Match Report

SUMMARY

This was not an outstanding performance by Altrincham who laboured for eighty minutes before cruising for the final ten. Too many passes went astray, either through misdirection or poor control by the recipient and a relatively ordinary Blyth Spartans side were allowed to get on level terms after Murphy had scored just before the interval.

In fact, the visitors had the better of the early period after the interval and it looked as if Altrincham would lose ground on the leaders by only drawing this game. However, with ten minutes to go, an excellent flick-on by Dickie Landon set Hay free and despite having an unhappy game up to this point, the on-loan striker finished well this time. Altrincham then played their best football of the match and a third goal came, with two minutes to go, when Hay flicked the ball on for Jason Gallagher to round the keeper and score at the Hale End.

But for the replacement of Ward by Jason Gallagher as substitute, this was the same Altrincham line-up for the third game in succession. Gallagher was returning after injury at Worksop. For the visitors, Glen Robson was absent.

Although Altrincham enjoyed the better of the opening stages, the overall standard of play was scrappy. Despite their early dominance it was Coburn who was the first of the keepers called into action as he came out of his area towards the corner to head clear from the advancing Andy Hay (3 mins). Both sides were misplacing passes or failing to control those passes which were accurately played. In this low-key start, Danny Murphy was probably the most effective of the home team. However, Blyth won an early corner off Scott (9 mins) which Coburn dropped but the defence got the ball away safely.

After Hay had lost possession, Coburn again had to race from goal to clear, this time from Shaun Collins. Altrincham's most threatening move to date came when a deep Scott cross evaded Burke, who looked unhappy on crosses throughout the match. Scott's ball dropped beyond the left-hand post but was cleared. The extent to which Altrincham were under-performing was confirmed when even Steve Hawes mis-hit a pass wildly into touch (11 mins). Coburn was yet again called upon to sweep up a loose ball at the back as Blyth opted to pump clearances forward.

Inside the centre-circle, Perry was fouled by Talbot and following the free-kick, Porter mis-kicked inside his own area allowing Evans a clear shot which he put badly wide from ten yards (12 mins). Things improved slightly when Craney and Porter combined well to set up Furlong but as the striker advanced inside the box he was pulled up for off-side (13 mins). Soon after this, Scheuber fed Alex Hay but his left-foot shot was narrowly wide, although it was not hit as cleanly as it should have been (15 mins). After giving away possession Furlong soon did better but headed over the bar. Ian Craney then produced the best shot of the game so far when he struck from outside the penalty box, forcing Burke to dive and tip the ball round the post for a corner (17 mins).

This move had started with Coburn and the ball was then played via Porter and Hawes to Craney in a rare flowing move. Burke missed the corner but escaped with a goal-kick. Another sustained passing movement involving Furlong, Craney, Scheuber, Hay, Porter and Talbot ended with Murphy knocking the ball forward to the Blyth keeper. However Blyth responded well when Dunkerley played the ball deftly to Collins, whose 30-yarder forced Coburn to dive to his left to hold (19 mins).

The referee annoyed the home support by stopping play for an Altrincham free-kick when Murphy had slipped the offender in the centre-circle. The free-kick led to no more than a Blyth goal-kick before Hay's pass to Furlong resulted in a volley well over the bar (22 mins). Two thirty-yarders from Hawes soon followed but both were very wide of the target (23 and 26 mins). Yet again Coburn had to race off his line as Blyth's long through balls caused the Altrincham back-line more discomfort than they should have done. This time the keeper had to turn his back to clear the ball to avoid handling outside his area. Play moved to the other end where Hawes and Porter got the ball to Murphy. He cut in from the left and although he got hold of his shot well it curled much too high over Burke's goal. Altrincham were still giving away possession too often before Glendenning was fouled, reacted stupidly and received a warning from Mr Coward (28 mins). Hay wasted a good opportunity after Murphy had headed on the free-kick by failing to control the ball properly when in a good position. Porter prompted Hay into a pass to Craney whose well-struck effort obliged Burke to dive at full length to his right to concede a corner (30 mins).

