Match Report

These sides had already drawn 1-1 this season both in the League, at the Giant Axe, and in the Cup at Moss Lane, so a tight game was in prospect. Only 477 spectators had watched the League game, but tonight more than four times that number turned up and kick-off had to be delayed till 8pm to accommodate them. Both sides had perhaps had their eyes too much on the Cup last Saturday as they had both lost their weekend league games. Alty fans hoped that there was perhaps an omen as they entered the Giant Axe for the scoreboard at the covered end stated "Lancaster City 2 Opponents 5"! A huge FA Cup flag adorned the clubhouse end, which perhaps Altrincham can borrow for the next round. Despite torrential morning rain, the pitch was in good condition and, although there was a slightly gusty wind, the rain held off for virtually the entire proceedings.

Five goals, six bookings, two sendings-off, two penalties, a brief punch-up and two hours of very entertaining football proved excellent value for the six pounds admission price in a match which was a fine advertisement for both the FA Cup and the UniBond League. The game was decided by a hat-trick from Alty substitute, Lee Poland. Lancaster were the better side in the first half and deservedly went ahead through Mayers (21 mins). Then, just eight minutes after replacing Jason Gallagher, who had surprisingly started the game despite injury, Lee Poland hit a superb left-foot equaliser from outside the box (40 mins). Altrincham had slightly the better of the second half but the score remained 1-1 until the first minute of the second period of extra time.

However, Lancaster had started to lose their discipline in the second half and had five men booked and two red-carded between the 46th and 120th minutes. Poland made them pay when he struck for a second time, after 106 minutes, rifling home after keeper Mark Thornley had erred. Alty's Rod Thornley netted the third from the spot after Hawes had been fouled when about to score (115 mins) and then a cynical chop on Rod Thornley as he, too, was about to score allowed Poland to grab his hat-trick from the penalty spot with virtually the last kick of the game. Alty now meet Darlington in Round Two on 8 December, at Moss Lane.

Altrincham were still without Carl Furlong and Paul Taylor but amazingly Jason Gallagher started the game, though reportedly awaiting a possible operation on his longstanding groin injury. Otherwise, the Altrincham team was as expected, with Lee Poland on the bench after starting the last game, at Frickley last Saturday. Captain, Steve Hawes overcame his thigh injury to start the game. Thornley and Murphy started up front, with Hulme, Hawes, Craney and Gallagher in midfield. Lancaster were still without striker Brian Welch.

The travelling Altrincham fans, housed in the covered end, passed the time to the delayed kick-off with some strong vocal support for their side, to which the home fans responded to create a lively atmosphere in this compact ground. By kick-off the Giant Axe ground looked almost full and the game started in a lively manner which was to continue for two hours. In the first minute Altrincham won a corner, through Hulme, and from this Craney delivered a rasping shot, just wide of goal. However, Lancaster got themselves a corner after three minutes and then began to get the upper hand by the ten-minute stage. The nearest to a goal was when Mark Thornley held a Craney shot and then Stuart Coburn had to smother the ball at Whittaker's feet following good work by Butler and Potts (7 mins). The ensuing corner was cleared but a shot by Brown, which struck Maddox inside the penalty area and an ensuing defensive scramble by Altrincham, underlined Lancaster's ascendancy (13 mins).

A late challenge by Maddox caught Brown but the Alty man escaped censure and went on to have an excellent game, alongside his centre-back partner, Mark Sertori (14 mins). As Brown was treated, Jason Gallagher entertained the crowd by changing his shorts but when play resumed with a corner, Martin shot wide. Whittaker was twice caught narrowly offside whilst his team-mate Lyons received a lecture for some reason that was not totally clear (18 mins). Altrincham were being kept on the back-foot and it came as no real surprise when the home side went ahead. A Lancaster throw from their left side came to Brown in a central position and from his back-heel the ball ran back to Lancaster captain, Kenny Mayers, who threaded a composed, low shot from 12 yards through a crowded goal area into the Altrincham net (21 mins), with the ball striking Ian Craney on the goal-line.

Altrincham's replied with their best move of the game to date. Scott fed Hulme, on the Alty right, and he crossed the ball neatly to Murphy whose firm header from near the penalty spot went narrowly over the crossbar (23 mins). Gary Scott received the first yellow card of the match for "foot-up", when challenging for the ball with Lee Clitheroe, whose leg he caught. Altrincham had an alarm soon afterwards when Coburn uncharacteristically fumbled the ball in his six-yard box, but a defender hacked the ball clear (28 mins). The Altrincham midfield was pretty quiet as Lancaster continued to impress, with Potts (on the right) and Clitheroe (on the left) looking particularly threatening, whilst Kilbane and Mayers repelled all of Altrincham's hopeful balls forward. Rod Thornley was seeing very little of the ball at the sharp end.

