Match Report

Match Sponsor	Matchball Sponsor
20/20 Research	Alty in Exile and Brian Green

After a disappointing first half for the 537 spectators, a Rod Thornley (right) second-half hat-trick more than made up for his penalty miss after 31 minutes. This missed spot-kick came just a minute after Kevin Hulme had opened the scoring following good work up the right by Illingworth and Scott. Thornley made it 2-0 after 54 minutes, when played in by Craney, and his second came eleven minutes later when Craney again found him in the box, in a seemingly off-side position. Frickley did not give up and scored a goal through Fothergill, eight minutes from the end, which looked as dubiously off-side as Thornley's third had done. A minute later Thornley's hat-trick arrived when he held off a tug on his shirt to round Jones and slot the ball past Wilkinson.

Although Leroy Chambers has moved on from Frickley, there were still two ex-Alty men in their line-up today, centre-back Mark Ogley and right wing-man, Soner Zumrutel. Frickley have had some misfortune his season. George Santos has recently left the club, whilst Mark Tyrell, Curtis Bernard and Luke Smith are all out injured on a long-term basis. To make things worse, the Yorkshire club have had a league point deducted for a registration irregularity. For Alty, Chris Adams was back after missing the midweek game, through suspension, and Jason Gallagher was still not fit enough to start. Stuart Locke, too, was on the bench after starting in midweek and Dave Swannick joined him there, as Gary Scott came back into the side. Furlong, too, was reduced to a substitute's role, so Rod Thornley started up front with support from Kevin Hulme, who had played at centre-back on Wednesday at Runcorn.

The Moss Lane clock which Mr Lyth presumably used to check his watch must have been running fast again as, for the second week running, the game kicked off early- in this case by two and half minutes. Frickley kicked-off towards Golf Road. However, those who missed the early stages did not miss a lot. It was Frickley who made the early running, playing the ball well to feet and having the majority of shooting opportunities. The first chance arose when an Evans header was a half-cleared and Cowen fed ex-Vics' striker Graham Lewis, whose shot from the edge of the box was comfortably held by Coburn (2 mins). From an Adams ball into the Frickley box came the first of an irritatingly large number of off-sides in the opening stages. After a neat passing move the visitors contrived a shot over the bar from 20 yards and then another good move saw Evans finish off passes from Price, Cowen and Hanby with a shot at Coburn (5 mins).

Alty coach Graham Heathcote's annoyance at the space afforded Frickley was summed up in his shout to his players that "these two [Frickley's Duffty and Cowen] are having a day-out here". Zumrutel then got the better of Adams to allow a shot from Lewis which, from Alty's viewpoint, was fortunately underpowered and fielded comfortably by Coburn. The best that the Robins could muster was an interception by Illingworth 35 yards or more from goal near the right touchline from which the midfielder tried, optimistically, to lob the keeper, without success. A Hulme shot, very wide of the target, followed soon afterwards (9 mins). Somewhat better was a Scott cross, following a throw-in by the same player, which found Hulme's head, but he headed over the bar (10 mins). Then Alty were caught offside for the third time in the opening ten minutes, Thornley being the offender. A promising move up the left involving Adams, Maddox and Hulme saw a nice lay-off by Thornley to Murphy but only a Frickley goal-kick resulted. Mr Heathcote was not happy. Alty's uncertain start continued with a back-pass from Adams which caught Coburn by surprise and forced a hasty clearance (15 mins).

Craney's loss of possession, followed by Adams's foul on Zumrutel, underlined Alty's lack of cohesion at this stage. A bit better was a fine diagonal ball forward from Maddox to Thornley in the left corner of the pitch. Thornley's cross was taken by keeper Wilkinson as Murphy closed in (18 mins). Frickley were playing neatly to feet and had they had some more guile up-front might have exploited Altrincham's slow start. Duffty and Cowen continued to combine well on the left before Maddox upended Lewis - the conceding of free-kicks by Alty was another worrying feature of the first half. However, a sliced kick from Wilkinson gave Alty a corner on the left after 20 minutes but nothing came of this before Lewis was caught just offside at the other end.

Hulme and Thornley then interchanged neatly but their move ended with an overhead kick by Thornley over the bar (22 mins). More threatening was Murphy's ball in from the left which Hulme stretched to toe-end and prompt a good save from Wilkinson. Altrincham were now improving and Hulme first won a good ball in the air and soon afterwards went down under a challenge but gained no response from Mr Lyth. Altrincham's few minutes of pressure yielded a goal when Illingworth did well up the right and set Scott running in on the keeper to the right of goal. Though Wilkinson kept out Scott's close-range shot, the ball came out to Hulme who scored easily from six yards (30 mins). Immediately Frickley brought out a smart save from Coburn when Zumrutel and Lewis combined. But Altrincham should have doubled their lead a minute later. Sertori's good ball forward found Thornley in the inside left channel. As Rod went past Collins, the defender clearly pulled him back and a penalty was awarded. Rod, who has hit four successful penalties already this season underhit his spot-kick and Wilkinson saved well, diving to his left. The Frickley keeper has something of a reputation for saving spot-kicks, having done so several times last season. Almost immediately Thornley was caught offside before an Adams foul gave Frickley a free-kick on the edge of the Alty box. Nothing came of this before Hulme became at least the sixth victim of the Frickley off-side trap (34 mins).

