Match Report

Although the players were understandably hampered by the very poor weather conditions (driving rain and blustery wind throughout), the vast majority of the game consisted of good, passing football. Altrincham played with great persistence throughout and were rewarded with a hard-fought victory. Although Barrow fans may feel rather aggrieved at their failure to take even a single point from this game, their lack of penetration in front of goal and Altrincham's resolute defending meant that several clear chances went begging. It was undeniably Altrincham's best performance thus far this season. Long may it continue!

Adam Farley was preferred to James Glendenning in the centre-back slot after the latter's poor showing against Blyth. Danny Murphy was only on the bench, a decision that must surely have been due to injury as he performed well in his last match. Jason Gallagher came in at right wing to replace him, and Richard Landon was preferred to Carl Furlong, who was seen sitting in the stand. Barry Crowe was on the bench.

Altrincham did not make a convincing start as Barrow won two corners within the first two minutes. The first of these came after Steve Hawes had slipped in midfield on the greasy pitch, and, although Gary Talbot headed clear, Nicky Peverell received the ball for Barrow, and his firm shot was deflected for another corner. This was cleared more convincingly and Altrincham's first real attack resulted in Hay's shot from 20 yards being collected by Paul Heritage in the Barrow goal (3 mins). Shortly afterwards, there were strong calls by the large and very vocal Barrow crowd for handball to be given against Gary Scott on the edge of the area, but the referee waved play on (7 mins). There followed a period of play in which there were some good flowing moves from both sides, but relatively few genuine chances were created as both defences stifled attacks.

Nicky Peverell, who looked very lively for Barrow up front, sprang Altrincham's offside trap, but was chased down and dispossessed by Gary Scott (10 mins). Stuart Coburn was then forced to come out of his goal to clear Mark Hume's cross as Lee Ellison ran on and Barrow came even closer two minutes later as Hume again flicked the ball on to Troy Bennett who should have done better than the very weak shot he produced, which Coburn easily held (15 mins). Altrincham now began to look more dangerous, with several half-chances. Jason Gallagher was badly fouled on the right wing, and then appeared to shove away Troy Bennett as Alty prepared to take the free kick. Both men were talked to by the referee but escaped without further punishment (20 minutes).

However, Gallagher's competitiveness then found a better outlet when he cleanly dispossessed a Barrow midfielder and sent a good pass out to the unmarked Hay on the right wing. Hay, who had already shown several good touches, cut in along the edge of the penalty area to the centre, past two Barrow defenders, and chipped the ball onto the head of Richard Landon, whose shot across the face of the goal eluded Heritage and went into the bottom right-hand corner to give Alty the lead (22 mins).

Predictably, as soon as Barrow went behind, they immediately went on the offensive, a Steve Housham header which flashed wide of Stuart Coburn's right hand post possibly being the best of the chances created (24 mins). Another sticky moment took place when Adam Farley narrowly missed a header. However, Gary Scott tracked back and prevented Coburn being brought into play (26 mins). As was the case on many occasions during this match, Altrincham's response to being under pressure was to launch attacks of their own, Alex Hay's shot from the left requiring a goal line clearance to prevent Alty extending their lead. Lee Ellison and Troy Bennett again combined nicely on the Barrow left, but Ellison's final shot from an acute angle only found the side netting (34 mins).

The next incident of note came when Ian Craney was booked for a clumsy challenge on the half-way line. Troy Bennett also received a lecture at the same point, presumably due to something he had said (38 mins). The resulting free kick was cleared by Scott, but Ellison's curling shot forced a good save from Coburn. Scott was called in action again shortly afterwards to block a strong volley from Wayne Bullimore after a series of throw-ins on the Barrow left (41 mins). Barrow arguably should have scored in their best chance of the half on 44 minutes as Ellison was allowed to run ahead of the back four.

Although Coburn parried the original shot, he was left on the ground and in the ensuing melée only the hesitation of several Barrow players and the number of Altrincham defenders thrown behind the ball prevented the scores becoming level (44 mins). The final ball of the half was a free kick gained by Richard Landon on the half way line, which was cleared easily.

In an almost identical move straight afterwards, Lee Ellison also sprang the offside trap, but his shot went both high and wide. Gary Scott was then dispossessed by Troy Bennett, whose final shot was only inches wide of the post (53 mins). Again Altrincham were saved by the hesitation of Barrow as Lee Warren picked up a loose ball 10 yards out, but waited long enough for Ian Craney to clear (57 mins). Hawes and Craney combined down the middle before Alex Hay cut across the front of goal and unleashed a shot which required a diving one-handed save from Heritage (59 mins).

Altrincham soaked up the pressure from two Barrow corners before both Hay and Gallagher put in good work in a counter-attack, with Richard Landon's final header across goal being only marginally wide of the post (66 mins). Gary Scott was dispossessed and a good break by Barrow up the right resulted in a simple tap-in for Steve Housham to level the scores (67 mins).

Steve Hawes unfortunately lost the ball 20 yards out to Bullimore, whose curling shot was well held by Coburn. From his up-field punt, Scheuber forced a throw-in on the left. Scheuber and Porter then combined well before Steve Hawes took a shot from 12 yards. This was parried by the keeper, but Hay was on hand to put Altrincham ahead from 2 yards (72 mins). However, the joy of Altrincham supporters was short-lived as almost immediately a lack of communication between Coburn and his defence allowed Lee Ellison to break through and pull the scores level (73 mins).

Alty continued to attack, with Hay forcing another good save from the keeper with a rising shot from 15 yards (75 mins). Nicky Peverell then took away Landon's right leg as he attempted to pass the ball and was booked, although not before he and Gary Talbot had squared up to each other, for which Talbot received a reprimand (80 mins). Uncharacteristically, Coburn only flapped at a cross from the Barrow left and it was left to Gary Scott to clear. His pass was met by Richard Landon, whose shot was parried by Heritage. However, it stuck in the by now extremely muddy goalmouth and Hay was able to put the ball away (81 mins). Immediately afterwards Nathan Peel replaced Mark Hume for Barrow.

The remainder of the game was somewhat frantic, with much incident for both teams. Outstanding among this were several good runs by Jason Gallagher on the right wing and a brave save by Coburn, which resulted in him being kicked in the head for his pains. Troy Bennett was removed for Barrow and replaced by new signing Jason Ainsley with only 4 minutes remaining. The final incident of note was the crowd baying for the blood of the referee as he gave an Alty goal kick against the advice of his linesman, depriving Barrow of a last corner.