Match Report

SUMMARY

Flashback:Ellender heads clear in the FA Cup clash at the Bower Fold last season.

Stalybridge came into this match on the back of fifteen games without defeat, whereas Altrincham were recovering from a 0-3 defeat by Mossley and also had in their memory the three-part cup-defeat against Celtic last year. Indeed, the weather conditions for last night's match recalled that last encounter at the Bower Fold- strong winds and lashing rain.

However, this time the wind was a little less strong and was not a telling factor in the result. Stalybridge had the better of the first twenty minutes and should have scored through Sullivan after sixteen minutes but the second half saw Altrincham as the better side, though Stalybridge still had their chances. Overall, a draw was probably a fair result and one which leaves Altrincham third in the table.

Altrincham fielded an inexperienced team with newcomers Alex Hay (from Tranmere) and Gary Scott (from Leigh RMI) making their debuts, alongside James Glendenning who made his first start, at centre-back, after two League games as substitute. Ian Craney made only his second League start and Steve Porter his fifth, whilst the bench included Michael Garrity (3 League starts this season), Leroy Chambers (1 start) and Dickie Landon (4 starts). Barry Crowe and Phil Power were again omitted, whilst Mark Ward, Jason Gallagher and Eddie Turkington remained sidelined through injury. Carl Furlong was out with a chest infection.

Altrincham kicked off towards the Golf Road end with a strong wind and the recently started rain behind them. With fouls on both Scott and Ellison inside the first forty-five seconds, and a further bad tackle by Ward on Ellison after four minutes, it looked as if the game might be overly physical and although Stalybridge made their presence felt throughout the match these early fears thankfully did not materialise. After this unsatisfactory opening, Ellison won a corner on the left (5 mins) following an Altrincham free-kick. This came to nothing before both number nines, McNeil and Hay, showed some early hints of their skills, with the Altrincham debutant getting in a cross, albeit overhit in the windy conditions, from the left.

Following the fourth foul by Stalybridge in the opening seven minutes, Hay almost got on the end of the resulting free-kick in the penalty area. Steve Hawes's determination won back the ball after Scheuber had lost it and his feed to Ellison led to a shot which was blocked at source by a defender (8 mins). After the former Altrincham man, Matt McNeil, had wasted good possession Stalybridge won a free-kick for a foul on Jones 25 yards from goal. Following treatment to Jones, the dead-ball kick went curling wide of Coburn's upright (11 mins). Gary Scott was then tripped and, although the resulting kick eventually came to Hay, his header was cleared by the visitors' defence. Jones then knocked Hawes out of the way before himself being awarded a somewhat dubious free-kick by Mr Morbin in the centre of the pitch (12 mins). A second Stalybridge free-kick followed for a foul on McNeil but Coburn ended any threat by diving on the ball on the touchline at the left-hand side of his goal.

The broken rhythm of the opening stages continued with a foul on Talbot by McNeil on the outer edges of the Altrincham penalty area. From the free-kick, Farley's pass to Craney was relayed to Hay whose shot was deflected for a corner on the Altrincham left (15 mins). Although this corner was unproductive, Stalybridge soon gave the ball away to Farley. However, the Altrincham move broke down and a ball played forward towards the Altrincham goal tempted Coburn to rush out of goal. The keeper was beaten to the ball and left stranded, with a defender, on the edge of his box as the speedy Sullivan rounded them.

With an open goal beckoning, Sullivan somehow contrived to shoot the ball significantly to the right of the empty net from a position to the left of goal, about ten yards out (16 mins). After this major let-off, Altrincham went to the other end but Ellison could only get in a weak header, under pressure, which fell to Gary Ingham in the visitors' goal. Stalybridge came back and Sullivan sought to atone for his miss with a ball to McNeil, but his shot from twelve yards was blocked. Stalybridge soon tried again but this next move ended with a weak and wide shot. Stalybridge manager Phil Wilson's incessant bawling from the touchline was annoying the home fans but even the man-mountain, Martin Filson, seemed to have had enough of it when he told his manager to calm down. In contrast the Alty bench remained quiet throughout the game.

The rain now stopped falling but the strong wind continued to blow as the visitors continued in the ascendant. Nevertheless, Alex Hay did manage to get a header in on goal but this posed little threat to Ingham (21 mins). Further relief came when Talbot was fouled by Sullivan in centre-field and the Altrincham captain's long free-kick came off a Stalybridge head for a corner. This was to be the first of three successive corners from Kevin Ellison, two from the right and one from the left. Those from the right, towering in-swingers from Kevin's left foot, were particularly threatening. The first of the three was punched out by Ingham, the second headed off the line and the third was cleared after being flicked on by an Altrincham head (26 mins).

