Match Report

This match was brought forward to 28 October but fell victim to a late postponement then because of rain. Today's match was also threatened by the elements but took place despite lashing rain, strong, biting winds and a muddy pitch. Altrincham started the better as they attacked with the wind behind them and went ahead after 6 minutes when Scheuber played in Murphy. Glendenning hit a post before the hosts, somewhat against the run of play, equalised after 26 minutes through Welch. The Dolly Blues hit Altrincham straight after the break when Potts got behind Porter to score. It was Potts again who set up Ward for the third just before the hour and the young striker scored again thirteen minutes from the end after a cross from the right. Finney missed badly near the end but despite a lot of possession, Altrincham could not add to their account.

In their first league-match post-Ellison, Altrincham welcomed back Jason Gallagher from injury and restored Steve Porter to the side which had lost on Tuesday in the Unibond Cup. Danny Murphy took Kevin Ellison's berth on the left flank as Mark Ward omitted himself from the team and included Terry Bowker on the bench, alongside Keith Mairs and Adam Farley. Otherwise, the participants were as against Worksop in the last league game. Lancaster were without Jimmy Graham and Farrell Kilbane but ex-Morecambe man, Colin Potts, had recovered from a mid-week knock to play.

Rain swept the ground, blowing from behind Stuart Coburn, as Altrincham kicked off. They had an early alarm when a Gary Scott back-pass was underhit on the cloying surface and Mark Maddox had to be alert to get in before Ward, the Altrincham centre-back lashing the ball narrowly wide of his keeper's right-hand post for an early corner to Lancaster (2 mins). However, Altrincham soon seized the initiative, with Danny Murphy particularly evident. Stuart Scheuber played a perceptive angled ball forward from the centre, about 20 yards from goal and found Murphy in space inside the left segment of the penalty area. Murphy took a couple of strides as Thornley advanced but expertly knocked the ball past the keeper's left hand into the net to open the scoring after barely six minutes.

Altrincham proceeded to get the better of the early stages of the game, with their next threat being a sweeping shot from 20 yards by Scheuber which the keeper saved at full length (9 mins). However, it took a saving tackle from Maddox and a follow-up from Scott to block a Lancaster advance at the other end. After receiving a ball from Craney. Murphy was the victim of one of several bad tackles by Martin (12 mins). The Lancaster man next subjected Craney to his illicit attentions, tackling him from behind (15 mins). Martin made his third poor challenge when he hacked down Craney who had executed a neat turn past the Lancaster man. At last, Martin was quite rightly booked (17 mins). Altrincham almost exacted a justifiable reward for this string of offences when Glendenning revealed himself for the first time to Alty fans as a fine dead-ball kicker. His superbly-hit free-kick from 22 yards, to the left of goal, struck the right-hand post so firmly that it left a mud-mark high up on the upright. As so often this season, the ball rebounded to safety.

Jason Gallagher, who initially had some difficulty readjusting after his absence through injury, was penalised 25 yards from his own goal (20 mins). Welch's resultant flick on was cleared by Porter but the ball was soon won back off Hawes before Porter intercepted again only to be flattened by Potts, who received a lecture for his foul (21 mins). Maddox repelled the next advance, by Martin before Porter and Craney once more combined to good effect up the Alty left wing. However, the loudest home cheer of the game, so far, arrived after 25 minutes when the tannoy announced that "the pies have arrived"! Lancaster were beginning to play better than in the opening stages and Ward played in Potts whose shot from inside the box was deflected for a corner on the right (26 mins).

From Butler's corner the ball came to the Lancaster number five, Rigby, whose ball into the box found Welch. A flat-footed Altrincham defence allowed him to turn less than fluently and slot the ball past Coburn from six yards (26 mins). The visitors responded with a good passing movement on a very difficult, soft surface which was cutting up badly under the heavy rain. However, the move ended with a mis-hit shot from Finney but the number nine did somewhat better shortly afterwards when a shot from 20 yards was well saved by Thornley at the expense of a corner. Hawes's corner, from the left, was headed out in front of the near post for a second flag-kick. This one went beyond the back post for a goal-kick (29 min).

Following a foul by Maddox in the centre-circle, play stopped for treatment to a Lancaster player but Altrincham soon won another corner which, again, was struck far too short. A punt from Thornley was then knocked on to Welch but Coburn cut out his low cross, almost colliding with Maddox as he did so (39 mins). The next Alty move ended with a fine long shot from Scheuber which the keeper got down to save well (40 mins). Maddox produced two more fine tackles before Welch got in a shot which went straight at Coburn (41 mins).

After Glendenning had won a free-kick, Hawes found the same player's head but the referee had already blown for an offence. Welch, on the left, then did well to get the ball to Potts, to his right. Potts's shot was brilliantly saved by Coburn, using his feet at the cost of a corner (43 mins) as Lancaster grew stronger. After a clear foul on Scheuber in centre-field had gone unpunished, Hawes received the fiftieth yellow card of Alty's league campaign when he ended up in the ref's book for protesting (44 mins) after the resulting move had ended in a Lancaster corner on their right. The half ended soon afterwards with the score of 1-1 being a fair reflection of the proceedings as Altrincham's early dominance had been whittled away by the hosts in the latter stages.

