Match Report

Matchday Sponsor	Matchball Sponsor
and "The Flaggers"	Brian Green and Barry Heaton

It was no surprise that this game between the second and third placed sides in the UniBond, involving a prolific scorer for each side, ended 1-1 with those two marksmen, Thornley (Altrincham) and Whittaker (Lancaster), both on the scoresheet. A marvellous crowd of 2,076 gave the game a great atmosphere and, after a bright start, Altrincham went ahead from the penalty spot when Thornley, who had been bowled over by Mayers, sent his goalkeeping namesake the wrong way (6 mins). Lancaster equalised from a cross from their left by Lyons which was converted by Whittaker's head (12 mins). City then had the better of the remainder of the half. In the second half Alty's Stuart Coburn was a virtual spectator as Altrincham enjoyed the bulk of the possession but could not score.

Alty's leading scorer Rod Thornley had missed the league game between these sides but was in action today. Injury doubts concerning Jason Gallagher and Kevin Hulme did not prevent their being named as starters but the longer-term injured - Paul Taylor, Carl Furlong and Stuart Locke were all absent from the team but present as spectators. Alty won 8-1 on Tuesday night in the Cheshire Senior Cup, seven of those goals came from Lee Poland (4), Steve Finney (2) and Anthony Hargreaves (1), but none of them could find a place in the starting line up today- all being on the bench instead. Lancaster lacked the injured fireman-footballer Brian Welch but, unlike at the Giant Axe in the league game with Alty, their captain Kenny Mayers was in the side today.

Lancaster kicked off towards Golf Road with the crowd still streaming in on a dull afternoon. Given the rival attraction of Manchester United at Old Trafford, the gate of over two thousand was remarkably good for a clash of two UniBond sides. Inside 45 seconds Altrincham nearly scored when Gallagher and Craney fed Hulme, who got past Lyons in to the box but his firm shot was beaten out well by the keeper. Gallagher, who had been a surprise starter given his bad injury at Spalding two weeks ago and his persistent groin strain, pulled up hobbling shortly afterwards, having chased a ball fielded by Mark Thornley.

Murphy then almost barged Craney out of the way on the left-wing to take possession of the ball and as he cut inside, an opponent got a toe-end to the ball and knocked it towards his own keeper, ahead of Thornley, who was advancing into the left side of the box. As the Alty man looked to have got the better of Mayers, the Lancaster captain bowled him over to concede a very clear penalty which Mr Idleton awarded without hesitation. After the game the Lancaster manager, Tony Hesketh, agreed that the decision had been correct, in an interview on Radio Lancashire. After Mayers had been booked, Rod Thornley put the spot-kick to the keeper's right, as his namesake Mark dived the opposite way, to record his twentieth goal in nineteen starts and his eighth successful penalty of the current campaign.

From the restart Lee Clitheroe got in a shot at Coburn, which the keeper saved comfortably, low down. Clitheroe than committed a bad foul on Scott from behind but, not for the last time, a Lancaster player escaped with no more than a free-kick award against him from the referee (7 mins). Hawes then conceded a free-kick for foot-up against Butler in centre-field. Coburn next punched clear from a Whittaker header before a poor cross by Murphy ended an attack by Altrincham as the sides swapped attacking moves. Whittaker then won a fortunate free-kick against Sertori when the striker seemed to go down very easily and though Butler's free-kick from some 30 yards out was cleared by Adams, the ball was soon back with Lyons on the left wing. His cross seemed to take a deflection off Mayers at the near post and the ball found Whittaker in space in front of goal. His well-placed, downward header entered Coburn's net, to the keeper's right, for the equaliser (12 mins).

After an Alty move had broken down, Maddox cleared the Alty lines with a fine ball for Hulme, whose goalbound volley was well blocked by keeper Thornley's legs as the early excitement continued. Whittaker was lucky to escape any punishment for aiming a kick, which did not connect, at Sertori, before Ian Craney won the ball well on the edge of the Lancaster box and fired in a shot which Mark Thornley beat out (15 mins). However, it was the visitors who now upped their game and they should have gone ahead after 19 minutes. The culprit, surprisingly, was Whittaker, who had been played in by Clitheroe and Butler. However, the striker elected to try to take the ball round Coburn rather than shooting for goal and the Alty keeper was able to delay the City man long enough for the chance to end with Potts putting the ball over the cross bar, albeit to win a corner from a deflection. Potts was now beginning to cause some problems to the Alty defence's left side whilst for their part the Alty flank men, Murphy and Gallagher were not functioning as efficiently as they can do in linking the defence with the attack. Treatment for Haddow created a stoppage (22 mins) before the defender hobbled off for a couple of minutes of treatment.

Altrincham repeatedly gave the ball away as they attempted to clear their lines and Lancaster were now getting on top as a result. Butler unleashed an impressive shot from 30 yards which Coburn calmly watched as it skimmed off the top of his crossbar and out of play (27 mins). When Alty did get towards the other end, they were winning little in the air from a solid Lancaster defence. Lyons was lucky to escape any punishment when he booted the ball many a mile out of the ground when he knew as well as everyone else in the ground that it had already crossed the line for an Alty corner (33 mins). From Hawes's shortish corner-kick, Thornley curled a shot wide of goal from the right. Colin Potts became the first player to be booked by Mr Idleton, probably for dissent (35 mins) as Altrincham recovered from their spell on the back foot with an Ian Craney shot being blocked. Gallagher then wasted a promising opening with a sliced cross from the right by-line (36 mins), before Clitheroe's 35 yard effort was fielded competently by Coburn after good work by Potts and Whittaker.

