Match Report

This was the first-ever league meeting between these sides at Eton Park, though Burton had won the encounter at Moss Lane earlier this season, two-nil. It was only Altrincham's second league match since October, thanks to their progress in the FA Cup and Trophy. Burton led Alty by 15 points but had played 6 more games before today's kick-off. The unsegregated crowd of 1,712 was the biggest to have watched a UniBond match this season.

This was a highly entertaining game in which Burton took a deserved first-half lead after 19 minutes when Stride firmly headed home a Webster free-kick from left-centre. Altrincham then dominated the opening stages of the second half and got a well-merited equaliser from Craney's firm shot across Duke (58 mins), when the referee played a fine advantage after a bad foul on Thornley in the build-up. Burton finished the stronger side but the Altrincham defence held firm and Coburn was only required to make one top-class save. After the match the Altrincham supporters' coach was attacked by local hooligans and its driver was assaulted, a situation which arose because of stewards' insistence that the coach be removed from the car-park and parked several hundred yards away from the ground.

The Altrincham squad was experimental in that it included three players (Ryan, Taylor and Wills) who were making their first-ever League appearances for Altrincham, whilst a fourth (Furlong) had not completed 90 minutes since his injury at Witton more than 10 weeks ago. Centre-back Taylor played at left-back in place of the injured Adams whilst midfielder Kevin Hulme also missed the game with his hamstring injury. Also still out injured was Jason Gallagher, who undergoes a groin operation on Thursday. Jason was with the Alty squad for this the game as were Anthony Hargreaves and Stuart Locke, who had reportedly been released by the Club some weeks ago. Burton were without midfielder Glasser. Dale Anderson came into the side that had beaten Barrow 5-0 recently in the FA Trophy.

Seen right, Danny Murphy challenges the Burton keeper, Matt Duke, for the ball in a photo reproduced courtesy of Alan Johnson, on whose site there are more pictures of the game.

Both keepers saw action in the first two minutes, with Coburn having to head clear just outside his box and Duke then badly slicing a kick clear to concede a throw. After a Sertori foul on Anderson, Clough tried to repeat the quickly-taken free-kick routine which had brought a goal at Moss Lane but this time his effort was half-cleared out to Wall, whose shot was comfortably held by Coburn, despite a deflection (4 mins). Fouls by Wall on Murphy and by Wassall on Thornley came in quick succession and it became clear that Alty's new signing from US side Portland Timers, Neil Ryan, was to be involved in most of Alty's dead ball situations - throws, corners and free-kicks. But it was following a Hawes free-kick that Murphy got in a header just wide of goal (9 mins). After a delay by the Alty defence in clearing a ball, Burton won a corner on the right through Stride's efforts (10 mins). From this, a shot by the impressive Webster came to the Alty keeper. Following a free-kick for a foul by Sertori on Farrell, Ryan cleared the danger posed by Moore. Maddox too was clearing his lines well before a fine tackle by Ryan stopped Moore. Soon afterwards, however, as a ball came to Moore just inside his own half, the Burton man span expertly past Ryan, who brought him down crudely and received an early but indisputable booking (14 mins). Alty's passing was not all it might have been at this stage and up front Carl Furlong was not getting much involved in the game. From a Hawes mis-kick, Stride, Clough and Anderson contrived to win a corner on their right, which led to another corner on the left side immediately afterwards. This was cleared well by Hawes and from his pass Thornley raced forward on the left side. He played a fine ball inside to Scott who curiously opted to play the ball back rather than take advantage of a clear shooting opportunity from the edge of the box. Thornley was chasing everything up front for Altrincham but when Ryan brought down Moore once again, the crowd bayed for a red card but their side only won a free-kick for the foul (19 mins). However, Ryan's foul was to prove costly for a beautifully curling left-foot free-kick by Webster from some 25 yards out, left of centre, found Stride's head towards the back post. The Burton captain rose to bury a firm header past Coburn from about 10 yards to give his side the lead (19 mins).

Altrincham responded when a neat lay off by Furlong set up a shot for Craney but his low strike from 20 yards out was smothered by Duke (20 mins). Hawes then fed Thornley whose well-hit cross was plucked out of the air by Duke (22 mins). The keeper did less well soon after, planting a free-kick directly into touch. The entertaining half continued with a Burton shot which went narrowly wide (24 mins). Paul Taylor then won a free-kick but complained to the referee that he had been elbowed, which won him few friends in the Burton crowd. From the free-kick by Coburn, Thornley did well and got the ball to Furlong, who was fouled. Ryan's free-kick from 25 yards out went straight into the defensive wall. However, the ball was not cleared and came via Scott and Craney to Hawes, whose well-struck shot from 30 yards whistled narrowly wide of Duke's right upright (26 mins). Burton then won a free-kick, conceded by Hawes's foul, in a position more or less the same as that from which their goal had come. This time Webster's effort was cleared. Hawes, Craney and Thornley then fed Furlong, who gained a corner on the left, taken by Ryan. Play then resumed after treatment needed by Furlong (33 mins). Nice work by Scott set Craney going forwards but he was fouled from behind to win a free-kick. Hawes's free-kick found Sertori at the back post but he could only direct his header at Duke. A crude challenge by Taylor on Moore repaid that player's earlier offence on the defender but the Alty man picked up a booking for his challenge (40 mins). Ian Craney then had a shot blocked (43 mins) as the recent adoption by the UniBond League of the display of an "added time" board was put into practice. A Burton corner was cleared but in the aftermath Scott went down and needed treatment to his left leg before the half closed with Burton maintaining a just about merited 1-0 lead. For a side with so many new faces in it, Altrincham had put in a creditable 45 minutes, even though they may have been less fluent than their hosts.

