Match Report

70 spectators saw Altrincham pick up the points in the best match of the season at Moss Lane so far. Barrow were unfortunate not to take anything from the match, especially after dominating the opening stages and hitting the bar twice. Kevin Hulme put Alty ahead when he headed home a Hawes free-kick (52 mins) and then Carl Furlong made it 2-0 following a fine interception and shot by Hawes, which keeper Bishop could only parry out to the Alty striker (66 mins). Barrow continued to impress with some slick passing movements but could not score until three minutes from the end when it appeared to be Housham who headed the ball past Coburn in a melee from a left-sided corner. Alty keeper Stuart Coburn, (seen right with Mark Maddox), was named Man of the Match.

Altrincham were without leading scorer Rod Thornley who was, for some reason, not allowed to combine his masseur duties for England's game against Greece next Saturday with playing for Altrincham on this Tuesday night, even though the international side are staying in a hotel less than 10 miles from Moss Lane. Compared with the team which beat Frickley last Saturday, Carl Furlong replaced Thornley whilst Jez Illingworth gave way to Stuart Locke in the starting line-up. Locke started at right-back, with Scott moving to midfield. Barrow were without injured captain Hume, as well as longer term absentees Duerden and Bullimore.

Altrincham attacked the Golf Road end and kicked off the match. A free-kick to Barrow on half-way after 70 seconds and a resulting wide header from Hall were the first incidents of note. For Alty, Murphy had an early low shot at goal from the edge of the box but this also went wide (3 mins). However, it was the well-supported Barrow side who were to dominate the early stages of this game. Following a rapid succession of half-cleared Barrow crosses, Peverell found Holt, who turned well and forced a good save out of Coburn, low down. Fortunately for the keeper the shot was more or less straight at him (5 mins).

Barrow came closer a minute later when a ball from the left found Holt, who fed Housham, in space, inside the box. The Barrow man should have done better than strike a shot which glanced off the upper side of the crossbar. Barrow continued to menace, particularly down their left flank whilst, at the back, they were quickly closing down Altrincham's attempts to go forward. The visitors' superb fast passing game almost brought a goal again after 11 minutes when the impressive Warren linked well with Holt and Peverell to set up Housham once more. Housham's firm shot came back to safety off the underside of Coburn's crossbar from about ten yards out. These opening stages were the best spell of football seen at Moss Lane this season, Burton's visit included.

A foray by Shaw ended in his good cross from the right but only a goal-kick resulted. In the first twelve minutes Altrincham had been very much on the back-foot and but for Murphy's early shot, they had not had a decent strike at Bishop's goal. However, they had a golden opportunity to steal a lead when Scott fed Craney and the young midfielder's fine ball located Furlong, unmarked in a central position inside the box. Furlong unnecessarily delayed his shot and allowed Bishop to get down to deflect the striker's eventual attempt (12 mins).

The pulsating action continued with Barrow progressing up the left-centre channel despite a clear flag from Mr Robinson, the assistant referee. The referee, Mr Rawcliffe, who otherwise had a good game, allowed play to continue and Barrow went on to put the ball in the net at the second attempt after a good parry from Coburn. Given the prominence of the linesman's flag it appeared that the ref was going to over-rule his assistant and allow the goal to stand but, in fact, the referee had simply not seen the flag and when he did, he rightly disallowed the goal for off-side. Mr Rawcliffe then strode across to the touchline, with the crowd expecting him to consult his colleague. Instead he singled out an Altrincham steward in a yellow/green fluorescent coat and ordered him away from the touchline, presumably on the grounds that he could not distinguish him from the linesman's flag!