Ian Craney was now causing the Lancaster side some problems and his testing cross was just deflected out of the box. Play stopped for treatment to Hawes (41 mins), just before the fourth official held up a four minutes-to-go board. Haddow committed a bad foul on Scott but once again the offender escaped a booking from the curiously inconsistent referee. As half-time approached Clitheroe won a left-side corner off Scott but this was cleared. However, just before the interval Butler and Potts combined to feed Whittaker at the back post but Sertori cleared the ball before it could reach the net. After the game the Lancaster manager told Radio Lancashire that his side could have been 4-1 ahead at the interval; whilst this was something of an exaggeration, it was true to say that they had certainly had the better of the first forty-five minutes.

In the early stages of the second half Haddow's charmed life continued as he now fouled Craney, after the Alty midfielder had got past him. Again Mr Idleton took no more action than to award a free-kick (47 mins). Soon, Craney himself got in a firm shot at goal but it went comfortably wide (48 mins). Lancaster then won a corner, gained by Potts off Adams, on their right. This was cleared before Altrincham began to enjoy the lion's share of the ball for most of the second half. Next, Scott got in a shot that was well wide before a deft flick by Hulme set Murphy in on goal, but the ball was taken off his toes by a defender (55 mins). Then, Thornley very nearly put Altrincham ahead, on the hour. Murphy passed the ball to him and the Alty striker cut in from the left, at speed, before firing a superbly struck shot which whistled past his namesake's right-hand post.

The referee continued to annoy the home crowd as he missed a foul on Hulme but then compounded his felony by booking Thornley for a challenge which seemed innocuous and was arguably the striker's first misdemeanour of the game. It was Rod's first booking of the season (63 mins). Nevertheless, Thornley was soon back in action for Altrincham, feeding Craney, whose pass to Murphy was poked towards goal, forcing the keeper to save well (64 mins) as Altrincham enjoyed dominance at this stage.

Potts then stood motionless but presumably injured only some five yards from the touchline in centre-field. Though he managed to steer himself ten yards forward to the centre line, to the irritation of the home crowd he seemed incapable of directing himself the shorter distance off the pitch to get the treatment that he wanted (66 mins). Instead, he belatedly collapsed to the ground. Altrincham then replaced Gallagher by Swannick (68 mins) in midfield. With Alty now on top, Craney got past Butler, who tripped him and entered the ref's notebook for the offence (70 mins). Then, three minutes later, Murphy also deservedly found his way into the black book, for not retreating at a free-kick. The free-kick was advanced ten yards as a consequence, a rule which applies in the FA Cup but not in the UniBond League. The ailing Potts now gave way to Kevin Holliday (73 mins). Craney was then penalised when Dean Martin went down under his challenge as the game began to decline as a spectacle (74 mins). After an Alty corner, the ball came out to Craney who lofted his shot well over the Golf Road terrace roof (75 mins). There was controversy soon afterwards when Mayers played a back pass, without looking, which was heading to the left of his advancing keeper's arms.

The Lancaster goalminder, however, did enough to half stop the ball but, as the marauding Rod Thornley threatened to pounce on the loose ball, the keeper and the striker made contact, with Rod Thornley going down amidst plausible claims for a penalty. The officials were unimpressed (77 mins). Coburn, at the other end, had been a spectator for much of the second half, but he did have to watch a Lancaster shot carefully as it passed his upright after 78 minutes. Steve Hawes was the next to have a crack at goal at the other end, but his low shot went wide of Mark Thornley's right post (79 mins). A late tackle by Craney led to his becoming the third of the Robins to be booked (80 mins). Haddow yet again committed a foul on Murphy, on the edge of the visitors' box, but once more his only punishment was a free-kick.

Thornley was also fouled, and won a free-kick as the game entered the last five minutes, with Lancaster having clearly settled for a draw. Butler was taken off to be replaced by Stewart Clitheroe (87 mins). It was Lancaster who had the last shot of note, when a feed from Lee Clitheroe was blasted well over the bar (89 mins).

Gary Scott, so often an unsung hero in the Alty side, was a deserving Threshers' Man of the Match. The match result was probably a fair one. This season Altrincham have played better than they did today and it seemed that Gallagher and Hulme, both doubtful starters, were not their usual selves. The defence played generally well, though Potts caused some problems on the Lancaster right and the distribution of the ball out of the Alty defence was not always accurate. With Poland, who had hit four goals on Tuesday night, and Finney, who had scored twice, both on the bench, it was perhaps surprising that neither was introduced in an attempt to finish off the tie. So, the scene moves to the replay at the Giant Axe, a week on Tuesday (27th November), which means postponement of the UniBond Cup match at home to Colwyn Bay. Burton Albion, who stretched their league lead to nine points today will be rubbing their hands that their chief contenders for the championship are obliged to play an extra game.