Again the keeper missed the cross but this time his ire was justified as he did appear to be impeded. Blyth then threatened when Gary Scott was dispossessed and Innes's cross from the left required a good save by Coburn, diving at the feet of Evans, who came off worse and required treatment (32 mins). Hawes next found Furlong, following a pass from Craney, but the number nine miscontrolled the ball and Forster cleared at the cost of a corner. Talbot got contact on the corner with his head but it came off a defender for another flag-kick, this time on the Alty left. Burke yet again flapped at the ball and it fell for Furlong who executed an impressively acrobatic bicycle kick which flew narrowly wide of the Blyth left-hand post (37 mins). Innes replied with a long shot at Coburn which bounced awkwardly just in front of the keeper, but he held it cleanly.

A number of misplaced passes were traded before Scheuber was harshly judged to have handled the ball in centre-field. The well taken free-kick from some forty yards, required Talbot to concede a corner on the Blyth left. This was poorly taken and from the break, Hawes found Hay in space. Instead of laying the ball off to the unattended Furlong, to his left, Hay kept possession and ran into a brick wall, losing possession. After Scheuber had fouled Evans, some thirty yards out from Coburn's goal, Talbot cleared Little's free-kick. Williams tried his luck from distance but missed the target by the proverbial mile before Danny Murphy won a corner off Collins soon after this, following good work by Scheuber.

The uneasy Burke dropped Hawes's kick. However, the referee awarded him a somewhat dubious free-kick (44 mins). Just as the half looked to be drifting to a goalless conclusion, Hawes found some space on the right and crossed to Murphy. He struck the ball into the net, just inside Burke's right-hand post, but the Alty man did not hit his shot as cleanly as he might have done and the keeper probably should have done a better job of keeping it out. In the remaining few seconds of the half Murphy cut in from the left and fed Hay, who slipped, but the ball came to Porter whose cross was poor. Despite the amount of incident described above, the first half was generally very disappointing as regards the standard of passing and ball control from both sides.

Coburn collected Innes's cross to end Blyth's first move of the half, which had been prompted by Evans. Altrincham continued to misplace their passes as the half began and Coburn was soon having to take another Blyth cross, aimed at Dunkerley by Forster from the left, as the visitors started the half with obvious determination. The goal-scorer, Murphy, was removed and replaced in midfield by Jason Gallagher after 49 minutes but Blyth continued to enjoy the better of the exchanges. However, Evans's 25-yarder was the best shot that they could muster and this was saved fairly routinely by Coburn, diving to his right (51 mins).

Another Altrincham substitution followed on 53 minutes with Landon replacing Furlong up front. At the same time Hilton replaced Blyth's Evans. Glendenning allowed Andy Hay to get behind him but Talbot made a saving tackle before Coburn was forced to save at full stretch to his left (56 mins) as Blyth maintained the initiative. Glendenning and Talbot then allowed Andy Hay to get the better of them again but as the ball ran to Perry, Coburn dashed out to intervene. Glendenning was having a torrid time and almost immediately made a hash of things again but the ball ran to Coburn. It was not until almost the hour mark that Altrincham got in a decent shot in the second half, when after Alex Hay had missed a header, Hawes produced an effort that required Burke to get down well to save. Craney next fashioned an opening but his long-range shot was very well wide of goal.

As so often in the first half, Coburn had to race out of goal to clear once more and the ball went upfield where Burke, likewise, had to come out to compete with Hay for possession. The Altrincham man unnecessarily fouled the keeper who would otherwise have been in potential difficulty, stranded outside his area (60 mins). Following a throw on the left, Innes got the better of Craney and Glendenning nearly deflected the ball past Coburn but the keeper reacted well to concede no more than a corner. Although the corner was overhit and cleared, Scheuber lost possession soon afterwards. Andy Hay took advantage of Glendenning's hesitation and got past the covering Talbot to score an equalising goal which Blyth's second half performance had merited (62 mins).