Things improved, however, when Thornley played Murphy into the box but a fine tackle by Haddow retrieved the situation for the "Dolly Blues", albeit at the cost of a corner to Altrincham. From this, the ball came out to Maddox, who lifted his 25 yard shot over the bar (29 mins). A foul from behind on Scott brought a free-kick but no booking for the offender from Mr Ilderton, who nevertheless had a good game (31 mins). Altrincham were now beginning to improve their play and a fine ball from Craney soon found Hulme, but Mark Thornley got down to half-smother his shot to safety. A minute later, Jason Gallagher had to face the inevitable as the injury that he is carrying forced his replacement by Lee Poland (32 mins). Poland slotted in up front with Thornley, as Murphy moved to the right of midfield.

Despite the improvement in the visitors' play, it was the home side who had the next good chance. Martin fed Whittaker who elected not to shoot but instead to play the ball off to his right to Potts. The wide man paused before hammering a shot at Coburn, which the Alty keeper tipped superbly over the bar for a corner (34 mins). A foul by Hulme on Butler in midfield led, from the resulting free-kick, to a Lancaster corner on their right. A goal-kick for Coburn resulted from this. Altrincham responded with Murphy and Scott combining on the right; Hulme then fed Craney who was blocked off in the Lancaster box, before Mark Thornley caught a Craney cross just before Murphy's head reached the ball. With Altrincham now pressing, Hulme played the ball to the right to Murphy, he passed it inside to Poland and the substitute cracked in a swerving 22 yard shot from a right-central position which beat Mark Thornley all ends up to enter the middle part of his net (40 mins). It would be reasonable to say that a 1-1 scoreline at this stage was a little unfair on Lancaster but the equaliser was a quite magnificent strike by Poland, who has yet to score in the league but for whom this was his seventh goal of the season in cup competitions.

After the restart, Clitheroe wasted a good chance when he shot wide when in the clear (42 mins). When a Lancaster player almost immediately got round Adams on the Alty left, but shot well over the bar, the home fans must have started to wonder if they would regret such wastefulness. Despite these chances for their opponents, the equaliser had lifted Altrincham and they finished the half strongly with a corner, won off Lyons, after Thornley, Scott, Poland and Murphy had combined well.

No changes of personnel occurred at half-time and after the sides had exchanged attacking movements, Rod Thornley accidentally caught his namesake in the Lancaster goal, Mark Thornley, when he slid in for a through ball which the keeper had got to first (49 mins). Soon, a throw by Haddow was relayed by Potts to Clitheroe, whose shot from the left went across goal rather than at it. In fact, Potts had been better placed to shoot for himself but, not for the only time in the game, Lancaster elected to make an extra pass when in front of goal, rather than to shoot first time (50 mins). Lancaster must have been fired up over the interval for they picked up three yellow cards in the next six minutes. Kilbane was the first to be booked (52 mins), presumably for dissent. Then Whittaker committed a dreadful late foul on Adams and even had the effrontery to argue about being booked (55 mins).

Next, Murphy was chopped down by Lyons, who amazingly escaped a booking, yet just a couple of minutes later the same defender committed another bad foul, this time on Thornley, and Mr Ilderton quite rightly showed no mercy on this occasion (58 mins). Lancaster seemed to have allowed themselves to become indisciplined now that they were not getting things their own way in midfield. This can only have signalled to the Altrincham side that the home side were rattled. However, play continued from end to end as first Maddox cleared well at the Alty end and then Mark Thornley fielded a Poland shot, before a stoppage was needed for treatment to Thornley (61 mins). Ian Craney prompted a fine move with a ball forward for Poland before Thornley, Hulme and Murphy became involved but the ball ended up with the Lancaster keeper (67 mins). An ambitious 30 yard dipping shot by Thornley underlined that Altrincham were now edging the game (68 mins). However, the Alty fans' hearts were in their mouths when Coburn "did a Barthez". The Alty keeper delayed a kicked clearance and the ball cannoned into the advancing Whittaker. The striker then had a simple task of putting the ball into the empty net but Mr Ilderton ruled the goal out for hand-ball (70 mins). If this was considered to be deliberate hand ball then Whittaker should have been dismissed, as he had already been booked, but Alty were just thankful that the "goal" had been wiped out.

A Butler shot from 30 yards narrowly cleared the bar (74 mins) but Scott and Poland then played in Thornley only for a defender to make a last ditch interception for Lancaster (76 mins). Craney then shot wide before Brown got a crack in at Coburn at the other end. The entertainment continued at a high level as Poland battled and won a corner from which Sertori's looping header dropped wide (78 mins). Kevin Holliday now came on for Lee Clitheroe for Lancaster (78 mins) before a Craney shot was blocked and a Scott effort from the edge of the box went narrowly over the bar (82 mins). Poland then won a corner which Mark Thornley eventually fielded from Chris Adams, as the Lancaster keeper's counterpart Stuart Coburn enjoyed ten or more minutes of virtual inaction in the Alty goal. A Hulme effort forced a finger-tip save from Mark Thornley but the whistle had gone for an offence (88 mins). As the referee blew his whistle for the end of normal time this meant that, for the third time this season, ninety minutes of football between these evenly matched sides had ended in a 1-1 scoreline. This time, however, there had to be extra time.