Frickley all but equalised after 38 minutes when Coburn came to punch a high ball under pressure from Evans, but failed to do so to any effect. The loose ball fell to Lewis whose shot at goal fortunately found Sertori, with Coburn stranded out of his goal (38 mins). Hulme and Illingworth now combined well and Jeremy got the better of Cowen to put in a fine cross from the right. Thornley failed to make more than a glancing contact with his head and the ball skimmed wide of the target (39 mins). Frickley still played the ball about well and won a free-kick 30 yards out after a Maddox foul on Evans. Coburn caught the free-kick well under pressure. Yet another free-kick was conceded when Sertori held Lewis on the very edge of the box. A short free-kick led to a side footed shot, well over the bar, by Price (43 mins). A Hawes tackle yielded another free-kick to Frickley, followed by a second foul by Altrincham soon afterwards. A more potent side might well have punished these lapses. As half-time approached, Hawes conceded a further free-kick, 40 yards from goal. From this, Lewis's final shot was poor. Just before the interval, however, it was Alty who won a free-kick when Hulme was fouled and needed treatment. Half-time came with Alty a goal ahead but making very heavy weather of their task.

Kevin Hulme did not appear after the interval, his place up-front being taken by Carl Furlong. Hawes was soon tripped by Lewis before Evans was obstructed by Sertori as free-kicks were rapidly exchanged. Furlong nearly got a goal when he stole in behind Ogley, who was clearly unaware of his presence, as the defender attempted to shepherd a ball back to his keeper. Carl stuck out a foot and got a shot at goal which was not too far wide of Wilkinson's left stick (48 mins). Then, Scott cut inside and fed Illingworth whose good cross was met by a diving header from Murphy which Wilkinson saved well, to his left (49 mins).

Zumrutel had a punt at Coburn from the edge of the box before his manager brought on Carl Fothergill, formerly at Stocksbridge Park Steels, for Duffty (53 mins). Almost immediately Altrincham scored when Craney surged forward and fed Thornley, who was unchallenged in the box. Thornley took the ball to the left, past the keeper and slotted it into the empty net (54 mins). Lax defending had given Frickley a stiff task now. Furlong nearly added to the visitors' woes when he beat a defender and his firm shot had to be beaten out. From the rebound, Murphy shot narrowly wide (54 mins). Immediately after this, Murphy limped off to be replaced by Stuart Locke. Locke's arrival at left-back occasioned Adams's move forward to left-midfield.

Frickley were now at sixes and sevens as Thornley almost got in at goal. Furlong played a fine through ball which was just cut out before it reached the advancing Thornley and then the only booking of the game occurred. Fothergill's elbow seemed to catch Adams and the defender needed treatment for a nick below his left eye (57 mins) and the Frickley substitute was cautioned. Altrincham continued to press but, on the break, Zumrutel wasted a chance to get Frickley back in the game when he passed to Locke from a dangerous position in the Alty area with Lewis awaiting a crack at goal (63 mins).

Goal number three arrived when Craney clipped the ball forward to Thornley, who was totally unmarked and arguably offside. Rod finished neatly as Wilkinson protested with some justification at the linesman's decision (65 mins). Dave Swannick then came on for Illingworth (66 mins) as Altrincham assumed the driving seat. A free-kick from the Frickley left forced Coburn to concede a corner at the back post as the visitors tried to redeem themselves. Collins's flag-kick was cleared and Furlong soon set up Thornley, but he was adjudged off-side once more (68 mins). Thornley next won a corner, which was cleared, before good work by Locke, who beat Fothergill, fed Thornley. Rod returned the ball for the advancing Locke but his close range shot was blocked by the keeper, as Furlong lay injured and needing treatment. Foot replaced Zumrutel for Frickley after 74 minutes. Despite their comfortable lead, Graham Heathcote was unhappy with his team berating them for running with the ball instead of passing.

However, his anger had little effect as the home side went off the boil for the next five minutes. Thornley sparked some action when he pulled the ball down well and ran at goal but his shot was at the keeper (80 mins). Then, a long ball from the left side of the Frickley midfield found Fothergill completely free, to the left of goal. He advanced and scored calmly past Coburn (82 mins). "That's a disgrace, lad" shouted Graham Heathcote to the referee for allowing the goal to stand when it appeared to be as offside as Thornley's earlier effort. However, all this was forgotten when, a minute later Thornley got the better of Ogley, advanced to the right past Jones, who clearly pulled his shirt inside the penalty area, and got free to plant the ball past Wilkinson for his hat-trick (83 mins). The customary cartwheel celebration followed. A minute later Rod was named Man of the Match; he has now hit eleven goals in eleven starts this season and twenty goals in his twenty-match Altrincham career. Frickley gained a late corner but could do nothing to retrieve the game.

After last year's FA Cup debacle at home to Mossley it was a great relief for Altrincham to make it into the 3rd Qualifying Round as well as to pick up the £7,500 prize money for today's win. After a poor start Altrincham had lifted their game and finally ran out comfortable winners. It is hard not to have some sympathy with Frickley as they played some neat football in the first half and with more incision might have made more of a game of it. They never resorted to physical tactics and kept playing to the end. Altrincham will be hoping for another home tie in the 3rd Qualifying Round as they aim to reach the First Round Proper for the first time since 1996-97 season.