Match Report

Alty have not met Vauxhall Motors in the League this season and even tonight's League Cup encounter nearly did not take place. Thick fog only cleared shortly before kick-off and with only a couple of minutes to go before the scheduled start the match officials and the two teams' managers were in deep conversation on the pitch discussing its playability. With sub-zero temperatures forcing closure of part of the terracing due to ice and the pitch being hard and frosty, there was obvious concern for the players' safety. The match finally kicked off four minutes late. This was Vauxhall's last game in the Group Stage whereas Alty have yet to play Colwyn Bay. Given the conditions, it was not surprising that the crowd is believed to have been Alty's lowest for a competitive match since the War.

After last Saturday when Alty had their biggest crowd of the season and there was bright sunshine as well as the glamour of the FA Cup, tonight we had pre-match fog, sub-zero temperatures making the pitch treacherous and just 114 paying spectators for this UniBond Cup match. Both goals came from free-kicks. Rod Thornley headed home the first after 48 minutes after Wills had headed on Hawes's free-kick. The second goal was also a header, by Murphy, from a Ryan free-kick after 64 minutes. Altrincham deserved to win but Vauxhall did hit the crossbar in the second half and contributed to as entertaining a game as could be expected in such climatic conditions.

Both sides fielded strong but not full strength sides. For Vauxhall, leading scorer Terry Fearns was on the bench alongside another first teamer, Wayne McDermott. Recently signed loan player Paul Aldridge was in the Motormen's side and his father, John, was in the stand. Also there was Port Vale manager Brian Horton, who was presumably on a scouting mission. Alty were without Jason Gallagher, who still awaits his operation, as well as Ian Craney and Kevin Hulme, whilst Lee Poland was only on the bench. Carl Furlong and Paul Taylor made their first starts since their injury lay-offs, though both made substitute appearances last Saturday. There were two complete newcomers for the Robins. Playing at right-back was Neil Ryan, son of Manchester United coach Jim Ryan, whilst on the bench was David Wills, who has played for Trafford this season. Ryan's international clearance only came through earlier in the day; he had been previously playing in the USA. Alty had three central defenders joining Ryan in the back-four, namely Maddox, Sertori and Taylor, the last-named playing at left-back. The midfield had two players who have generally played at full-back this season in Dave Swannick and Gary Scott, with Steve Hawes and Danny Murphy the other members of the midfield quartet. Furlong and Thornley were paired up front.

Once the match got started it was soon halted for a lengthy period of treatment to Matt Haddrell who seemed to have picked up a facial injury (2 mins). He recovered but the players were necessarily treading carefully in the open stages as they got to grips with the slippery surface and the hard pitch. Indeed, with only ten minutes gone, Mr Ashcroft called together the two captains for a discussion, presumably about the playability of the surface. However, the game continued. Vauxhall were playing some neat passing football, with Lawton much involved on their right side, and they won a corner on their left off Mark Sertori's header.

This was cleared by Ryan before Alty won a goalkick which was well taken by Mark Maddox, rather than Coburn, as was the case with several such kicks throughout the game. Soon, Spellman sold Murphy a dummy and got in a shot but it went comfortably over the bar (15 mins). A flick-on by Furlong nearly got Murphy in on goal at the other end but Holmes was alert and got to the ball first. However, the Vauxhall keeper spilled the ball when next in action but it ran safely away from the incoming Thornley. As the twenty minute mark approached, Altrincham were beginning to get going and both Gary Scott and Danny Murphy were much involved in Altrincham's forward movements. In fact, Scott soon got in a good shot as he slipped on the tricky surface, following some good approach play involving Murphy (21 mins).

Maddox and Sertori were dealing well with any movements towards the other end, whilst Paul Taylor also showed a number of good touches as he sought to make advances on the left. Newcomer Neil Ryan also had a promising start on the right. After Carl Furlong had been treated following a foul by Lynch, Thornley's free-kick found the keeper's arms before a shot from Stanhope went wide at the other end. The advancing Scott then had another shot at goal which reached Holmes rather suddenly after seeming to pass through Haddrell's legs. Altrincham were now getting the upper hand and won a corner through the combined work of Scott, Murphy and Swannick.

Vauxhall are current leaders of the UniBond Fair Play League but a foul on Furlong prompted the Alty striker to some injudicious pushing of the offender which Mr Ashcroft handled by lecturing the Altrincham man (30 mins). Next, Ryan did well on the right but his cross was cleared and Vauxhall responded with an attack which ended with Scott surging out of defence for 30 yards before being crowded out by three opponents inside the Vauxhall box (36 mins). After the Alty defence had half-cleared the ball three times in quick succession, Lawton produced a testing low cross across the Alty box from the right wing which somehow evaded Young, who was free at the back post (39 mins).

