Match Report

After torrential rain in the preceding 24 hours, this game took place in sunshine but the pitch was heavy and the grass long, making passing movements difficult. An early injury to Ellison robbed Altrincham of their main strike-threat; the side badly needs another skilful wide man who is able to make ground quickly and cross the ball well. In this respect the loss of Stuart Quinn is very unfortunate and is compounded by the injury to Jason Gallagher, for it is in the final third of the pitch that Altrincham look particularly pedestrian. They went into this Sunday-lunchtime match eleven places above Droylsden but whilst a draw would not have been unfair, they cannot really complain too much at the home side's victory for Droylsden showed slightly greater flair up-front.

The game, however, turned on two penalty decisions and two defensive mistakes by the Alty centre-backs. Droylsden's opening goal came from what looked to be a clear foul by Talbot, after Stannard had got round him. However, even clearer was the penalty that should have gone to the visitors in the second half when Hawes was flattened by keeper Philips but amazingly escaped punishment as the Altrincham man went by him for a near-certain goal. If Talbot's error cost the first goal, it was his partner Glendenning whose lapse gave Droylsden the winner, missing a ball just inside the Droylsden half to allow a break-away goal. This was particularly sad as the young centre-back had been one of Altrincham's best players till then.

The Droylsden match-day programme surprised Altrincham fans by printing the name of Colin Hunter as number ten. Hunter has no connection with Altrincham and his name was presumably not erased from a previous programme. In fact, the Altrincham side was largely as expected with newcomers Hay and Scott included for their second starts. Gallagher, Turkington and Ward remain injured and Barry Crowe remains sidelined. Droylsden showed no changes from their last game, except at substitute, where Challender and Wolstenholme came in.

The heavy pitch was not conducive to making this match a classic but, nevertheless, it was a reasonably entertaining and well-balanced game which was watched by a crowd which included Malcolm Allison, seated alongside the Altrincham chairman. As early as the second minute Kevin Ellison went down injured on the edge of the Droylsden box and though he hobbled on, he was clearly not fully fit. Altrincham won an early corner after Ellison had fed Hawes but although Scheuber got his head to Hawes's flag-kick, the ball was, in truth, over-hit (4 mins).

Hay and Ellison then contrived to win a second corner which produced an immediate third corner for Hawes from which Droylsden finally cleared their lines (5 mins). Altrincham's promising start continued when Carl Furlong produced the first of two good turns in as many minutes; the first produced a throw, the second a free-kick. Neither this kick, nor one for Droylsden after Glendenning had held Corns produced anything serious (8 mins). Gary Scott then latched on to a curling ball forward but he shot over the bar. Shortly afterwards Scheuber won possession and Hawes laid it off to Scott who lost the ball. In response, Warner, Lattie and Stannard combined up the Droylsden right-wing but Stannard's shot was blocked (12 mins) as was the same player's further shot moments later.

Above: Action from the game.

Steve Porter next played a fine ball to Ellison on the left and his curled cross was met by Scheuber, who slid it just wide of the upright to the keeper's left (13 mins). Coburn was soon called into action at the other end when he cut off a low cross from Warner who had been set up by Corns. The end-to-end flow continued with a scuffed shot from Scott which went wide from twenty yards out. However, play was a bit scrappy. Lampkin, Morley and Corns's forward movement was broken up by Hawes before Scott slipped on the greasy surface and lost possession as Hawes passed to him (16 mins). Coburn had little trouble in fielding a 35-yard shot from Warner a minute later as Altrincham's Ellison was clearly hampered by a leg injury. Carl Furlong produced another fine turn but gained no reward when he was tripped in the process. The ball came to Scott whose lob from 20 yards was well over the bar (19 mins).