At the other end, McNeil was fouled before Glendenning was obliged to clear a long ball by outpacing an attacker as they both hurried towards Coburn's goal (29 mins). Tony Sullivan exaggerated his reaction to a minor foul by Porter and this achieved the result of a booking for the Altrincham left-back (30 mins). Steve Hawes let Mr Sullivan know what he thought of his actions.

Gary Talbot did splendidly to head a swirling high ball back to Coburn before Hay got free on the right and his cross found Ellison who succeeded in winning a corner on the Altrincham right. Yet another difficult inswinger came in from Ellison's flag-kick and Ingham did very well to catch it cleanly (34 mins). However, Ingham was less assured when he miscontrolled a ball with his feet and had to hack it into touch as Alex Hay rushed in on him (37 mins). Altrincham were now enjoying a measure of supremacy in a game which overall had been fairly evenly balanced up to this stage. Not for the first, or the last, time the referee missed a clear foul but when Scheuber was dumped on the ground and Martin Filson lifted the injured and prostrate Altrincham man off the floor, even Mr Morbin had to act. The Stalybridge number five was quite rightly booked (37 mins). After treatment for Scheuber had been completed, Craney's free-kick from 35 yards out was played to Scheuber who neatly got past a defender but then shot well over the bar. This was mirrored by McNeil's long shot at the other end, which went well wide (38 mins).

The half ended as it had begun with a succession of Stalybridge fouls. Firstly, after Scheuber had given the ball away, a foul on Porter went unpunished allowing Stalybridge to win two successive corners. Scott was then fouled from behind by Bauress, who was fortunate to evade a booking (40 mins). Sullivan again fouled the unfortunate Porter and once more the referee chose to ignore it before he awarded a free-kick to Ward. However, the man in black did see Parr's bad foul on Farley near the half-way line, which left the right-back in need of treatment.

Parr joined Filson and Porter in Mr Morbin's book (42 mins). Farley recovered but almost immediately he lost possession to Sullivan; however, Jones contrived to fall over inside the box as he received the ball from his colleague (44 mins). An Altrincham passing movement, involving Porter, Hawes, Talbot, Glendenning ended when Craney was dispossessed by Sullivan. He passed to McNeil who played the ball wide to Ward. As Talbot headed the full-back's cross away, he was fouled (44 mins). The half ended as Scheuber was dispossessed after taking too long to decide what to do with the ball. The first forty-five minutes had been entertaining in spite of the poor weather and an even scoreline was a fair reflection of the proceedings.

Scheuber started the second half in a much better way by back-heading the ball to Craney whose shot from distance produced a good save by Ingham (46 mins). The rain had started to fall again, combined with a strong wind, which was now veering between blowing directly down the pitch from the Hale End towards blowing across the pitch from the Moss Lane side. Stalybridge won an early corner on their left, which Bauress took and Coburn palmed away. After the referee had awarded a free-kick to Altrincham for a foul, Kevin Ellison was also fouled before play could be stopped for the first offence.

Hawes's free-kick was cleared (48 mins) before the sides traded throw-ins. From the visitors' throw by Locke, on the Popular Side, Bauress got in a good shot which just cleared the bar (51 mins) and soon afterwards, Kevin Parr's effort went narrowly wide. Glendenning beat McNeil to a through ball to stifle any other immediate threat from Celtic's next move. Mr Morbin missed yet another foul on Scheuber before eventually awarding an offence the other way (54 mins) as Stalybridge continued to enjoy the better of the play at this stage. Alex Hay then came to life again and a long passing move, via Farley, Glendenning, Craney, Porter, Hawes and Scott ended in a goal-kick for the visitors. After Glendenning was caught holding Sullivan's shirt ten yards outside the box, slightly left of centre, Bauress fired in a great free-kick which Coburn did magnificently not only to stop but also to hold cleanly (57 mins). Parr's trip on Hawes went unnoticed before Scott and Hay combined well, as they were to do several times before the end of this match. This time, however, the move ended in a cross from Hay which was just too long for Ellison.

Successive Altrincham and Stalybridge moves broke down before Ellison provided a memorable moment as he ran across the edge of the penalty area from left to centre, evading defenders, before getting in a firm shot which Ingham did well to parry clear (61 mins). Altrincham then replaced Stu Scheuber by Leroy Chambers (62 mins) and Ellison was moved back into midfield, leaving Chambers and Hay up front. Altrincham had a worrying moment when the previously impeccable Glendenning slipped and let in Sullivan but Farley got in the way to concede a corner (63 mins). After a quietish first half, Gary Scott was now flourishing and an interchange with Hay down the centre-right ended only when the former Leigh man miscontrolled the ball after he had got to the by-line to the right of goal (63 mins).

