BACKGROUND

LINE-UP

ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH (Red & white striped shirts, red shorts and socks). 1. Steve BULLEN, 2. Callum HARKIN, 4. Jamie McLELLAN, 5. Alex WEATHERBY, 3. Matt GRAETZER, 7. Spencer CUNLIFFE, 6. Oliver RILEY (capt), 8. Callum MOONEY, 11. Louis POTTS, 9. Adam BEZZINA, 10. Derryn OFORI. Subs: 12. Michael KING, 14. James FARRINGTON, 16. David BROWN, 17. Jordan HAMES, GK. Joe HANKINSON.

REPORT

This game took place in windy conditions on a bobbly pitch. Alty started well and won a corner with barely a minute on the clock. Following this, a Riley freekick found Cunliffe whose effort went just wide. Altrincham did have the ball in the net after 8 minutes when a through ball found Bezzina and he, in turn, fed Ofori who was deemed offside.

But it was the visitors who took the lead soon afterwards. A ball to their right wing led to their number seven crossing the ball which deflected off Graetzer to the visitors' number nine who scored.

With Altrincham looking lacklustre, the visitors' captain advance towards the left of the box and, when the ball came back to him, now 25 yards out, he fired an excellent shot into the net from 25 yards (17 mins).

Nantwich continued to dominate as they won two corners in a five-minute period. Between these, a Nantwich counter-attack saw Bullen pull off an excellent save from the number nine (23 mins).

Another Nantwich corner soon arrived as they belied their lowly league position. This corner arose from another fine save by Bullen, when he tipped a 25-yarder from the number six round the post (25 mins).

Alty's attempts to get back in the game were not helped by being caught offside more often than they should have been. Town continued to threaten as their no.7 fired narrowly wide (32 mins). After this, Weatherby was judged to have fouled a Nantwich player and a penalty was awarded.

But the busy Bullen pulled off another impressive stop to keep out the spot kick and keep his side in touch with their opponents (33 mins). Soon afterwards, Alty captain, Ollie Riley, was booked for a foul.

Half time arrived with Altrincham looking for an improved second-half performance after a disappointing team effort in the first 45 minutes.

At the interval, Michale King replaced Matt Graetzer at left-back. With rain now falling, Spencer, Bezzina and Riley combined but Town cleared the ball off their goal line and a corner resulted (51 mins).

Altrincham were playing rather better in the second half but the hour mark past without a serious threat of an Altrincham goal. On 63 minutes, Farrington replaced Potts. Altrincham's improvement continued as Spencer beat two men on the right before playing rthe ball inside, where Bezzina was felled to win his side a penalty. Ofori sent the keeper the wrong way from the spot (67 mins).

King was soon impressing on the left as he forced the keeper to parry a shot over the bar for a corner. It was now one-way traffic towards the Nantwich goal. However, there was a scare when Bullen came out to the touchline and the referee ruled that the resulting throw-in was to Nantwich. Before the Alty keeper could get back to his net, a quick throw-in led to Weatherby having to clear off the line (78 mins).

Ofori now rode three challenges to feed Cunliffe whose effort was cleared off the line (83 mins). Two minutes later, Ofori again did well and. via Spencer, Bezzina was presented with a tap-in to make it 2-2 (85 mins).

In the 87th minute, Hames replaced Cunliffe. As the game went into injury time Riley was put through and rounded the keeper but the ball was deflected out for a corner. Despite this late pressure, the game eneded all-square with Altrincham having recovered some pride after their poor first forty-five minutes.