Once again play flowed to the other end and Coburn was forced to race out of his area. Misjudging the bounce, the keeper had to lurch to his left to head to safety (19 mins). The ailing Ellison was mercifully replaced by Ian Craney after 21 minutes with an injury later diagnosed as a swollen knee. The sub immediately made a fine saving tackle after Lattie's ball to Morley had led to Stannard getting past Glendenning. The impressive Stannard next got the better of Porter after a nice touch from Lampkin. Droylsden were enjoying good possession at this stage when Lampkin and Lattie beat Scheuber and played the ball on to Morley. However, Porter broke up the succeeding movement with a tackle on Lattie. Hay had a rare run at goal following good work by Furlong and Scott but it was the home side who were on top now.

Scott once more lost the ball; after a good second half against Stalybridge, the ex-Leigh man was having a torrid time here. After a foul by Hay on Prior (27 mins), Hawes lost the ball to Morley. A ball through the middle evaded Talbot just outside the box in the centre and came to Corns, who got goal-side of the Altrincham captain. Talbot brought the Bloods' number nine down from behind as he ran into the box and a penalty was awarded. Talbot surprisingly retained his record of not being booked in the league this season as Holmes prepared for the spot-kick. Coburn elected to dive to his right and, for his part, Holmes aimed to his right and the ball therefore smacked into the net on the opposite side from the keeper's dive (28 mins- see adjacent picture).

After play resumed, Scott once more lost possession with a poor pass but after Hawes had won the ball and some nice play by Porter, Scott had better luck with a good cross, which Philips held in the air under pressure from Hay (31 mins). In winning the ball Hawes had been injured and there was then a lengthy stoppage for treatment to his left leg. Hawes recovered sufficiently to feed Furlomg who, yet again, turned his defender well and set off for goal. However, he could only produce a weak shot which went well wide of the keeper's left post (32 mins). Furlong himself soon needed treatment though his injury seemed to have more to do with disappointment at not winning a foul then severe pain. Soon afterwards, a Droylsden move ended with one of their players, rather than the ball, in the back of the net. Ian Craney next shrugged off two tackles as he advanced and fed Hawes but the latter's shot was blocked (36 mins).

More good work by Stannard unsettled Glendenning but Coburn's dive at the feet of Corns ended any danger. Following a Droylsden throw, won off Porter's head, Hawes fouled Corns twenty yards from goal. Warner's free-kick was badly overhit and gave Altrincham a goal-kick (41 mins). Hay then won a corner from a Farley pass but Hawes's kick came off Talbot's head for a home goal-kick (42 mins). More good work by the impressive Craney set up Scott in a dangerous position near the edge of the penalty area.

Scott scuffed his kick and in trying to retrieve the ball committed a foul. From this Lampkin set up Morley, who beat Talbot, but the ball came through to Coburn (43 mins). A fine ball from Holmes to Corns was wasted by the striker and an Altrincham throw was the outcome as the referee blew for the end of the first half. Altrincham had had a lot of the possession but without the outlet of Ellison had not capitalised on it. Gary Scott was having a wretched time on the right side of midfield and the Droylsden goal had been rarely threatened in the first forty-five minutes.

The absence of Chambers from the half-time subs' warm-up suggested that he was about to appear in the game but the second half commenced with the team unaltered. The first action of note came a minute after the break when Porter unleashed a fine 30-yard shot just wide of Philip's left-hand post. Scott's misfortunes continued with a misplaced pass before Farley's aimless clearance led to Warner's fine swerving shot from 25 yards. This produced an excellent diving save from Coburn, to his left, at the cost of a corner. From this, Holmes's shot came easily to the keeper. Glendenning then swept up the aftermath of a poor Farley pass before Prior halted Hay's advance up front. A foul by Furlong on Ashton in centre-field allowed Altrincham to remove Scott and bring on Chambers in a wide-right midfield position (50 mins).

Twice in quick succession Hawes prompted movements which broke down with tackles on Scheuber before Lampkin was halted by Gary Talbot. But then Warner advanced 20 yards and the move, also involving Lattie and Stannard, ended with Holmes's cross over the cross bar (53 mins). This undistinguished period of play was abruptly ended by a superb long ball forward from the composed Glendenning which set Hawes up for a one-on-one on the keeper, Philips. The goalkeeper's solution was to flatten Hawes as he seemed to be getting the better of the encounter. To most spectators' amazement the referee responded by looking to his linesman who failed to flag for an offence (55 mins). This incident would be a leading contender for the Droylsden programme's competition for the worst refereeing decision ever.

