Match Report

Last season Alty lost this fixture inside the first fifteen minutes when they went two down and lost striker Mark Quayle with a head injury just before the interval. This season the match was switched to a Sunday as a result of the England v Greece World Cup Qualifier the previous day. Stanley arrived fresh from a 5-0 mauling of Worksop last Wednesday, whilst Alty had won their previous six league and cup games. The game was played in a strong wind and, for the final hour in rain which, for the second half, was heavy. The game was therefore not a classic and there were few shots for the keepers to deal with. Stanley perhaps had marginally the better of the first period but Altrincham were the stronger side in the second period and went close several times. The crowd included Manchester United and England star Gary Neville and Graham Kelly, the former Football Association supremo.

Altrincham welcomed back Rod Thornley from his duties as England team masseur at Old Trafford and Lee Poland made way from the previous league-game squad to accommodate him in the 14-man squad. Stanley had sold Brett Baxter to Chester in midweek and Steve Flitcroft was promoted to replace him. Manager John Coleman named himself as a substitute.

As seems to happen so often this season, the game kicked off early and Scott soon won a corner on the right for Alty but Hawes's flag-kick was cleared. A neat Furlong flick then fed Craney who passed back to the advancing Furlong who was closed down by Speare as he entered the box and Hulme failed to connect with the loose ball (7 mins). James and Mullin then tried to combine but Mullin's ball found no colleague. Following a foul on Thornley, Hawes's free-kick went straight to Speare. Craney dealt with a threat from the speedy James in the right corner of the Accrington attack (13 mins) before the young Alty midfielder had the first good shot of the game, hitting the ball well, but wide of the right-hand post. Craney had turned onto the ball well from a pass by Hawes, who had been supplied originally by Hulme (15 mins). Then Thornley hooked a shot wide after a neat nod-on from Furlong (17 mins).

For Stanley, James was looking dangerous and the tall Mullin was winning a number of balls in the air. A Sertori handball, 30 yards out, then gave Accrington a free-kick (22 mins) but, from this, Mullin's header was well over the bar. The Alty coach was not happy with his defence and let them know in no uncertain terms. James was then fouled by Maddox, 30 yards from goal, but the free-kick ended up in Coburn's hands. At the other end, Speare delayed a clearance long enough for Furlong to close him down and the ball rebounded firmly off the Altrincham man but wide and high of the Stanley net (26 mins). Payne then got in a good shot at Coburn, from the left, but it went over the bar (27 mins). The best chance of the game arose after 28 minutes when a superb long ball forward from Howarth found James, who outpaced Maddox, to get a clear shot at Coburn. However, his aim was poor and the ball went well wide of Coburn's right-hand post.

Furlong was then involved in one of several spats with Flannery, who aggressively pointed his finger at the Alty man after Smith and Furlong had collided. Soon Alty won a free-kick which Adams played in for Hulme. The keeper spilled the ball under Hulme's challenge but, as usual in such circumstances, the keeper was given a free-kick. As play stopped for Speare to be treated the rain, which had been forecast, started to fall (30 mins). Soon, a poor clearance from Coburn led Mullin to try a 45 yarder but the effort was woefully wide and underpowered (32 mins). Furlong was again penalised in slightly dubious circumstances but he was winning no friends with the Stanley management with his normal aggressive style of play. However, Graham Heathcote was getting even more wound-up about the linesman's decisions and attracted a deserved lecture for overstepping the mark from the generally excellent referee (35 mins).

James then threatened to get the better of Maddox, but the Alty defender recovered to stop the attack. Adams and Furlong then combined well and Furlong advanced at Accrington, only to run into a blind alley. James again threatened to get round Maddox but the centre-back just got a foot on James's shot to concede a corner. From this, Mullin's goal-bound header was directed at Craney who cleared it off the line from his standpoint by Coburn's left post (42 mins). This yielded a corner on the right which came to nothing. Not for the last time, Thornley was shoved over, off the ball, before play stopped, curiously, for Robinson to be brought a handkerchief by his trainer for, presumably, a knock to his nose. The half ended goalless soon afterwards. Neither goalkeeper had been much troubled and it was the weather which was the only winner at this stage. As the players walked off there was a bit of a fracas involving Adams, Locke and Lutel James.

Heavy rain was falling as the second half got under way but the wind had dropped slightly, as Altrincham played into it. A Thornley threat was cleared before James, at the other end, had a shot blocked by Maddox from which a Stanley corner followed on their right flank. Coburn half cleared this but Smith's resulting shot was wide of the target. Graham Heathcote yelled at his side to relax as Furlong was fouled on half-way. However, Thornley handled the resulting free-kick by Hawes. A cross by Carden gave Coburn a free-kick as the rain became torrential. Craney then won the ball well in midfield but Thornley was again dumped to the ground off the ball to win a free-kick. The sides exchanged free-kicks and throws as the game went through a dull spell in the lashing rain (54 mins). Mullin headed a free-kick to Coburn before a fine turn by Furlong, following a pass from Thornley, won Alty a corner. Hulme's resulting header went wide (58 mins).

Altrincham were now beginning to assert themselves as James and the Stanley attack were little in evidence. Mr Dean's patience with Smith finally ran out when he knocked Thornley over once too often and was booked (63 mins). Any threat from Adams's free-kick was undone by a foul by Hulme. Furlong then conceded another foul and James soon won a corner on the Stanley left. Another Stanley corner soon followed (67 mins). Coburn punched this out but only to Robinson whose shot from outside the box went over the bar. Alty then won a corner on their right when a Hawes free-kick, following a foul on Furlong, led to Thornley forcing the flag-kick. Maddox won the corner ball but his effort looped wide (69 mins).

Flitcroft and James next won a corner at the other end, off Maddox's backside (70 mins). Coburn did well to tip the curling corner over his bar for a second corner, on the left. Flitcroft put this corner into touch for a goal-kick. Furlong then won and conceded a foul before good work by Thornley set up Adams for a cross which was woefully short (76 mins). Amidst the mediocrity, a great run up the right by Scott, interchanging passes with Thornley, led to Scott getting to the by-line. He played the ball in for Furlong at the near post but a defender just got there first. Scott then did well to stop Mullin at the expense of a corner on Stanley's left. For the second time, Flitcroft wasted the flag-kick, putting the corner straight out for a goal-kick at the back post (80 ins). Scott once more did well, setting Hawes running into the Accrington defence only for the Alty captain to be crudely chopped down from behind by Robinson, who was rightly booked (81 mins). After treatment to Hawes, Craney took the free-kick from a central position, 25 yards out. His superbly struck kick was tipped over the bar by Speare for a corner on the Alty right.

Hawes's corner found Thornley on the far side of the box and his hooked shot produced an equally good tip over the bar from Speare as Alty looked the stronger side at this stage (82 mins). Alty soon threatened again and, though Hulme actually put the ball in the net, Furlong had fouled a defender in the box. The Alty man, who had been the target of John Coleman's invective from the Accrington bench, was booked by the referee, not so much for this particular offence but for his cumulative physical involvement in the game (84 mins). Almost immediately Carl was substituted by Gallagher and left the field, taking a kick at the half-way flag on his way! As the game entered its closing stages Adams made a fine tackle on the threatening Payne to concede a corner from which Mullin's effort went wide, with Graham Heathcote unhappy with Mark Maddox (85 mins). A Carden shot was then blocked by Adams for another Accrington corner on their right which Gallagher cleared as the home side finished strongly. However, Altrincham's second half performance had more than merited their point which took them up to third place in the table. The weather prevented this game from being particularly memorable but the Altrincham defence will be pleased with another clean sheet and solid performance in very difficult conditions.