Match Report

Emley's time-wasting tactics started with their late-arrival for this match and the game kicked off twenty minutes late; the visitors had been held up on their way to the ground by heavy traffic. By the end, many home supporters wished the game had ended twenty minutes early as this was, by a country mile, the worst game in which Altrincham have been involved this season. The visitors set their defensive stall out immediately by playing Bambrook as the loan striker in a 4-5-1 formation and, as Emley hung on to their unmerited 25th-minute lead, they resorted increasingly to spoiling tactics- blatant time-wasting, feigned injuries and general unsporting behaviour.

Referee Blackburn did nothing whatsoever to stamp this out, though the yellow cards which he did award during the match were all merited. However, the indulgent referee could not be blamed for Altrincham's lack of incision at the forward end of the pitch. Whilst the home side enjoyed the lion's share of possession and their adherence to a passing game is to be admired, they currently lack the necessary degree of cut and thrust when going forward. Tinkering with the full-back positions also means that the back four is unsettled and injuries to strikers are placing an unfair burden on Kevin Ellison to produce the goods.

Passing movements frequently broke down before they reached the Emley penalty area and, in desperation, Altrincham threw virtually everyone forward in the closing stages. The predictable then happened and Emley broke away to score a fine, but flattering, second goal in the last minute. This was a victory earned by organisation rather than flair and Moss Lane fans will hope they do not have to witness too many more games like this. On a more optimistic note, today's losses by Accrington and Hyde mean that we are still only four points off the pace, so we should be reasonably satisfied with what is still our best start to a season for some time.

Steve Porter had a good game at left-back at Marine on Tuesday but was omitted today; whether for tactical reasons or because of injury is unclear. Instead, Crowe became our fourth bearer of the number three shirt in six games. The rest of the side remained unchanged from Tuesday night. Stuart Quinn, who has the ability to transform matches, remains out of favour and injuries continued to deprive Mark Ward of his forward triumvirate of Furlong, Chambers and Quayle.

Centre-back Eddie Turkington is recovering from the removal of a toe-nail. Reserve team youngster, Ian Craney, retained his place as substitute, alongside Stu Scheuber and the recovering Furlong, who had played part of this morning's reserve encounter, a 4-4 draw at Runcorn. Steve Morgan, a potential signing from Hull City was present at the game, as were the injured Shaun Goodwin, Leroy Chambers and Mark Quayle.

Emley were without their captain, Steve Nicholson, who has ruptured a tendon in his hand. The fiery Simon Jones replaced him as captain and today he went on to live up to the reputation he earned at Moss Lane when he was one of two Emley players dismissed in the 1998/99 season's game here, which the Robins won 7-1. Emley included ex-Northwich Vics man, Rory Prendergast, in their line-up. Emley pen pictures, kindly provided by Grahame Rowley, are available here.

The opening stages of this game were scrappy and play, sadly, never really got much better as Altrincham failed to score for the first time this season. Although Phil Power showed some nice touches early on, the opening stages were characterised for Altrincham by repeated loss of possession and for Emley by aimless punts upfield. It was a foul on Gary Talbot forty yards from the Emley goal which produced the home side's clearest chance of the game in the seventh minute. Ward's freekick found its way to Ellison and his cross was knocked on inside the box by Maddox, about six yards out. Richard Landon made an uncharacteristic hash of the clear-cut opportunity which resulted and failed to connect with the ball, only some four yards from goal. For Emley, Rory Prendergast, on the right, looked their most lively player but the game continued in its desultory manner. Nicky Wood, in the visitors' right-back position, seemed to have got out of bed on the wrong side and as early as the second minute was arguing with the referee and just about everybody else about an innocuous throw-in. He then tussled with Ellison, conceding a free-kick to Altrincham on the touchline (10 mins). Ward's freekick was cleared and Hawes miskicked a follow-up strike. Ellison again soon made progress and his cross to Gallagher was cleared at the expense of a corner, from which Landon was penalised for hand ball. A long Emley punt upfield led to an interchange between Day, Prendergast and Hatto which was cleared to Ellison, moving forward down the centre of the pitch. However, his ball to Power was just slightly too strong for the forward to control. It was Ellison who was the Robins's main threat and a surging run and low shot brought a fine save from Cuss (15 mins). Bambrook then produced the first of his side's theatrical dives when earning a dubious freekick from a challenge by Maddox; this gave Emley a freekick on their left, near the corner flag. Tonks's low freekick was easily cleared.