Immediately afterwards, Glendenning was far too casual and gave away possession before a Blyth free-kick from half-way was allowed to run almost to the by-line where Innes threatened to capitalise on it. However, Coburn dived bravely and got caught by the Blyth man as the ball span out for a corner (64 mins). Following lengthy treatment, Coburn resumed as the visitors continued to keep Altrincham on the back foot. After 67 minutes Chandler replaced Innes before the sides exchanged unproductive moves. Hay continued to have an unhappy match when his cross from Porter's and Scheuber's prompting went behind the goal. Worse was to come when a fine defence-splitting ball from Craney set Hay free on goal. The blond striker sidefooted badly wide of the goal from 15 yards as Burke advanced to close him down (69 mins).

Blyth's last substitute, Wrightson, replaced Dunkerley (70 mins). Successive fouls on Glendenning and Hawes allowed Altrincham to move forward but Porter's final cross was poor. Then Chandler briefly threatened the Alty goal after Gallagher had been adjudged to have fouled Andy Hay. The succession of substitutions continued with Glendenning giving way to Adam Farley at centre-back (74 mins). Blyth won most of the aerial balls into their defence but Landon won a flick on in the air which Burke kicked clear as Hay closed in (76 mins). Altrincham put together a belated passing movement but it ended with Hawes over-kicking the ball to the keeper.

However, this sparked another move up the right where Craney's ball to Scott was relayed to Hay on the right wing. His cross was taken by Burke just in front of Landon, six yards from goal (78 mins). A Coburn free-kick from the back came through to Hawes but he shot wide from a narrow angle. After another move had broken down with Scheuber, the ball came back to Coburn whose punt upfield was knocked on well by Landon to Hay who got the better of the advancing Burke, to the left side of the Altrincham attack. Hay's shot just had enough power to cross the line of the unguarded net as a defender rushed back to try to clear (80 mins). The goal lifted Altrincham and soon Hay, who had had a disappointing game till he scored, played the ball to Gallagher who unfortunately slipped and lost possession.

Although the previous five minutes had belonged to Altrincham, Blyth almost grabbed a quick equaliser. Scott was harshly penalised after winning a header just outside his penalty area. Little's free-kick was heading for the bottom corner until Coburn dived to his right and held it cleanly at the foot of the post. However, his impetus and the need to avoid crashing into the post carried him behind the goal-line. Fortunately for Altrincham he managed to keep his hands and the ball in front of the line and the well-placed referee waved play on after giving the motionless keeper and ball a long hard look (84 mins).

Altrincham's keeper had a busy and painful afternoon for he was soon in the wars again. After Andy Hay had fed Hilton, Coburn caught the latter's looping cross but felt awkwardly onto another player and was injured. During the stoppage for treatment Steve Porter was announced as the Man of the Match. Although Blyth continued to try for an equaliser, Altrincham were now belatedly on top and finished off the game when Hawes played a fine cross ball to Hay on the right wing. He flicked the ball on skilfully to the advancing Gallagher who rounded the advancing Burke and knocked it into the empty net (88 mins). Gallagher had another half chance shortly afterwards but the presence of a defender limited the power of his effort. The game ended just after a Landon volley had gone well over the bar from 12 yards.

Although Altrincham won comfortably in the end, there were long periods of the game when the home crowd was quiet as movements broke down due to misdirected passes or sub-standard ball control. Altrincham might have paid a higher price for these failings than they did against an attack which had scored only one goal in its previous eight outings. Coburn had a busy game though a lot of his action was the consequence of hopeful rather than skilful lobs forward from Blyth which caused more trouble than they should have done to the Altrincham defence on several occasions.

Steve Porter deserved his Man of the Match as the customary recipient Steve Hawes was not as conspicuous as usual, though still hard-working. Few players, apart from Porter, Murphy and Coburn enhanced their reputations today but it was good to have Jason Gallagher back to fitness and scoring a rare goal. Glendenning had his worst game since coming into the side, if the sending off on Monday is discounted and little went right for Hay until he scored. Altrincham remain third as all their rivals at the top also won their games.