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REPORT

The visitors started the brighter of the two sides and won two corners in the first eleven minutes. But Alty came to life when Potts gained a corner for his side two minutes later.

Morecambe took the lead from the penalty spot after 16 minutes. The award was a harsh one; a cross from the right evaded everyone in the goalmouth, with David Brown, Tom Clarke and a Morecambe player ending up in the net. The referee decreed that the Morecambe forward had been fouled and pointed to the spot to the surprise of the home side. Morecambe's no.9 was the scorer.

Morecambe held their lead fairly comfortable but around the 25 minute mark Altrincham had a better spell, with Cunliffe winning a corner on the half-hour mark. After 35 minutes Alty put together their best attack as Cunliffe put Pouncey clear but from the right of goal his shot went past the far upright.

But just as the home side looked like getting back into the game, Morecambe scored again. The no.9 got up the left and from his low cross, no.16 sidefooted home from 15 yards or so. (37 mins). Three minutes later a hole appeared up the centre of the pitch and the no.9 was again the provider, feeding no.14 who made it 3-0 (40 mins).

Alty did respond as Potts won a corner after cutting in well and forcing the keeper to parry the ball away. From the corner, after a bit of a scramble, Cunliffe did well to hook the ball home as he went to ground. So it was now 1-3 after 41 minutes.

Altrincham were then hit by another dubious decision as the no.9 was allowed to break up the middle and score, despite appearing to be comfortably inside the Alty half when the pass was played to him. At 1-4 down at the interval, Altrincham faced a daunting second half.

After Morecambe had won an early corner, Hancock came on for David Brown. There was little in the way of goalmouth action till the 59th minute when Graetzer got forward well and forced a save from the keeper. A minute later, Todd forced a better save after which the keeper went down injured. He resumed after treatment but did not take later goalkicks (62 mins).

Max Pouncey was lectured for dissent before Louis Brown replaced Rob Gilroy (65 mins). The game had now gone a bit flat but the arrival of Westall, replacing Crilly, improved things going forward (74 mins).

When Potts was tripped on the edge of the Morecambe box, Potts himself took the freekick but put it over the bar (77 mins). Brown and Westall then combined well but the latter's cross, across the face of goal, went unconverted.

With the game into its final ten minutes, Morecambe made it 5-1 when the no.9 produced his third "assist" which played in the no.11 to score (83 mins). Altrincham briefly lost their discipline after this, with three players picking up yellow cards in a three-minute spell; Potts, Todd and Pouncey being those cautioned by the 86th minute.

After 87 minutes Hughes replaced Pouncey. Soon afterwards Louis Brown got into the box from Potts's feed but, being pushed in the back, he could only direct his shot at the keeper (90+1 mins). Alty finished the game with a consolation goal as Clarke, who had a good game, found Brown. He cleverly relayed the ball to Hughes, who finished well from right of goal to make it 2-5 (90+2 mins).