Match Report

This was Alty's first home league game for seven and a half weeks and came after just two away league games in that period, neither of which had been won. Today's game was one of only three UniBond matches to survive the day's freezing conditions but the pitch at Moss Lane was certainly in a playable condition. Droylsden had won in midweek in the UniBond Cup and had been showing signs of recovery after their previous poor spell in which they had shipped a large number of goals per game.

This draw was a disappointing start to the Christmas season but it could have been worse as Kevin Hulme's headed equaliser only arrived 16 minutes from the end. The same player's low shot had put the Robins ahead after only 2 minutes of the game but Droylsden's Kerr equalised after Coburn had parried a shot, following a long throw from the left. Two minutes after the break, Lattie headed home whilst unmarked in the box. Altrincham created enough chances to have won but were undone by slack defending either side of half-time and their midfield was not at its best.

Altrincham welcomed back Steve Hawes as captain after a one-match suspension. Kevin Hulme also returned to the side, after injury, and he started up-front alongside Rod Thornley. Paul Taylor was again played at left-back. New signing Neil Ryan retained his place but Dave Wills was only on the bench. Droylsden included four recent former Robins' defenders in the shape of Robert Trees, Adam Farley, James Glendenning and Steve Porter in their squad.

Droylsden started poorly and could have been two down in the first two minutes. After just ninety seconds, Ryan played a ball from the right to Murphy, who was given time to turn and control the it on the edge of the Bloods' penalty area. Unfortunately, Danny lifted his shot narrowly over the bar. From the next attack, however, Alty did take the lead. Maddox played the ball forward to Hawes in midfield and, via Taylor and Craney, the ball ran to Hulme. The former Bury man was to the left of goal some 18 yards out when he struck a low shot across Phillips which the keeper will have been disappointed not even to have touched before it entered the net, though there was a hint of a defelection en route(2 mins). Soon afterwards, play stopped for treatment to Ryan's mouth. Droylsden slowly stabilised their performance by gaining a series of throw-ins.

However, Thornley soon won a corner after getting the better of Trees on the Alty left (8 mins). The corner, by Ryan, then yielded another flag-kick on the other flank. Soon, however, Stuart Coburn had to come out of his area to chest a through ball away from Wright. Ryan then committed a foul on Warner before Sertori strode out of defence and found Hulme, well, to the left of centre. With the assistance of Hawes and Thornley the ball came to Craney, who made space well, but the ball ran to Phillips in the visitors' goal (14 mins). Next, the tall and burly Robert Pell, under a challenge from Taylor, got into the Alty box and forced a good save from Coburn (15 mins) as Droylsden came more into the game after their slow start. Soon after this, Pell became one of the few players this season to get the better of Mark Sertori in a trial of strength and the ball came, as a result, to Lattie whose low shot was fumbled by Coburn but eventually held, to his left (17 mins).

Soon, Glendenning conceded a corner on the Alty left, which the Bloods' keeper held after Hawes had taken the kick. Pell then got in a shot at Coburn after getting past Sertori but the keeper beat it out. However, Sertori must have been carrying an injury for he made a premature departure after 19 minutes, being replaced by Dave Swannick. Dave went to left-back and Taylor moved to his favoured centre-back place. After Murphy had been given too much space, the Alty man got in a shot from 25 yards which went over the bar (20 mins). Then, Pell shot low and slightly wide of goal at the other end (22 mins). Glendenning got away with a chop at Hulme's legs from behind, which necessitated treatment for the Alty midfielder near the centre-line.

However, Taylor's lunge at the Droylsden centre-back moments later was equally deserving of a booking but referee Bennett gave only a free-kick and no caution. The game remained stuck in a mundane rather than exciting category of entertainment as Altrincham failed to press home their early lead. The Alty midfield was having a quiet afternoon, as coach Graham Heathcote instructed his side to be "sharper". His instructions appeared to be heeded for Hulme soon beat Trees but his chip was caught by the keeper (28 mins). Then, Ryan's ball in from the right was won by Murphy's head at the back post and Thornley seized on the pass to strike a shot against the crossbar. After another bad tackle by Taylor, this time on Wright, had again gone without a caution, Murphy won possession. From a subsequent pass by Craney, Thornley advanced inside the box and got in a good shot which Phillips did well to save with his feet (33 mins).

