Match Report

The local newspaper, SAM, wrote of last Saturday's match at Lancaster that the game turned on Alty's switch from a back four to a back three at half-time. There, a good first-half performance and a 1-1 half-time score were turned into a 4-1 defeat in the second half as the frailties of the back three were exposed. Given this and the width of the Frickley pitch, it was surprising that Alty started this game with the same back three formation. They found themselves two down after 13 minutes; changes to the make-up of the back three with the substitution of Farley by Scott after 18 mins made little difference and Alty went 3-1 down after 24 minutes. They then converted to a back four and went on to draw 3-3 with the final irony being that the scorer of the equaliser was Scheuber, the very midfielder removed to make way for the back three experiment at half-time at Lancaster.

After the disastrous first half at Bishop Auckland when the back three experiment was first applied- and abandoned at half-time-, followed by the Lancaster experience last Saturday and, now, this tactical folly at Frickley, it must be clear that whilst a back three may be a sound system for some teams, the present Altrincham personnel cannot make it work. The other mysteries of this game at Frickley were how Altrincham managed to have 75% of the possession in the second half yet made so few serious threats to the Frickley goal and how Leroy Chambers, still technically an Altrincham player, scored twice in 24 minutes when he had only scored twice in the last two seasons (99/00 and 00/01) for Altrincham in league games? The word motivation may not be far from the answer.

Mark Ward started with the back three that finished at Lancaster on Saturday but sprang a surprise by including a new player, allegedly a Frenchman called Gerard Leonard partnered up front by Steve Finney. Leonard is rumoured to have played for Montpellier though he has been on trial at several local clubs including Macclesfield and, it is thought, Bury.

In the first half hour he must have wondered what he had let himself in for. Frickley were without the injured Steve Price but our old friend, Leroy Chambers had recovered from illness to start the game. Former Alty man Mark Ogley joined Leroy Chambers as a Frickley face familiar to the visiting fans.

A lesser-known rule of the Unibond League, (rule no. 15 if you are interested), is that teams cannot wear stripes, whatever their colour, against opposition who also wear stripes. Therefore, as Alty's change colours are the same as Frickley's first-choice strip, Altrincham turned out in last season's yellow and black, complete with last year's sponsors' logos. This at least meant that we could read one team's shirt numbers for Frickley's small red numerals on blue stripes were even less visible than the numbers on Altrincham's normal change-strip.

The match kicked off at 7.35, five minutes late and inside 28 seconds Frickley had scored, with Leroy Chambers almost inevitably the goalscorer. The goal came from an awful back pass by Farley, which was underhit. Chambers latched on to it in the inside-left slot, as Coburn advanced and netted coolly from close range. Steve Hawes also had an unfortunate start but for different reasons; he went in hard for a 50-50 ball on the half-way line and came out of it injured and needing treatment (6 mins). Gallagher, played in by Finney, posed Altrincham's first threat but was dispossessed for a corner, which was cleared. Poor Farley seemed unsettled by his unfortunate lapse and soon Lewis was racing past him but the defender recovered to block the shot at the cost of a corner.

Although the ball was put into the net by Wilkinson from this corner, the whistle had already gone (9 mins). The pace of Lewis was causing Altrincham serious problems in these early stages. A foul on Leonard just outside the Frickley box gave Hawes a free-kick which was headed clear. Betraying skills not seen by the Moss Lane faithful since his annus mirabilis of 1998, Leroy Chambers gave a superb lay-off to a colleague on the right wing to set up a Frickley attack (11 mins). Whilst this move ended in a goal-kick, a goal soon followed for the home side. The impressive Lewis turned Glendenning and got goal-side of him inside the box to the right of goal. Glendenning chose the unsubtle option of flattening his man by falling on top of him and the clearest of penalty decisions was taken by Mr Cooke. This was the tenth penalty conceded by Alty since October and not the first conceded by Glendenning. Hurst scored with a well-struck spot-kick (13 mins).

Mark Ward vented his anger on the referee though the real blame was somewhat nearer to home with his colleagues' defensive lapses. It almost got worse after Mr Cooke had dealt with Ward's protestations when Gregory's 25-yard shot went narrowly wide of Coburn's post, although the keeper seemed untroubled by it. After a Craney mis-hit had crawled to keeper Carney, Ian produced a marvellous piece of football moments later. Receiving a neat pass from Leonard, Craney strode across the half-way line and just kept going straight through the centre of the Frickley defence, evading a couple of challenges on the way. He finished his run with a fine shot past Carney to bring the visitors some hope (18 mins). Before the restart, Mark Ward took off Farley and brought on Gary Scott, initially as a straight replacement in the back three.

The highly eventful first period continued when a through ball from Chris Hilton, the Frickley captain, was chested back to Coburn by Gallagher just outside his own area. Although the referee was behind Gallagher, he adjudged the Alty man to have handled the ball. Gallagher protested vehemently as did Ward; the former was definitely booked and the latter also appeared to be, but Mr Cooke was waving his hand around with his book rather than a card in it when he addressed the Alty player-manager (20 mins). Next, Coburn had to race from goal to clear a through ball before a ball from Stratford found Lewis racing across the half-way line in the inside-left channel.

Maddox made a lunge at him, which made contact, but the referee allowed play to continue and the flying Lewis advanced on Coburn, slipping the ball right to Chambers as the keeper advanced. Leroy tapped the ball into the vacant net to give Frickley a 3-1 lead (24 mins). All three centre-backs had now conceded goals. This brought about another tactical re-jig as Gallagher moved to right back, Scott came over to the left and a back four was belatedly established. Horses and stable-doors came to mind.