Coburn ended another Barrow passing movement before an Altrincham free-kick came to nothing. Adams prompted Craney to play a promising ball forward but Hall cleared up the danger with a pass to his keeper. Despite all the Barrow pressure, Altrincham threatened again from a curling free-kick from their right by Adams. The ball came off Maddox's head in the box to Furlong, to the left. Carl's looping header caused a fumble from Bishop as he went to his left and gave Altrincham an unexpected corner on their right side, their first of the game (20 mins). Furlong went even closer from the flag-kick, meeting Hawes's corner with a firm header which beat Bishop but was well cleared by a defender stationed on the line by his side's right-hand post. From the follow-up Hulme was penalised (21 mins).

Altrincham were now getting a bit more into the match but Barrow were still the better side. Stuart Locke has brought the long-throw into Altrincham's armoury in recent games but his prodigious efforts found only Barrow heads initially. Locke was also in action at the other end, making a good tackle to concede a corner on the Barrow left. This was whipped in quickly but found the side netting in front of goal. A foul by Adams on Holt yielded a free-kick 30 yards out from goal, but this was cleared. Altrincham were unable to match Barrow's fluency and when Locke and Furlong combined well to feed Hulme, the ex-York City man lost possession, 25 yards from goal. Another Barrow move ended with a pass from Peverell to Holt and a cross which skimmed off Maddox's head, just wide, for another Barrow corner, on their right. Gaughan's corner came out to Anthony, whose measured strike from 25 yards was well saved by Coburn (29 mins). Then, Peverell's pass set up the marauding Maxfield, who had a fine game, for a well-struck shot from 30 yards which Coburn carefully watched as it passed his upright (30 mins).

Another long throw from the left by Locke came back out to the Alty man but Anthony blocked his progress. Craney then played another fine ball in for Furlong but the striker could not quite get on the end of it and injured himself in the process but Altrincham were now beginning to get into the game a bit more and, soon, almost scored. A foul on the left against Hulme gave Hawes a free-kick, 25 yards out. Murphy relayed it to Craney and onto Furlong whose header was just reached by a diving Bishop, to his right, as it dropped towards the bottom corner of the net (34 mins). But Barrow responded in kind, when a piece of mis-control by Maddox allowed Gaughan and Housham to progress up their left side.

With Coburn scurrying across goal a low ball across the Alty penalty area was cleared. Gary Scott was doing some good work on the right side of midfield and defence but a heavy rain shower had now started, forcing the Barrow fans to rush for cover from the Hale End of the ground. For Altrincham there were one or two encouraging signs of weakness in the Barrow defence as the half progressed but a Murphy header which was unconvincingly cleared was the most to show for them at this stage. Coburn then caught well a ball into the box from Shaw (40 mins). Altrincham were now enjoying a few minutes of dominance but without creating any serious threat as the half amazingly ended goalless. Barrow had been clearly the better side for most of the first half yet Altrincham had also had good attempts at goal and any combination of scores from 0-0 to 3-3 could have be possible by this stage given the chances that had gone begging.

From Barrow's kick-off, Gary Scott immediately handled the ball just inside his own half, on the Alty right. Coburn saw Gaughan's fierce shot from the free-kick late, through a ruck of players, but he gathered it well. However, his throw out only found touch; this was probably Stuart's only mistake of a night on which he made several excellent stops. Indeed he immediately made a great save from a tremendous 30 yard strike by Maxfield after 47 minutes. Maxfield then showed his defensive capabilities, just beating Murphy to a fine ball from Scott. Murphy needed treatment after going for the ball on the edge of the Barrow box (48 mins). Maxfield, too, was matching Locke in the long-throw department but like his Alty counterpart his colleagues could not capitalise on these efforts.

Altrincham then won a free-kick for foot-up against Sertori, just inside the Barrow half, on the Altrincham right. Hawes's well-struck free-kick into the left-side of the box was firmly met by Hulme's head and his diagonal header entered the net to Bishop's left. The ball then seemed to squeeze out under the back of the net but it had clearly been a valid goal (52 mins). From the restart, Sertori conceded a free-kick on the edge of his own area. Gaughan's free-kick produced two half-chances at the back post but the Alty defence got the ball away. Anthony then needed treatment before a run by Scott ended in a shot, just wide of goal, which Furlong nearly got on to (55 mins). Altrincham were now more in the game than in the first half but Coburn still had to be alert to punch clear after Maxwell had found space on the Barrow left. But then Maxwell lost possession and allowed Furlong to advance. Furlong fed Hulme, but the Alty front-man lost possession inside the penalty area (62 mins).