The first period of extra time saw Lancaster coming at Altrincham once more and Mark Maddox soon needed treatment after getting in the way of a fierce Lancaster shot as he retrieved the situation following his own skied mis-kick, one of his few mistakes in this game (93 mins). Alty made a double change after 97 minutes, with Dave Swannick and Anthony Hargreaves replacing Danny Murphy and Kevin Hulme. Poland, showing commendable determination in this match, won an Alty corner on the left. The ball came out from this to Hargreaves who lofted his shot from just outside the "D" of the penalty area over the Lancaster bar (99 mins). Brown then won a slightly dubious free-kick against Sertori, 30 yards out. Amusingly Lyons and Potts each feigned to take it and ended up selling each other dummies, with both players running past the dead-ball (100 mins)! Craney then fired over the bar before an error by Hawes saw Whittaker waste a good chance as he advanced into the box, putting in a very poor half-hit effort at Coburn (101 mins). The half ended with Lancaster having had the better of it but the scores still level.

As the first minute of the last period of the game drew to an end, Rod Thornley and Hargreaves combined well and Lancaster keeper Mark Thornley failed to hold the latter's cross, under aerial pressure from Dave Swannick in an unaccustomed forward position. The ball came to Poland who took a measured aim and drilled it home, left-footed, from 10 yards to put Altrincham ahead (106 mins). Amidst his justified celebrations, the scorer went down with cramp. Altrincham now showed good composure by getting the ball repeatedly deep into the Lancaster half to frustrate their opponents attempts to draw level. Then a blistering shot from Hawes went narrowly wide of Lancaster's right upright (110 mins). As everyone awaited the resulting goal-kick, Potts was booked for some reason. Following an offside against them, Lancaster's Holliday was then the fifth Blues' player to enter the book since half-time (111 mins). Lancaster soon won a corner but, shortly after this, Thornley was racing on goal at the other end but was flagged offside. Mark Thornley then had to rush 35 yards, or more, out of goal to kick clear from his advancing Altrincham namesake as Lancaster began to leave holes at the back. Coburn saved well from a low deflected shot before his punt found Rod Thornley who, this time, beat Mark Thornley to the ball in the air, but his header ran wide of goal for a goal-kick (114 mins).

But Thornley was to get his prize moments later when he broke speedily on the right of centre, rounded the keeper and passed across goal to Steve Hawes. As Hawes, only some six yards out, controlled the ball and was about to lash it into the net, his legs were taken from him by Butler. With Hawes in clear pain, Kilbane quite disgracefully dragged the Alty captain by the hands several feet to remove him from the pitch. The centre-back escaped any punishment for doing so but Thornley extracted retribution by sending the Lancaster keeper the wrong way to net his ninth penalty and 21st goal of the season in his 21st start (115 mins).

As the game restarted, a clearly fired-up Kilbane pushed himself forward and he immediately left Chris Adams in a heap after a rugged challenge. Then, confusion reigned as a Lancaster shot was blocked in a packed goalmouth and all at once a dozen or so players piled in to a mass brawl. This lasted only a few seconds and for a moment it looked as if Mr Ilderton might have awarded a penalty to Lancaster though there was no evident reason why he should have done. In fact, when the dust settled, and after consulting his Assistant, the referee sent off the already booked Holliday. Witnesses later reported that the Lancaster man may have raised his elbow against Coburn (116 mins). As the minutes ticked away, Thornley latched on to another clearance and expertly went round the keeper only for Haddow cynically to trip him from behind as he was about to score, to concede another clear penalty and earn himself an early bath (119 mins). Thornley generously stood back and allowed Lee Poland the chance of a hat-trick which he took well with a thumping left foot shot high into Mark Thornley's goal to make the score 4-1. Almost immediately the referee blew the final whistle.

Whilst 4-1 was a flattering final score, Altrincham had grown stronger as the game progressed. Building on the solid work of Maddox, Sertori, Scott and Adams at the back, the Alty midfield had begun to fire on all cylinders only after the start of the second half. Then, Craney and Hulme in particular had begun to assert themselves. However, it was the superb goal by Poland just before the interval that had given the Robins the platform for their success and the young striker went on to show a level of determination and cool finishing during the rest of the game that made this his best game in an Altrincham shirt. This result may have done more for Lancaster's league aspirations than it did for Altrincham but for the time being, all that the Robins' fans want to think about is a good showing against Darlington a week on Saturday (8th December) in Round Two of the FA cup. Darlington lost 7-1 to Scunthorpe last Saturday and had two players, including their captain, sent off and therefore likely to be banned when we play them. Whilst there is still a gulf of two divisions between us and the north-eastern side, we must have a fighting chance of reaching Round Three for the ninth time in the Club's history.