End to end play continued with a Swannick lay off to Hawes, but the Alty captain's shot from 25 yards went wide (40 mins). Then, Ryan tried his luck from similar range with a dipping shot which nevertheless cleared the cross bar. As Alty finished the half well, Thornley got past Lynch but could not find Furlong with his final pass. Next, Haddrell was penalised for holding Thornley and the victim took the free-kick himself but it was cleared. The half ended goalless but the players had done well so far to produce a competitive game in very difficult weather conditions.

Altrincham introduced young Trafford player David Wills on the right side of midfield at half time, in place of Gary Scott, with Dave Swannick moving inside to accommodate him. It took just three minutes for the blond-headed Wills to have an impact. A push on Thornley yielded a free-kick, to the left of the pitch, some 20 yards out. Steve Hawes's well-flighted free-kick found the head of Wills, the shortest man on the pitch, on the fringes of the penalty area and he nodded it diagonally to the left and more deeply into the box, where Thornley headed it into the net from close range. Rod celebrated with his customary cartwheel (48 mins).

Soon, Swannick had a shot from 25 yards but this went wide before Aldridge's feed found Young for the visitors and, though he turned neatly, Young aimed narrowly wide of Coburn's goal (52 mins). Swannick then earned Graham Heathcote's approval for closing Aldridge down quickly as he aimed for goal and the Alty midfielder's attentions caused the shot to go over the bar (53 mins). Mark Maddox then had a busy spell, clearing the Alty lines twice, after again revealing his reliability as a goal-kicker in place of Stuart Coburn. A long pass from Dave Swannick to Steve Hawes was relayed back to Paul Taylor and then on to Danny Murphy, who cut in well from the wing to feed Rod Thornley. Unfortunately this promising move broke down with a poor final pass.

After Wills had survived having the ball accidentally kicked into his face, the other newcomer, Neil Ryan advanced strongly before interchanging passes with Carl Furlong and then being crowded out by a posse of defenders (59 mins). Ryan was then involved again when he took a right-sided free-kick into the box where Murphy produced a skilful flying header, which the keeper saved well (61 mins). Vauxhall's respite was not long-lasting. Two minutes later, Spellman fouled Furlong and again Ryan took the free-kick from the right side, some 18 yards out. In a repeat of his earlier effort, Murphy got on the end of the well directed kick and from a position towards the back post, he headed it downwards into the net (64 mins). Furlong had a good chance to make it 3-0 almost immediately but dwelt on the ball and was closed down.

The main danger for Alty in this period came when a right wing cross evaded Sertori's head and Young headed it firmly at Coburn. However, the visitors were now pressing to get back in the game as Altrincham slightly took their foot off the pedal. After the ball had run out of play near the half way line for an unthreatening Vauxhall throw-in, Carl Furlong deliberately kicked the ball away to earn a fifth booking of the season, which he will no doubt now regret as being totally unnecessary (69 mins). As his name was taken, the Vauxhall leading scorer Terry Fearns came on as a substitute. He was immediately involved in a neat Vauxhall move with Lynch and Young, which ended with Young smashing a shot off the underside of the bar from where it rebounded to safety for Altrincham (70 mins).

Following his booking, Furlong was withdrawn and replaced by Lee Poland (72 mins). A shout from Mark Sertori alerted the Alty bench to the fact that Paul Taylor was struggling with a knock and could not continue. As a result, Anthony Hargreaves came on in his place and Alty now resorted to a three-man last line of defence. Vauxhall enjoyed more of the possession at this stage and won a corner after Wills had done well to close down Aldridge (83 mins). Hargreaves's trip on Lynch gave Vauxhall a free-kick a couple of yards outside the Alty box but Young's resulting firm shot went wide (88 mins). The game then ended with victory still leaving Altrincham in fourth place in the Group 5 table. A win against Colwyn Bay at Moss Lane next Tuesday could take them into second place and a place in the President's Cup.

The players, groundstaff and officials did well to keep this game going through the full ninety minutes given the adverse weather conditions and both sides behaved sensibly on a pitch where a bad tackle could have been very damaging. Alty's two newcomers, Ryan and Wills gave good accounts of themselves and the returning injured players, Taylor and Furlong also had some good moments though neither played the full ninety minutes. Whether Taylor's injury is a recurrence of his ligament injury is not clear. As well as Taylor, both Scott and Swannick were not played in their most common positions but both contributed well, with Hawes and Murphy, to the midfield effort. Despite the unfamiliar personnel in the Alty side and the unaccustomed positions of some of the familiar faces, this was a very satisfactory team performance, which was boosted by solid defending from Maddox, Sertori and Coburn. Vauxhall's League fire power was not much in evidence tonight but, no doubt, this will pose a greater threat to Altrincham when the sides lock horns for the last two scheduled League games of this season, home and away to each other in late April and early May. It might be a bit warmer then, too.