Match Report

Right: The Golf Road turnstiles; 1230pm on 4th March 2000

BACKGROUND AND TEAM NEWS

This was a Nationwide Conference league match played at 3pm on Saturday 4th March 2000 before a disappointingly small crowd of 889 people. Altrincham started in twelfth place after having garnered seven points from their last three games and being defeated only twice in their last 19 League games. Sutton arrived at Moss Lane occupying bottom spot, despite trouncing Altrincham 3-0 on their own ground on 11 September. The sun shone throughout but there was a strongish wind blowing from the Golf Road end though this did little to affect the outcome of the game.

The referee, A. Penn gave a generally good performance but his booking of Adams and sending off of Timons, though strictly correct, had mitigating circumstances. Altrincham had no one sent off between August and 4 December when Simeon Hodson got his marching orders in controversial circumstances at Dover. Then Jason Gallagher walked for a late tackle at Northwich; Talbot was rightly sent off at Stevenage for a last-man foul; Maddox bizarrely and Power quite justifiably were red-carded in the Macmillan trophy against Telford (8 February) and today Timons went for two fairly trivial fouls against Sutton.

Now, only Adams of the regular defensive unit remains to suffer the indignity of the early bath. In fact, Danny Adams returned to the side for this match with Sutton after a one-match ban for bookings, a ban which broke his run of 97 consecutive first-team outings. Other team news included the return of leading scorer, Kevin Ellison after five matches out with a leg injury. Suspensions to Leroy Chambers, Steve Hawes and Phil Power ruled them out of consideration.

Altrincham were also still lacking numerous players through injury (i.e. two goalkeepers, Coburn and Greygoose; striker Price, midfielders Burke and Crowe and centre-back Maddox). A rare (eighth) start was given to Richard Landon, who has found the net 9 times in the Conference despite his restricted opportunities.

TEAMS

ALTRINCHAM: 1. Key; 2. Hodson, 3. Adams, 4. Timons (capt), 5. Talbot; 6. Goodwin, 7. Gallagher, 8. Russell, 9. Morrell, 10. Landon, 11. Ellison

Subs: 12. Lovelock, 13. Senior, 14. Kielty, 15. Hulston, 16. Skelton

SUTTON UNITED: 1. Howells; 2. Brooker, 3. Skelly, 4. Riley, 5. Laker, 6. Harlow, 7. Dack, 8. Newhouse, 9. Winston, 10. Watson, 11. Brodrick.

Subs: 12. Berry, 13. Forrester, 13. Sears, 14 Rowlands

Altrincham equalled their biggest winning margin with a 3-0 triumph over bottom-placed Sutton, though that outcome had seemed unlikely after a lacklustre first half. However, their joy was tinged with disappointment at the sending off of captain, Chris Timons, a few minutes before the end for the second of two fairly innocuous bookings. The win lifted them to their highest league position of the season but, ironically, this was to be their last win with eleven matches remaining of the season.

THE MATCH

Altrincham restored Hodson to his normal right-back position as Adams returned at left-back. Landon replaced Chambers, whilst Ellison returned to replace the suspended Hawes in midfield, with Russell moving inside to accommodate him. Lovelock dropped back to the subs' bench.

After the toss, the teams changed ends and Sutton faced the sun and gusty wind, blowing from the Golf Road end. The visitors had the better of the early scrappy minutes and had a good chance on 2 minutes when a poor clearance by Gary Talbot led to a fine shot by Jimmy Dack which Key saved well at the second attempt. From the resultant corner, the visitors' centre-back, Riley, headed over. There were tentative attacks by the home side and Danny Adams shot well over from 25 yards (7 mins). Altrincham improved with a good move involving Gallagher and Russell, followed by Keith Russell shooting wide after a good build up by Adams and Morrell (8 mins). The game continued in a fairly nondescript fashion up to the quarter-hour mark, when Mick Morrell broke through and with only the goalkeeper to beat, used his left foot instead of his right and ended up curling the ball away from the far post rather than inside it.

Left: First-half action from the Altrincham v Sutton match.

A free-kick, won by Russell, near the right-hand corner flag was curled in by Adams but punched away by Howells. This led to a foul on Goodwin which resulted in a long-range shot by Russell which was off-target. At the other end, Riley's free-kick was punched clear by Key only for Dack to fire in a shot well over the bar. Dack, playing with a strapped hand, further injured it but played on. Sutton pressure produced a corner from Talbot's hacked clearance.

Ellison was occupying an inside-left rather than winger's position for much of the time but he produced a good run on 40 minutes. Although, by now, Altrincham were enjoying the majority of the possession, Sutton threatened from time to time, though a free-kick on the edge of the Altrincham box was sliced well wide (42 mins). The worst foul of the game, a shin-high hack at Jason Gallagher led to a booking for Newhouse on 43 minutes. With the '3 minutes to play' card held aloft, an Ellison cross cum shot was held by the keeper but the half ended goalless.