As Altrincham pressed forward, Crowe was fouled and the resulting move ended in a screamer from Ellison on the left, which went well wide of Cuss's left post (19 mins). Prendergast, Emley's most potent threat, broke well but shot straight at Coburn shortly afterwards. Mark Ward then allowed himself to get involved in a head-to-head with Darren Day and both players were lectured by Mr Blackburn, but it was Ward to whom the freekick was awarded. The irascible Wood then had his second tantrum of the match about a throw-in and was quite rightly booked (22 mins). Forward moves by both sides broke down without producing shots before Adam Farley fouled Bambrook on the Emley left flank.

Hatto's freekick found the incoming Day, who was unmarked as his stooping header bulleted into the hapless Coburn's net from ten yards out (25 mins). Altrincham continued to move forward but David saw off the next threat with a kick into the adjacent allotments (27 mins). A Ward through-ball then found Power who was clattered in the box without any retribution from the referee. Ward soon initiated another move, via Power (twice) and Talbot, before Hawes sidefooted a shot at Cuss which the keeper saved comfortably (29 mins). The home side's play now picked up some impetus, with Gallagher, Ward and Power combining well before the last-named's pass was hit just a little too strongly for Crowe. When a through ball down the inside-right channel was chased by Power and Jones to the by-line, Jones made no attempt to play the ball and simply dived at the Altrincham player, bundling him over the line. Referee Blackburn, nearby, astonishingly failed to give anything (31 mins). After a Ward, Power and Ellison combination broke down, an Emley attack was comfortably cleared before Hawes was let in by Landon but the Altrincham midfielder was crowded out by defenders (34 mins).

Phil Power, who was showing admirable commitment, produced a fine pass to Crowe but after the full-back had cut inside from the left his cross fell to the keeper. Power was again involved but was judged to have handled the ball when trying to outsmart Jones. A greater threat to Emley's goal arose when Landon and Hawes combined to put Gallagher through the middle but Jason's toe-ender only produced an accomplished save from the advancing Cuss (38 mins). Altrincham's hearts stopped soon afterwards when Gary Talbot dwelt too long and lost possession to Tonks. Lacking immediate support, the Emley number two drifted to the right and danger was averted by the recovering Altrincham defence. However, the dangerous Prendergast almost immediately got free on the left but Wilson made a hash of his cross and a goalkick resulted.

Mark Ward was engaging in "verbals" with the referee at this stage as Landon's pass to Ellison only resulted in a poor, high cross. Ward recovered his composure sufficiently to send a superb ball to Hawes who progressed through the centre but his left-foot shot went just wide of Cuss's right post (41 mins). David inexplicably fell over when in possession and unchallenged and this lapse led to an eleven-touch move which epitomised Altrincham's afternoon; some good passing but little progress towards the opposition goal. With Altrincham still enjoying the majority of possession, Hawes's ball through to Ellison was just behind Kevin's feet and he slipped over in a good position.

Mark Ward's resumption of verbal combat with the referee ended in the 44th minute when Mr Blackburn stopped play and booked the Altrincham player-manager. Emley delivered a warning to the home side just before the interval whistle when, following a freekick 35 yards out, the initial shot came out to Day whose effort was deflected to David whose header went narrowly over the Altrincham bar at the Golf Road end.

David then collapsed with a genuine injury to his left ankle but with no immediately apparent cause. After a lengthy stoppage he hobbled off the field only to return shortly afterwards, for a couple of minutes, before being substituted. The second half degenerated into that kind of match; regular stoppages and interruptions to play occasioned by Emley. Scheuber was soon involved again, feeding Ellison whose progress into the box ended with a low shot which Cuss saved well (49 mins).

In rapid succession Bambrook was penalised twice; firstly for handball (51 mins), then for offside just inside the Altrincham half. David made his painfully slow exit from the pitch to be replaced by Green (52 mins) before Crowe then Gallagher made unproductive crosses into the box. Whilst Scheuber impressed at the start of the second half with his control and forward movement, he gave away possession no less than four times in his first ten minutes on the pitch. However, it was the youngster's fine ball to Crowe which led to Ellison's shot, as he fell, which rose over the Emley bar (56 mins).

Kevin then switched to the right wing for substantial periods of the remaining part of the game. As Altrincham failed to capitalise on a Hawes corner (58 mins) and more or less camped in the Emley half, Stuart Coburn was passing an idle afternoon in the Hale-end goal. A rare break by the visitors was stifled by Gallagher before Ellison yet again embarked on his one-man crusade for an equaliser but this time he was halted at the second attempt as he entered the box. At long last, Bambrook got his side's first second-half shot in at Coburn after he had beaten Talbot but the forward sliced it high and wide (62 mins).