Taylor, who was not having the best of afternoons in his first home league appearance for Altrincham, then allowed Wright to get in a shot at Coburn, which the keeper fielded. Glendenning then took Thornley's legs away from him and the only surprise when Mr Bennett produced his yellow card was that the former Alty centre-back had the nerve to protest his innocence for his third crude challenge of the game to date. But then Ryan produced an equally bad tackle on Warner, near half-way, and he, too, picked up a deserved caution (37 mins).

A long punt by Coburn was then totally missed by Glendenning but as the ball bounced behind him, with Thornley in pursuit, Phillips gathered the ball for the visitors. Glendenning was soon in action at the other end producing a skilful drag-back before shooting in to the side netting of Coburn's goal. As the half drew to a close, Coburn had to be alert to save at the lively Wright's feet near the edge of his box (42 mins). But Hulme then won a corner at the other end, off Lattie.

Ryan wasted the kick before Glendenning was penalised, this time a little harshly, on the edge of his own box. This dead-ball situation came to nothing for Alty but Hulme did soon get in a poke at a ball from Scott but it went for a goal kick. Then, disaster struck when Bradshaw's long throw, from about 25 yards out on the left, was received by Pell who was allowed to get it to Warner, whose firm shot Coburn did very well to save, diving to his left. However, Coburn could not hold the ball and it ran out to Kerr who knocked it past the keeper into the net for the equaliser. There was only just time to kick-off after the goal before the half-time whistle went. Altrincham had had the better of the half but had failed to convert more then one of their chances.

Although there were no player substituions at half-time, th referee gave way to one of his assistants. After the restart, Hulme fed Thornley for a shot which was narrowly wide (46 mins). Kerr then advanced on the right and passed to Trees, who got in a cross, despite the attentions of Hawes, which found Lattie unmarked in front of goal. Lattie had no trouble in heading past Coburn from close range, with the keeper unable to make any move to retrieve his defence's lapse (47 mins). On the resumption of play, Murphy then got the ball forward for Hulme, but he failed to connect with what should have been a goal-bound header (48 mins).

Alty then went through a bad few minutes, having difficulty in finding their own men. Gary Scott uplifted the home fans with a forward surge and shot, which Phillips could not hold, but Hulme could only find the side netting from the rebound (51 mins). Iain Brunskill then replaced the Blood's first goal-scorer, Kerr (53 mins). There was next an unsavoury tangle between Farley and his former captain, Hawes, in which the Droylsden man's boot seemed to connect with the grounded Altrincham man but the referee saw fit only to talk briefly to both parties (57 mins). From Swannick's free-kick, Hulme's stooping header ran to Phillips. Swannick soon had to nip in to head off Pell after the striker had beaten Taylor, and a corner was conceded.

Alty's next attack saw Craney and Ryan combine to give Hulme a header which Phillips saved well down by his left upright (61 mins). After a free-kick for a foul on Pell by Taylor, Murphy and Hulme set Thornley running into the box but he was crowded out. Pell now gave way to a substitution, his place being taken by the former Alty left-back, Steve Porter. However, Porter slotted into left-midfield as Wright and Warner now spearheaded the attack. Phillips then did well to volley clear a menacing 30 yard back pass from a colleague as Alty laboured to create an opening. The former Stalybridge player, Nigel Evans now replaced Lattie (70 mins) before Scott was felled on the edge of the Droylsden box. Thornley put the free kick over the bar at the Golf Road End (71 mins).

Droylsden started to try to wind down the clock and it looked as if they would hold out relatively comfortably as Altrincham lacked incision at this stage. But then Craney fed Murphy, out on the right flank and Murphy's excellent cross found Hulme unmarked to score a headed goal from close range, much like that scored by Lattie for Droylsden at the start of the half (74 mins). The equaliser brought both the crowd and the Altrincham team to life. An Alty corner soon followed from which Maddox headed Ryan's flag-kick narrowly wide. Then a fine probing ball forward from Taylor almost set Thornley free on goal. As the minutes ticked away, Lee Poland replaced Kevin Hulme, alongside Thornley (82 mins). Altrincham continued to press but then Droylsden mounted some late attacks of their own.

Indeed, a mis-header from Taylor led to a late corner for the Bloods. Alty's final chance came after a Swannick free-kick found Murphy who got round the back of the defence but he could find no colleague with his cross (89 mins). The game ended 2-2, with Altrincham now without a league win in their last three league games and this was a disappointing performance after such a fine display at Burton last week. Altrincham had enough chances to have won the game, failed to convert them and were then undone by slack defensive work. The early loss of Sertori clearly did not help things and the midfield as a whole did not play as well as it can. Kevin Hulme was deservedly named Man of the Match.