Steve Hawes was much in evidence in the early stages of the second period and the Alty captain went on to have a fine second half. Furlong's deflected shot from a Murphy pass won an early corner on the right, which Duke caught in the air, from Ryan's flag-kick (48 mins). Ryan, Scott, Taylor, Sertori and Ryan, again, kept the pressure on with a passing move that set Thornley on his way. Rod beat his marker but was then felled to win a free-kick by the right corner. From Ryan's kick, Mark Maddox's header went over the bar (49 mins). Burton may be the team with the least yellow cards in the league this season but they gave away as many free-kicks as they won yesterday, another coming when Scott was brought down, as drizzle now started to fall. Murphy, Hawes, Scott and Craney soon combined to feed Furlong, who was forced left of goal but succeeded in winning another corner. This came out to Hawes whose shot was deflected towards Furlong. As Carl turned to take a swing at it, he collapsed in pain and had to be carried off on a stretcher (55 mins). Following his ten week absence through injury, Carl has yet to complete 90 minutes since his return to action last Saturday as a substitute. Lee Poland replaced Carl up front. Burton at last posed a second-half threat when Anderson turned Taylor and won a free-kick on the edge of the Alty box (57 mins). Though Webster struck a firm free-kick just wide of the post, Coburn had it well covered to his right. After the goal-kick by Coburn, Hawes got the ball to Thornley who, as he advanced and laid off the ball to the right for Poland, was chopped down on the front edge of the box. Referee Short played a fine advantage and the ball was fed out further to the right from where Craney lashed a low, firm shot across the keeper into the far corner of the net for a fine equaliser (58 mins).

Burton's response was an attack which saw Farrell clearly dive in the box, but Mr Short was not fooled. Then Poland did well and fed Thornley who was tackled as he was about to shoot from the edge of the box; a corner resulted on the Alty left (61 mins). Alty continued to have the better of the game at this stage and another Poland-Thornley combination soon produced a right-side corner to the visitors. Ryan's corner curled out of play before reaching anyone. He soon had another chance when from Hawes's prompt, Poland won another corner for Altrincham (65 mins). At the other end, Webster was the focus of many of Burton's best moments in this game and he now fed Farrell, who shot well wide (66 mins). This signalled a recovery by the home side after being under the cosh for the preceding 20 minutes. Webster and Anderson soon fed Farrell, who beat Ryan in the air but his firm header went just over the bar (69 mins). But Altrincham were still playing well and the match now entered its most exciting stage. Craney fed Poland on the right. Poland's fine ball inside found Murphy with space as he advanced into the left of the box. As Murphy chested the ball down the defence closed ranks and only an Alty corner resulted on the left (70 mins). As the sides traded attacks, Burton won a corner, after more good work by Webster forced Sertori to make a rapid clearance at the back. Rain was now pouring down as Burton upped the tempo. An attack on the right yielded a free-kick for hand-ball against Taylor. From Webster's menacing free-kick Mark Maddox did well to hack the ball clear (74 mins). Mark was soon in action again when an Alty attack broke down as Craney was dispossessed and Burton advanced up their left wing. Taylor was then penalised for a foul on Anderson as Alty were pinned back in defence.

Dave Swannick came on for Taylor at left-back (76 mins) and two minutes later the former Manchester City trainee and Trafford player David Wills made his Altrincham league debut in place of Murphy. He took Murphy's place on the left flank and was soon in action, first losing possession but then recovering well to block the ball for a Burton corner on their right (80 mins). Burton then appealed for a penalty, alleging hand-ball against Sertori but the well-placed referee would have none of it (81 mins). The Alty centre-back was a little more fortunate moments later when Farrell went down under his challenge in the box but Thornley soon relieved the pressure by winning a corner at the Burton end. The pulsating second half continued with Altrincham winning a free-kick for a push on Sertori before Bailey replaced Farrell for the Brewers (85 mins). Hawes played a fine ball which almost set Thornley free as Altrincham began to get forward once more. Then Poland once more showed some good control and got the ball to Wills whose sidefooted shot from the edge of the box was only narrowly misjudged (86 mins). Burton's best effort of the half came when Moore shot from 25 yards and Coburn made a magnificent diving save to his left to tip the ball over the bar (87 mins). Maddox was then adjudged to have handled the ball on the edge of the Alty box but for once Webster's free-kick was poor, being cleared by Hawes for a corner. This led to a second corner, conceded by Swannick, from which Wall headed just wide (88 mins). The game ended in a well-earned draw for a makeshift Alty side which included debutants and players less than 100% fit. For the fans it provided excellent entertainment.

As the match drew to its conclusion a Tannoy announcement invited Altrincham fans to proceed straight to their coach at the final whistle. What this announcement omitted to say was that Burton stewards had forced the coach driver, under pain of police action, to remove his parked coach from the club car park and take it some 250 yards away up the road. There it was set upon by a small group of local hooligans. As it waited for the disorientated Alty fans to locate it in the dark street, these locals attacked the it and broke its back light. When the driver went to remonstrate with them he was clearly punched. The coach then retreated back to the car park where the police were called. A half hour delay ensued as statements were taken but the Altrincham manager, coach and chairman all came to lend moral support and in the case of manager Bernard Taylor, also to bring physical sustenance in the shape of a bag of chocolate for the young fans on the coach and a tray of sandwiches and crisps for the other supporters! This was an incident that could have been avoided if the coach had been allowed to stay in its car-park bay. Despite this unfortunate end to proceedings, the Alty fans travelled home content with a fine performance by their team.