The action continued when Leonard was chopped down as he turned Wilkinson just inside the Frickley box. The ref. quite correctly awarded a penalty which Finney converted efficiently (29 mins). Afterwards a Frickley player was booked, possibly Stratford. Played stopped for treatment to a Frickley player who had lunged at Leonard but had come off the worse. Altrincham now put together some good passing football but with a brief interlude arising when the referee stopped to lecture Chambers about a foul. Alty won two corners; the first was overhit by Ward, the second came to Leonard whose shot was disappointingly wide of target (36 mins). Altrincham now established themselves and put Frickley onto the back foot but Chambers almost capitalised on a breakaway after hesitation in the Alty defence. As half-time approached Hawes was chopped down and Hanby received a lecture (44 mins). Ward connected well with the resulting free-kick, from 20 yards out in a central position, but his shot rose over the bar.

Altrincham's form in the latter stages of the first half suggested they could still win this match and the second half was largely Altrincham's so far as possession was concerned. However, so much of it comprised neat passing movements which made little progress or took so long to get to the business-end of the pitch that Frickley were rarely seriously threatened. The half started with a stoppage after only two minutes for a Frickley injury to be treated. The sides then traded free-kicks for fouls on Chambers and Finney respectively.

Maddox soon had to be alert to head a long ball back to Coburn (48 mins) before Hanby took a wild kick near the centre spot at Ward and was rightly cautioned (49 mins). Before play could restart the referee called over Phil Brown of Frickley and sent him off; he left the field shrugging his shoulders but, presumably, he must have said something seriously out of order (50 mins). With a man advantage Altrincham should have exploited the situation but Murphy was having a quiet game on the flank and neat passing movements kept faltering on the edge of the Frickley penalty area. No one seemed able or prepared to run at the defence, a tactic which Craney had shown to work with his first-half goal. Indeed, it was Frickley on their intermittent breakaways who looked to have more of a cutting edge.

The referee stopped the game after 57 minutes to have protracted words with both benches, though it was not clear why. A minute later, Coburn had to rush out to clear before Chambers could reach a long ball and then Maddox executed a fine tackle on his former team-mate as Chambers threatened on the left wing. After a harmless long range side footed shot-cum-pass by Glendenning had only found Carney, Maddox got into a bit of a mess. Stretching to meet a long ball in the air he only got half a touch on it with his head and the ball fell to Chambers running alertly behind him. Leroy should have scored but dithered slightly allowing Coburn to make a save (61 mins). In contrast with Altrincham,'s meandering passing movements, Lewis showed how to do it when his pace took him past Maddox for a shot at Coburn from 20 yards, which the keeper saved well (62 mins). Altrincham's slow build-ups continued to be ended by poor passes or misdirected chips into the penalty area as they failed to make their one man advantage tell.

With Altrincham desperate for an equaliser, Mark Ward somewhat surprisingly took off the debutant striker, Leonard, and brought on midfielder Scheuber. Leonard had shown some nice touches in the first half, though his first touch was not always perfect, but he had carved out few shooting opportunities (67 minutes). Murphy promptly put a Finney cross narrowly wide from a header. Chambers then won a header and with Hurst set up a 20 yard shot from Lewis which went narrowly over the crossbar (71 mins). Altrincham continued to play the ball around neatly but without getting behind the defence.

Twice in as many minutes Scheuber lost possession before it was Maddox's turn to make a howler of a defensive clearance which cost a throw and a loss of possession. However between these errors, Altrincham missed the clearest chance of the half. Murphy received the ball after an error by Wilkinson 20 yards from goal. The out of sorts Murphy ran into the box, miscontrolled the ball, stumbled and allowed Ogley to clear the danger without even conceding a corner (77 mins). Play was stopped and a Frickley player booked before Hawes floated a ball in from the left to Scheuber, who was located somewhere near the centre of the penalty area. Scheuber's luck changed and he swivelled expertly and buried the ball in the back of the net for a fine equaliser (82 mins). Almost immediately Hawes committed a bad foul on Hanby and received a yellow card (83 mins).

Even with five minutes to go and against ten men the Altrincham build ups continued to be deliberate and methodical rather than inspired and incisive. Leroy Chambers left the field to applause as he was substituted by Duffty with three minutes remaining. Frickley then made a break-away toward the left-hand corner but Gallagher covered it and was fouled for his pains. As the minutes ticked away Ogley picked up a booking for a foul on Finney. From the resulting free-kick, some 20 yards out in a slightly right of centre position, Mark Ward unleashed a fine shot which the keeper tipped round his right-hand post for a corner. However, Altrincham were unable to get a late winner and their run of games without a win in the league extended to six as Mr Cooke blew his whistle on the proceedings.

After a shambolic start to the game, Altrincham had done more than enough to deserve some reward from it. Had they been able to convert possession into goals they would surely have won. However, Frickley were always dangerous on the break and Leroy Chambers performed more like he did in 1998/99 than over the last two disappointing seasons with the Robins. Lewis caused problems throughout and the Alty backline had a disastrous first half-hour. Things greatly improved after that but with Ellison gone and Murphy having an off-day, Altrincham had little thrust up front. This deficiency was compounded by the laborious build-up play which can be pretty to watch but only really enjoyable when the side has already scored more goals than the opposition. With Bishop Auckland the next visitors to Moss Lane and memories of the back-three debacle in Durham earlier this season, most fans will want to see the names of full-backs Scott and Porter on the starting line up teamsheet on Saturday.