killilea were particularly prominent. In the sixth minute Lillie, stretching, saw a shot just clear the bar as the keeper came out to close him down, injuring himself in the process and needing lengthy treatment. Killilea then won Alty a corner on the right and soon afterwards the same player had a shot blocked near the line from a feed by Lillie (12 mins). Another injury stoppage then took place for treatment to Bootle's Williams. Alty continued to press forward but it was not until the 21st minute that they achieved the breakthrough.

Alty's opening goal arrived when Kimber fed Bailey and played a well judged ball forward up the inside right channel to Killilea who crossed the ball, low, into the goalmouth where Madeley finished from close range (21 mins). Bootle responded by immediately winning a corner and, soon after, a cross into the box from Williams had to be fielded by Jones. The Alty keeper's big kick caught Bootle's defence asleep and dropped for Madeley whose shot was half blocked by the keeper before it rebounded off the Bootle number one into the net to make it 2-0 (28 mins). Soon after this, Lillie did well but saw his effort half cleared to where Kimber picked it up but he was fouled just inside the right edge of the penalty box. Bailey took the resulting penalty, and though the keeper guessed rightly, Bailey's low shot beat him to his left to put Altrincham 3-0 up at the half-hour mark.

One or two Bootle players now threatened to lose their discipline with Williams, for example, taking a kick at an Alty player for which he was booked. The referee, who seemed to know most of the players by Christian name, was a model to many at a senior level for imposing his authority and making clear why he was making his decisions. He was also not reluctant to shout at the benches and spectators who were making what he considered unhelpful comments. Just after a Bootle corner there came the third injury stoppage for one of their players when Sweeney suffered what looked like a nasal injury (37 mins). As half time approached Bootle came at Altrincham and it took an excellent block from Jones to stop the number twenty. Then Murphy did well to stretch and make a clearance inside the box. Bootle's pressure continued to the interval with Wakefield making a fine, solid tackle to stop the last attack of the half on the Bootle right. Despite the three injury stoppages no time was added on to the 45 by the referee.

Above: Bootle's James Mea (7) watches his freekick seemingly sail over the bar but, in fact, he had taken it well and it dipped under the bar for his side's second goal.

Altrincham won an early corner but then the visitors won two successive corners of their own before going on to decamp in the Altrincham half. The second corner came when Jones did well to tip an effort from Sweeney over the bar. Weir then suffered a blow to the face and had to be taken off, his replacement on the left being Chris Francis (57 mins).

Jones again had to tip a ball out for a Bootle corner before Garbatt got a lecture for a very late challenge on Francis (63 mins). Lillie than had a shot blocked but earned a corner but it was the visitors making most of the running. They got their reward in the 67th minute wheh a well-worked move was ended by Mea's well-hit drive past Jones from the edge of the box. Both sides now made a change as Crane replaced Killilea for Altrincham and Johnson replaced a Bootle player. Next, Mea shot wide before the visitors brought on Smith for Riley (70 mins). The dangerous Mea then had a shot blocked as Alty boss George Heslop exhorted his team to "Start playing! We're losing this half".

But the visitors went on to score again in the 77th minute following a freekick conceded by Danny Browne just outside the box in a central position. Mea looped his freekick from more than 20 yards over the wall and it dropped into the net past a stranded Jones to make it 3-2. Bootle pressed for the equalizer but as the game headed towards the final five minutes Alty belatedly got forward and Bailey saw his shot saved. The final minutes ticked away with Altrincham holding on to win a game that they should have won comfortably after going three up in half an hour.