Gary Talbot, who was not having his best game, misplaced a pass to the opposition (56 mins) to initiate a period of sustained Droylsden pressure. Two fine tackles from Glendenning half-cleared the threat as successive attacks followed in waves. Relief came with a bad tackle from Morley which earned a booking (59 mins). Alex Hay was having an unproductive time up front and Furlong was also enjoying less freedom than in the first half. Wolstenholme replaced Corns for The Bloods (64 mins) before Glendenning injured himself with a fine block tackle and needed treatment. After Coburn had raced out to clear a threat, Scheuber and Porter combined to produce a fine cross which Leroy Chambers, stretching, toe-ended and forced the keeper to save at the foot of his left post.

After this promising move, within seconds Altrincham had scored. Craney's ball to Furlong came to Hawes and from 25 yards out , the midfielder cracked the ball home to the keeper's right (68 mins) for the equaliser. Altrincham now came to dominate play and a Hawes cross produced a corner on the right but this was cleared safely by Droylsden. Lampkin then went into the ref's book for a bad foul on Farley on the half-way line (72 mins), for which the Altrincham defender needed treatment. The Alty physio will be busy between now and Tuesday as he was also called to repair Ellison, Glendenning, Hawes, Furlong and Scheuber during this match.

Above: Craney, Talbot, Farley and Scheuber leave the pitch.

Coburn caught a free-kick after Chambers had lost the ball and then fouled his man forty yards out (73 mins) before Alty, in turn, won a free-kick which led to a rising shot from Hay, from 30 yards, which went well over the bar. This was Hay's last contribution as he was then replaced by Landon (75 mins) following a disappointing showing. Altrincham were now enjoying the bulk of the possession and looked the more likely side to snatch a winner before disaster struck. Glendenning came forward across the half-way line to clear a ball in the centre but missed it. Warner and Holmes broke free down the middle and charged at Coburn's goal. Holmes's shot from 12 yards was magnificently half-saved by Coburn but still had enough power to enter his net, to his right to give Droylsden the lead against the recent run of play. Following the restart, Landon won a corner after a pass from Scheuber, but Philips punched out Hawes's kick from the right (81 mins).

However, Droylsden were to finish the stronger and Coburn had to make a fine save from Holmes, who had Scheuber pulling his shirt, as he closed on goal (84 mins). A minute later Holmes tried a 30-yard shot which went too high. Warner then let in Wolstenholme for a left foot shot which just cleared the bar (87 mins) before Warner prompted another move up the left which Craney finally stifled. Talbot fed Hawes whose cross was met well by Landon but he headed straight at the keeper (88 mins) and once Craney had shot over the bar (89 mins), Droylsden nearly scored when a Glendenning error allowed Wolstenholme to get the better of him on the left and fire in a curling shot just wide of Coburn's left upright (90 mins).

Altrincham lost the match through two defensive mistakes and on another day they might well have got a draw. However, in truth, they rarely fired on all cylinders in this game. Hay and Scott had very disappointing games and, after a good first half, Furlong had little impact on the second period. Altrincham rarely got up the flanks and few good crosses resulted when they did. Hawes, as ever, was a model of midfield industry and scored a fine goal. Coburn was also his customary reliable self, making some fine saves. Apart from his late lapses, Glendenning was most impressive at the back.

Without Ellison, however, Altrincham lacked bite up front and his injury looks likely to keep him out of next Tuesday's match against Leek. The absence of the experienced Mark Ward in a young midfield is also being felt as is the loss of Jason Gallagher up the right flank. On a positive note, there were no bookings and Altrincham did not drop from fourth position but they will need to rediscover their spark if they are to maintain their title challenge. Two impending home matches against lower opposition (Leek and Spennymoor) may help to restore fluidity to the team's performance.