SCORERS: ALTRINCHAM: Hay (42); CITY- Goater (11, 78), Etuhu (11), Shuker (30, 86), Wright-Phillips (41, 68)

The Robins played only a half of their last game's starting line-up and employed a 3-5-2 formation rather than their normal 4-4-2. The starting line-up was: Coburn, Gallagher, Wakefield, Glendenning, Turkington, Ward, Hawes (capt), Craney, Furlong, Hay and Scheuber. Both sides had an army of substitutes. For Altrincham these included Lee Allen, a nippy forward whose release for this game was faxed from Enfield just before the kick-off. The other home subs were Landon, Power, Crowe, Thomas and McMahon.

Altrincham started well but City went ahead after Scheuber had been fouled in the City half but no free-kick awarded. City broke immediately forward and Goater sidefooted home (11 mins). Within thirty seconds Alty conceded a sloppy second goal when Etuhu got a free shot from close in on the right of the box (11 mins). City looked sharp when going forward but Altrincham were unlucky when Hay went round the keeper but was fouled and only a corner awarded (27 mins). However, City got a fortunate third when Shuker's shot from 20 yards was deflected off a defender and Coburn was left unable to make a clean save at the foot of his right post and the ball crept through his hands into the net (30 mins). Goater played the ball forward to a possibly off-side Wright-Phillips for the fourth (41 mins) but Altrincham responded with Hawes playing a ball forward to Hay who finished well from inside the box (42 mins). Furlong then missed a straightforward chance after Scheuber had put him through before half-time.

Alty brought on six subs and City brought on four at half-time. For Altrincham, Allen, Scott, Crowe, Power, Otis Thomas and keeper, Ryan McMahon came on to replace Gallagher, Ward, Craney, Furlong, Hay and Coburn. Scott went into midfield, whilst Crowe came in at right-back. Allen played up front, aided by Thomas and a roving Power.

After 57 mins City brought on another sub for Granville. After an hour Landon came on for Wakefield, who was making his first-team debut. As Landon went to centre-back, Turkington moved to the left of the back line. City's fifth came when Goater's cross was bundled in by Wright-Phillips after a flap at the ball by McMahon (68 mins).

The same player struck the bar two minutes later before an Otis Thomas run ended with a save at his feet by Hodgson (75 mins). A loud cheer went up as Goater got goal number six, a header from Crooks's cross from the left (78 mins). This goal punctuated three corners for Altrincham and soon after it Craney reappeared instead of Glendenning. Although Altrincham enjoyed a lot of the play in the last ten minutes, Shuker scored a seventh off the cross bar with four minutes to go. In short, City were just a class above an Altrincham side which was itself not at full strength.

For City, Goater came through his trial well but Wright-Phillips was particularly impressive. For the Robins, it was an opportunity to try out Lee Allen, who showed some nice touches, and for reserve full-back Neil Wakefield to get a taste of first-team action.

Jason Gallagher and Eddie Turkington were also given 45 minutes to recover their fitness after injury and the Altrincham coffers gained revenue from a crowd that was probably around the 400 mark. The goal tally made it 19 goals for Altrincham fans in three matches since last Saturday.