Altrincham now replaced the quiet Danny Murphy with Jason Gallagher in midfield (62 mins). Barrow almost immediately scored but three of their players seemed to get in each other's way in the box and a shot at goal cannoned off one of them to safety for Altrincham. Scott then did well to quell Holt and win a free-kick as Barrow once more had Altrincham on the back-foot. A low ball from the right by Warren was fielded by Coburn and he kicked impressively, some 80 yards into the right-corner of the Barrow defence. From this situation Barrow won a throw but Hawes was alert and jumped in smartly to intercept before a Barrow player could gather the ball from the throw-in, some thirty yards out, slightly left of goal.

Hawes unleashed a tremendous low shot which Bishop saved well, to his right, but the advancing Carl Furlong smashed the loose ball back into the net (66 mins). "Daylight robbery" was the immediate shouted judgement of a member of the Barrow entourage in the visiting directors' box and it would have been hard to argue with him, even though Altrincham had been having a better second- than first-half. It almost got worse for Barrow from the restart as Gallagher surged from midfield but the ball ended up with Bishop. Surprisingly it was the goalscorer, Carl Furlong, who was then replaced by substitute Lee Poland and, at the same time, Holt gave way to Jones for Barrow (72 mins).

Despite their setbacks, Barrow continued to go forward and to play the ball about quickly and accurately from defence through to midfield. Gaughan, Anthony, Warren and Jones combined well to win a corner off Maddox on the left. From the corner, Coburn got a hand to the ball but it still came back to a Barrow head but was directed over the bar under pressure from a defender (74 mins). Another corner followed soon afterwards, off Adams, but Coburn caught this one well (77 mins). Altrincham then put together their best spell of sustained passing before a move of a dozen passes or so ended with a cross by Scott. Peverell now threatened to get goal-side of Locke but the Barrow man went down far too easily under Locke's challenge to prompt the referee to even consider a penalty. From a subsequent free-kick, Locke conceded a corner to Barrow on their left, which came to nothing. Barrow continued to press and pen Altrincham back in their own half as Illingworth now came on for Hulme, who had seemed to be carrying a slight knock (80 mins). Shaw also gave way at this point, to the veteran Neil Doherty, for the Bluebirds.

A very wayward long-range effort from Rogers did not help the Barrow cause but Barrow maintained the one-way traffic at this stage. However, Illingworth made a good interception from Shaw, just inside the Altrincham half, on their right side. He raced forward up the right wing and crossed for Poland. Poland took a couple of touches as he turned and his shot won Altrincham a corner on their right. Hawes's corner came to Sertori who took the ball to the corner flag to play for time. Sertori was soon in action at the other end, conceding a foul on the edge of the Alty box for holding Peverell. Doherty curled the free-kick past the wall but Coburn tipped the ball over for a corner. Before the corner-kick was taken, Coburn was announced as man of the match. This was unfortunate timing for, within ten seconds, he was picking the ball out of his net as the corner, from the Barrow left was headed past him, from close range and with a possible deflection. The identity of the scorer was not clear in the goalmouth melee but the consensus was that it was Housham's goal (87 mins). Sertori then won a free-kick in the same spot that he had just conceded one as Altrincham rode out the stoppage time and held their lead.

This was a pulsating match and one which Barrow were very unlucky to lose. Their fluid passing movements were impressive to watch especially in the first half but Altrincham stood their ground and gradually got into the game as it progressed. Had Barrow taken their chances, it would have been a different story but Altrincham did convert theirs and that was the difference on the night. Altrincham move up to second in the table.