In the 46th minute, an overhit cross from the right by Hodson was needlessly headed for a corner on the left by Riley. Russell's fine corner found the Altrincham captain, Chris Timons, unmarked and his firm header opened the scoring from six yards. Two minutes later, Goodwin, moving forward into the box was brought down and after receiving treatment, Ellison took the free kick from the edge of the box. His firm, but not rocket-powered, shot passed the end of the wall and beat keeper Howells entering the net inside his left-hand post. In the excitement, Altrincham full-back Danny Adams's father, seated in the stand, spilled his coffee down himself!

With Altrincham now in control, Sutton placed more emphasis on attack as they sought to retrieve the situation. On 57 minutes Newhouse put Brooker through only for Timons to make a saving tackle, conceding a corner. Dack's inswinging corner was held by Key. Then Winston wrestled with Talbot and not only did he not get the free-kick that he seemed to deserve but ended up injured, off the pitch. From the resulting corner, Key held the follow-up shot well (60 mins).

However, Altrincham countered with a fine run down the right by Gallagher. Super-sub Richard Landon had been having a quietish match but after 62 minutes he cut inside his defender and was brought down on the edge of the penalty area. Russell's freekick evaded the defensive wall and was well-saved by Howells. A short period of end-to-end play ensued before Ellison was substituted by Lovelock (65 mins). A superb nutmeg of his opponent by Russell came to naught before Sutton replaced Watson with Forrester. A free kick by Dack was punched clear by Key. Shortly afterwards, Morrell had the ball in the net. However, in the build-up, Morrell's initial shot had been blocked by the keeper and Lovelock's goal-bound follow-up had struck the prone Morrell. Either an offside or a handball against Morrell was given by the referee.

Sutton mounted attacks of their own, being caught offside after a mistake by Landon had let them in and then Harlow fired off a free-kick from 35 yards. A skirmish between Winston and Adams ended with the Sutton man pushing the Altrincham defender in the face but the referee took no action other than obliging the combatants to shake hands.

On 70 minutes a Sutton attack was halted on the edge of the box by what was adjudged to be a bookable offence by Timons, though its nature evaded most of the crowd. Before the freekick could be taken, Rowlands came on to replace the injured Dack. The kick itself was driven into the wall and Lovelock raced clear, his advance only halted by a foul. The resulting kick from 35 yards, by Adams, came to nothing. A similar obstruction at the other end, by Timons, led to a freekick by Sutton which caused Key little difficulty.

An excellent break by the impressive Goodwin, led to a shot by Gallagher which unfortunately struck Goodwin on its way to goal and the rebound ended up with Howells (74 mins). After a long-range shot from Sutton, which went well over the bar, Gallagher fed Russell but the latter could only produce a weak left-foot shot from a threatening position inside the box. More good work by Goodwin led to a foul on Lovelock but the free-kick by Russell was overhit above the onrushing Altrincham players (78 mins).

The most skilful moment of the match came on 79 mins when Danny Adams, hemmed in on his own goal-line, near the corner flag, dragged the ball back three times in quick succession to avoid the attentions of Rowlands. A rising shot from the edge of the box by Brodrick occurred after a lapse in the Altrincham defence, but the ball cleared the bar easily. Moments later Russell broke through in the inside-left position, drew the keeper and nonchalantly flicked the ball past Howells's left hand with his right foot in a manner reminiscent of his performances in 1997/98 when he played up front. The ball entered the net just inside the keeper's left-hand post to make the score 3-0.

What should have been unadulterated pleasure for Altrincham, turned doubly sour as, firstly, Adams strode through the defence only to be pulled up by the ref's whistle. Not only was offside given but Adams was harshly booked for playing on after the whistle. Worse was to come. As a Sutton player routinely broke down their left-wing, Timons fouled him and was shown the red card on 85 minutes. He left the field (as shown left) to acclaim from the Altrincham fans and manager Bernard Taylor instantly put on debut-making Wayne Hulston for Morrell. Hodson moved to centre-back to replace Timons.

A shot by Newhouse was held by Key as Altrincham played out the match. In the closing minutes, Landon fed Gallagher and though Howells dropped the ball, Lovelock was unable to finish off the move, and finally a shot by Hulston, after more work by Landon, was smothered by Howells.

This win moved Altrincham to their highest position of the season, tenth, whilst Sutton remained bottom, their position worsened by wins for Welling and Woking. Whilst Welling deserve to go down after escaping rightful relegation last year because of Barrow's demise, and Woking are even more deserving of the drop after the disgraceful performances of their recently sacked manager at grounds up and down the country, it would be sad to see Sutton join them in relegation. Like Altrincham, they lack the resources to compete with the top Conference sides but they played honestly and fairly throughout this match.

The official man of the match award went to Gary Talbot. Although he did play well, this observer's own candidate would have been Shaun Goodwin or Danny Adams.