Cuss then blatantly time-wasted at a goalkick but he nearly paid the price when Scheuber and Power worked an opportunity for the former but his well-struck shot cannoned off a defender for a corner, from which Gary Talbot headed narrowly wide. Bambrook and Day then progressed near the centre circle before Hawes was penalised for an alleged foul which was so questionable that the decision caused the midfielder to laugh ironically at the referee. Mr Blackburn stood on his dignity and promptly booked the midfielder (64 mins); whatever their justification, silly bookings like those for Ward and Hawes may cost us dear later in the season.

Emley, intoxicated by their first ventures into the Altrincham half, got the better of Maddox and Bambrook's ball to Day led to a rising shot which did not trouble Coburn. The ineffective Landon was replaced by debutant, Ian Craney, after 68 minutes and the youngster slotted into the midfield, with Ellison joining Power up front. Craney soon prompted an Ellison move which produced a corner on the right. This came to nothing but a lateral run by Power across the edge of the Emley box yielded a freekick which irritated Jones (73 mins). After Ward's freekick had led to a corner, the Emley keeper decided his bootlace was undone.

By the time that Altrincham had brought on Furlong to replace Crowe (75 mins), Cuss was still sitting in his goal fiddling with his footwear. As the crowd bayed for a booking for blatant timewasting, the appropriately named Cuss stood up and started the lengthy process of putting his gloves back on. Had he tried to put the gloves on the wrong hands, he could hardly have taken longer. Incredibly, Mr Blackburn stood impassively allowing this pantomime to continue to its protracted finale as the crowd called for a booking. Emley will win few friends with this sort of insulting charade.

Furlong, who had already played in this morning's Reserves match at Runcorn, soon made his presence felt when, in attempting to chase a ball he had hooked over his own head, he undoubtedly caught an Emley defender. Never far from the action, captain Jones strode purposefully over and utterly predictably pushed Furlong. Even this referee had to book him and did so (78 mins).

As Altrincham now threw everyone forward, Emley began to sniff at openings at the home end and even won what was their first corner of the half after 82 minutes. Then there occurred a few minutes of utter farce. Power tangled with Prendergast, centre-field, near the touchline. The Altrincham man almost certainly caught Prendergast with his arm and the Emley man went down. As Power extricated himself from the tangle, Prendergast suddenly contorted like a man having a convulsion before rolling himself up in aball as if he feared a coup de grace from the Altrincham man. The clear implication of these actions was that Power had trodden on the Emley man's thigh. If there was any substance in this, Prendergast's remarkable reaction completely undermined its credibility. Anyway, the referee took no action - but in this match that was not necessarily a guide to what had really happened. The Emley man rose from his death-throes and ran off to continue the game after lengthy treatment. It was soon Darren Day's turn to indulge in theatricals when he feigned an injury and a foul by Maddox; when the referee showed no interest, Day promptly got up.

With Gary Talbot now joining the strike force, the Emley aggression continued. Ellison was upended by Prendergast and then Day deliberately kicked the ball into the back of the prostrate Altrincham man. Of course, no booking resulted. After yet another foul, this time on Furlong, Scheuber completely wasted the opportunity when his 25 yarder went into the side netting with the box full of waiting players (88 mins). With Altrincham committed upfield, Maddox did well to see off a counter-attack by Bambrook and Prendergast before Craney blasted high over the top at the other end (89 mins). There was still time for a Talbot shot to be deflected to Hawes but he could only direct the ball over the bar before it was time for Jones to collapse theatrically. Then, disaster struck, when Prendergast beat Gallagher on the left wing and produced a fine cross across the box to Bambrook whose excellent header beat Coburn's left hand as it flashed into the net. After Prendergast and Bambrook had been booked for removing their shirts in celebration, play resumed for barely thirty seconds before the final whistle sounded.

This was a hugely disappointing match for Altrincham and a depressing spectacle for the spectators. Altrincham showed plenty of effort but were unable to break down a resolute defence, a scenario which will certainly repeat itself at Moss Lane this season. Apart from Ellison, there is a worrying lack of incisive pace in the side which played today. Hopefully the speedy Quinn will return to address this problem and if Quayle, Furlong and Chambers can recover fully we may have the ability to do better than we did today in such circumstances.

If a side of such limited footballing ambition as Emley can be in second place in the League, it underlines the difficulty that Altrincham will have in getting out of the Unibond Premiership. Although Kevin Ellison was named Altrincham Man of the Match, an award he deserved, none of the players can have taken much pleasure out of their performance in this game.