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Altrincham, minus a number of regulars, were playing into a stiff breeze. They won a corner in the fifth minute after Louis Brown had done well on the left and had seen his cross-shot deflected. Morecambe responded with a corner of their own, off Crilley.

Morecambe's number eleven cut in and fired narrowly over the bar after 10 minutes but there was little real threat to either goal for much of this game. For Alty the best effort at this stage came when Cunliffe fired narrowly over the bar after he had made a surge foward.

As the first half progressed, the visitors were having slightly the better of things. Soon, their no.6 was allowed to advance and shoot but his effort went narrowly wide (28 mins).

Alty created an opening when Louis Brown got onto a loose ball but hooked his shot wide. Assistant manager Paul Jones now moved Louis Brown to a central striking position with Hughes moving to the left of him (40 mins).

A late Morecambe corner came to nothing, so the half ended goalless.

With the wind now behind them, Altrincham started the second half the better side. After Hughes had put an effort just over the bar, as the offside flag went up, Altrincham won two corners inside a minute. After these, Hughes again cleared the bar with a shot (52 mins).

After 57 minutes, Potts, playing in midfield, was replaced by striker Max Pouncey, who had played more than an hour the previous day for Prescot Cables.

Just before the hour mark, Alty had a scare when Samberg came out of his box and his clearance rebounded to an opponent. The Alty keeper got back to block the resulting shot, at the cost of a corner.

For Alty a fine pass from Louis Brown led to Cunliffe lashing a shot well over the bar from right of goal (60 mins). As Alty continued on top, King had a shot saved after a good build up via Pouncey and Louis Brown (65 mins). The deadlock was broken on 68 minutes when Cunliffe slotted an excellent ball through to Louis Brown whose shot rolled into the corner of the net from close range.

A raking pass from King gave Hughes a chance but he fired over the bar. Three minutes later Hughes had to be helped off the pitch after suffering an injury (77 mins). Curiously, as he was helped off, the referee showed Hughes a yellow card.

SO, Louis Potts now returned to the match in place of Hughes. Next, David Brown's excellent tackle started a move which enede with Cunliffe winning a corner (81 mins). With Altrincham fairly comfortable with their narrow lead, two more home corners followed by the 87th minute.

Two minutes later, a fine run up the middle by the impressive King ended with a strong shot, which the keeper palmed out for another corner. As the game went into added time, Steve Bullen, named today as a versatile goalkeeper/oufield substitute, came on for Pouncey.

The whistle soon went to confirm a narrow but deserved victory for Altrincham.