Match Report

Altrincham's good start to the season was put in perspective when Burton deservedly won 2-0 at Moss Lane this afternoon, before a crowd of 1,018. Altrincham matched the visitors in the first half but Albion stepped up a gear after the interval. Even so, both of their goals had an element of good fortune. The first came when a Maddox clearance rebounded luckily to a Burton man and the ball was then played left, across goal, where Evans had an easy task of scoring (62 mins). The second came when Sertori manhandled Anderson on the edge of the box. Clough took the kick quickly and though Coburn got to his shot, he failed to hold it and Farrell knocked it back into the net (79 mins). Altrincham made few openings in the second period and drop to fifth as a result of this defeat. After Verón and Cole last week, it was Gary Neville's turn to be in the crowd for today's match; Brian Clough did not appear to be at the game. However, another spectator was ex-Alty full-back Paul Robertson, recently released by Leigh RMI.

Few of the Burton faces were known to Altrincham fans, though of course Nigel Clough, their player-manager is a household name. Altrincham were still without centre-back Paul Taylor and, up-front, Bernard Taylor preferred Poland once more to Furlong, who has bruised ribs. Steve Hawes picked up a knock at Colwyn Bay but played, as did Stuart Coburn who still has an ankle injury. For some reason, Altrincham took to the field in their all-white away strip.

Even in the first five minutes it was clear that Altrincham would have a hard afternoon as a well-drilled Burton side played the ball around effectively. Their defence, too, was seeing off all the balls played towards the box. However, Altrincham responded well and began to get into the game, with Rod Thornley looking lively up front. He and Illingworth soon combined to feed Poland, on the left, and Lee's cross was blocked to give Altrincham a corner on their left side. From Hawes's corner, Thornley volleyed a shot from just outside the box which hit a defender and won a throw-in on the right (9 mins). From this, there followed a Hawes cross which was cut off before Thornley cushioned a pass to Hulme, whose shot went wide of Duke's right post from about 22 yards out (10 mins). Wassall's crude foul on Poland allowed Altrincham to maintain the pressure with a free-kick from 25 yards. The giant Duke caught Adams's free-kick and as Anderson broke for Burton across the half-way line, he was tripped by Gallagher (11 mins). Next, Anderson turned well and played a ball dangerously forward within the box but Farrell failed to anticipate it. A foul on Sertori was matched by one by Hulme on Burton's number five, Wassall. Then, Moore won a corner from Maddox on the right but the ball eventually came to Coburn's hands (15 mins).

Illingworth almost played in Thornley on the break but Duke was alert and gathered the ball. Gallagher then had a minute to forget; firstly he completely missed a header and then mis-passed a ball, much to Graham Heathcote's annoyance on the Alty bench. Thornley continued to menace the visitors' defence, winning a corner after blocking a clearance. The corner by Hawes, from the right, found Sertori at the back post but he headed across goal rather than at the target and the danger was cleared (19 mins). Although Burton were passing the ball around well, at this stage Altrincham had marginally the upper hand. However, Kavanagh's and Henshaw's long throws were elements which are lacking from Altrincham's armoury and these added an extra threat to the Alty defence, which they dealt with capably. However, it took a retreating header from Hulme, to clear a left-side Burton corner, albeit at the cost of a second flag-kick (23 mins). The other goal was soon threatened as Illingworth, Hulme and Hawes fed Thornley whose fine shot from the edge of the box won a corner on the right (26 mins). Soon afterwards, a long-range shot from Hulme was clutched by Duke following an Adams throw, relayed via Thornley.

Jason Gallagher jumps high to head clear in the second half against Burton.

The only booking of the game came after 29 minutes for a relatively innocuous foul by Moore on Hawes. A promising Burton move up the left came to nothing as an entertaining first half continued to pit two fairly evenly matched sides against each other. For whilst Burton looked the more polished side, Altrincham were looking the more threatening at this stage. After Poland had been blocked off in the box, a Hawes cross came off Hulme's head, but wide of the target (35 mins). Following further pressure, Poland won a corner on the left (40 mins). The corner was cleared before Sertori shepherded Anderson away from the Alty goal. An excellent turn by Thornley was undone when his forward pass for Poland hit his intended target in the back (41 mins). But Alty soon won a corner on the right. Though this was cleared, Gallagher soon linked with Thornley to give Poland a crack at goal, which Duke got down well to save to his left (43 mins). An entertaining half ended with the scores level and Altrincham holding their own against a side of considerable class.

Burton started the second half impressively, passing the ball around well. But when Moore dived in the Alty box after Coburn had gone down for a through ball, the Alty keeper made clear his feelings for the Burton man's acting. Though the ref. also clearly thought it was a dive, he chose only to have a few discreet words with Moore as both jogged back to the centre-line (48 mins). With Altrincham struggling to regain their first-half momentum, Nigel Clough brought himself on instead of Moore (52 mins). A bouncing ball in the Alty penalty area soon caused some concern before Maddox hacked it away. Then, a Gallagher and Craney forward movement failed to get Poland in on goal. Alty now made a change, with Poland giving way to Furlong (59 mins). Carl made an immediate and typical impression, going up for a Coburn clearance with his hand and conceding a free-kick and then conceding a second free-kick, a little unfortunately, as he tussled with a defender in midfield. With Altrincham still on the back foot, it was not a total surprise when Burton took the lead but the manner of its arrival was a little unfortunate. As Stride and Farrell threatened up the right, Maddox's firm clearance struck a Burton man and rebounded to Farrell who laid the ball left, across the face of goal to the unmarked Evans who scored from close range (62 mins).

Altrincham soon won a corner through Illingworth on the left but before it could be taken by Hawes, Illingworth was withdrawn to be replaced by Murphy (64 mins). Hawes's corner came to Sertori at the back post and from his pass Hulme missed his shot completely. Altrincham soon won another corner on the left but Stride got it away. Sertori was lucky when a two-footed tackle on Clough, deep in the Burton half did not earn him a caution. As Stride and Anderson combined up their right wing, Maddox played a poor, short back-pass towards Coburn but Farrell knocked the resulting clear chance over the bar (68 mins). Coburn then saved well from a Clough volley after a Burton throw-in by Kavanagh. The Burton defence continued to be untroubled by Alty as even Thornley was subdued in this half. Murphy tried to prompt some action down the right but to no avail. A Hawes free-kick came to Thornley via Sertori but Rod hit the ball well over the target. Furlong once again provided some entertainment of the wrong sort as he made a good move forward, only to fall over his own feet. He stayed on the ground and received prolonged treatment. The Burton bench's not unreasonable questioning of the nature of Furlong's injury led to an angry exchange between Graham Heathcote and the Burton bench (77 mins).

The incident which confirmed the result came when Sertori unnecessarily grasped Anderson just outside the Alty box, with the Burton man's back to goal. As Alty got their wall together and the referee seemed to exchange words with Craney, Clough stepped up and took a quick shot at goal. Coburn got down, at the foot of his right upright, to save but did not hold the ball and it squirmed out to Farrell who scored easily from close range (79 mins). Lyons immediately came on for Kavanagh for Burton and a minute later Scott replaced Craney (80 mins) for the Robins. Sertori now went up front, a position in which he sometimes played for York City. A Hawes ball into the box went just over the bar before Farrell left the pitch to be replaced by Garner for the visitors (83 mins). A late Burton break was undone by a poor pass from Lyons before a Murphy header looped harmlessly to Duke, who had a largely untroubled second half. Indeed, Furlong's wide volley, a minute or so before the end was as much as Altrincham could muster in the closing stages.