Chambers's nice control soon set up a long shot for Hawes but, under pressure, he poked the ball well over the bar. Stalybridge responded and forced the Altrincham defence into a spell of pinball as the ball ricocheted off defenders in a series of half-clearances (65 mins). The immediate danger was cleared for a throw on the Stalybridge left about 20 yards out from Coburn's goal and play was halted for treatment to Glendenning. Altrincham were then subjected to three almost identically prodigious throws from more or less the same spot by Stuart Locke. Each of his efforts landed deep in Coburn's goalmouth, aided by the wind- the last effort was back-headed over the bar by Filson.

After these hairy few minutes, Altrincham's Chambers was fouled by Filson and it was not long before Leroy was the victim of another foul, this time by Locke. Neither of the resulting free-kicks produced anything. Chambers was then involved in another incident when, after being played in by Porter, a Stalybridge hand appeared to handle the ball in the penalty area. Locke was very fortunate not to be booked when he first fouled Ellison and then pushed him (72 mins). Hawes's free-kick was cleared and Stalybridge's Sullivan set up Parr for a shot which went behind the goal (73 mins). Much better was Hay's rasping 20 yarder which Ingham did well to tip over as it arrowed towards the top left-hand corner of his goal (74 mins). This chance had come after Gary Scott's pass to Glendenning had led to a fine ball from Hawes, wide to Porter. His pass eventually fell to the advancing Hay who was unlucky not to open his account on his debut.

Ellison's corner was cleared before Locke produced yet another long throw from the visitors' left. Although this was cleared, the ball came to Bauress who, from twenty-five yards connected firmly but seemed to have sent his shot too high. However, in the swirling wind, Coburn watched the ball vigilantly and did very well to tip it over the bar as it dropped at the last minute towards his top left-hand corner (76 mins).

Ellison blocked the corner at the expense of a second flag-kick which Coburn saved from a Stalybridge header. Hay and Scott again combined at the Hale end for the latter to win an Altrincham corner (77 mins). This kick produced nothing but a Stalybridge breakaway up the right wing, where Porter was beaten, and McNeil got in a good effort at Coburn. Moments later, Coburn came wide out of his goal to clear but failed to find touch against the gusty wind, the ball falling to a Stalybridge man near the half-way line. Fortunately Coburn was able to recover his position between the posts before Celtic could take advantage.

Shortly after this, Bauress yet again evaded any censure, other than a free-kick award against him, for a foul on Hay but Farley's kick only found the goalkeeper. The end to end play continued with Celtic being caught offside before another impressive and slick combination between Scott and Hay was stopped by the referee's whistle for an offence on the edge of the box, whose nature was not very evident, to the home crowd at least. Parr knocked a long shot well over the bar to remind Altrincham that they were not having everything their own way just after Nigel Evans had come on to replace Matt McNeil (81 mins). Scott almost played in Ellison before Jones's pass to Sullivan led to a fine shot from the front-man which Coburn did superbly well to save and almost hold cleanly, as he dived to his right.

However, the ball went for a corner on the Stalybridge left from which an attacker's header went badly wide from a close position at the far post (83 mins). At the Hale End, Locke was forced to give away a corner as Scott and Hay yet again interlinked but Ellison's kick was poor and Gary Talbot's run upfield to get on the end of it was wasted. Altrincham continued to press and after a bad mistake on the right side of the visitors' defence Ellison got a chance. However, from a very acute angle, he could only direct the ball across the goalmouth, from where it was cleared, rather than into the net (85 mins). A through ball from Craney for Hay was reached first by Ingham before Crookes again cleared from the Altrincham number nine. Stalybridge's Kevin Parr was replaced by Steve Pickford (86 mins).

Coburn's free-kick from the edge of his box found Ellison but Chambers was unable to capitalise on the resulting pass. Mr Morbin missed two more fouls, one a blatant hand-off to Chambers, the other a backing-in offence by Pickford before Altrincham's Scott gained their last corner (89 mins) after good work by Craney and Farley on the right. Ingham punched clear Ellison's corner-kick and Mr Morbin blew his whistle for full-time shortly afterwards.

The players of both sides did well to provide an entertaining game in difficult conditions. The many fouls prevented the game from flowing as much as it might have done but the visitors will have been happy to maintain their unbeaten run. For Altrincham, Hay, Scott and Glendenning all had good debuts, whilst Steve Hawes was once more named as Man of the Match for his tireless midfield performance. Stuart Coburn made some superb saves but Ingham was also required to show his class on a number of occasions. Altrincham will also be pleased at keeping another clean sheet- after conceding seven goals in their first four League games, they have conceded only three in the subsequent seven league games despite having to ring the changes in the team line-up.