This impressive attacking movement was soon forgotten as almost immediately Hawes mis-headed in midfield and gave possession to Lancaster. Welch fed Potts who got behind Porter on the left of the Alty defence and the Lancaster man shot low past Coburn to give Lancaster the lead (48 mins). However, Gallagher repeated his careering run up the right flank soon after the goal but his cross was just behind Danny Murphy. Murphy then got on the end of a free-kick which was won by Glendenning, who had pushed forward for the second half; Danny jinked for a better position but his shot came off an Alty player for a goal-kick (51 mins) as the rain temporarily stopped. Glendenning then won a corner after Maddox and Finney had set him up for a shot, which deflected off a defender (51 mins). Hawes's corner was cleared. However, as Altrincham pressed forward they left themselves short at the back.

The speedy Potts broke forward in the inside right channel and though Murphy chased him and made a superb tackle inside the box, the ball somehow came left across goal. With Farley virtually on the goal-line, it looked as if the danger would be cleared but Ward managed to poke it home from close range to give Lancaster a flattering two goal lead (57 mins). Shortly after this setback, Steve Hawes was replaced by Keith Mairs (59 mins). Hawes has looked out of sorts in the last couple of games which is unfortunate as he has just deservedly assumed the captaincy. It may be that he is carrying an injury.

Brian Butler, whom Mark Ward tried to sign from Leigh RMI at the start of this campaign, prompted a number of good movements in the second half for Lancaster but Gallagher and Scott were also combining well on the Alty right at this stage. A foul on Gallagher, which left Jason limping, gave Porter a free-kick. This let in Finney for a blocked shot. Mairs, too, was settling in well in midfield and a fine ball from him set up a Scott cross which went out for a corner. It was unclear who was captaining Alty at this stage and there was some hesitation before Mairs was deputed to take the flag-kick. Mairs's first attempt was well struck and won a second corner, but this was poorly taken by the young midfielder. After a stoppage for treatment to the Lancaster keeper, Terry Bowker came on for his league debut, replacing Gary Scott (71 mins) who had been getting forward promisingly.

This now meant we had four centre-backs on the field (Maddox, Farley, Bowker and Glendenning), albeit Glendenning was playing upfield. This did not help Altrincham's mobility as the rain continued to lash down into Coburn's end of the field. Lancaster began to find gaps at the back and one such probing ball came to Ward in a threatening position. Thankfully he slipped over but was surprisingly allowed to recover and play the ball out to Potts on the right, which was from where Lancaster's main danger was coming. Potts's cross found Ward's head, but the chance went wide (74 mins). A great tackle by Craney stopped another Potts movement but the wide man was soon getting in another cross which led firstly to a throw, then to a free-kick near the corner flag on the right. From this Mayers got in a firm header but Coburn was well positioned to save it (75 mins).

The respite was short, for Rigby, Butler and Welch soon combined well and from the last-named's cross Ward, unchallenged, headed past Coburn from close range in a central position to give Lancaster an unassailable 4-1 lead (77 mins). The scoreline was flattering to the Blues but they were deservedly now in the driving seat. Unlike Altrincham they were able to fashion swift forward movements, chiefly up their right wing, with supporting players giving options to the man in possession. When Alty won a free-kick 25 yards from goal Glendenning shaped to take it and Alty fans hoped for at least a consolation goal. However, this time, the centre-back screwed the ball right to Murphy who appeared to take a knock as he reached to get it. Terry Bowker started to prompt some initiatives up the Alty right but Lancaster responded with another move up their own right flank. A double substitution by Lancaster saw Lee Clitheroe and Butler go off to be replaced by Stuart Clitheroe and Dickinson (82 mins).

Porter was having a busy time against Potts and he felled the Lancaster man 20 yards from goal. Potts's free-kick was well held by Coburn as Brown closed in on him (84 mins). Haddow's foul on Glendenning gave the visitors a free-kick but Mairs's ball into the box was cleared. Another of Lancaster's pacy breaks saw Martin halted as he broke through the middle when Brown was adjudged to be offside (87 mins). Altrincham were still trying to get forward but not creating any clear-cut chances till Porter played in Finney. He advanced within the box, to the left-side of goal, but the on-loan Chester City striker firmly drove a very clear chance over the bar from 10 yards (88 mins) to sum up Altrincham's disappointing second-half. The last excitement came after Porter had been fouled and Gallagher took the resulting free-kick too quickly. Lancaster immediately gained possession and advanced on Coburn's goal but Clitheroe's shot skidded over the bar off Farley.

An afternoon that had started so promisingly for Altrincham turned into a heavy defeat in the second half when Altrincham played into the wind and rain but also made unsettling changes to their team formation, enforced or otherwise. After Murphy's early promise had been tamed by Lancaster, the visitors were unable to mount any sustained threat to the home goal. Chasing the game in the second half, Altrincham became overstretched and Lancaster exploited this particularly on the right flank where Colin Potts was impressive. Altrincham will play worse and not lose so heavily but their current run of form, no wins in five league games, heralds a drop down the table as other teams catch up on their unplayed matches.

One of the few positives from this game was the revelation of Glendenning as a good dead ball kicker and the generally promising displays of newcomers to the side such as Bowker and Mairs. With Ellison now gone, we have lost our major goal threat, though Murphy jinked through the Lancaster defence effectively in the early stages. Once more, Alty fans were left to console themselves with memories of an entertaining game even though the result was, again, not a happy one. Tuesday sees us travel to Frickley in search of our first away win since October. Although still second-bottom, Frickley, nevertheless, have not lost since Altrincham beat them 3-1 at Moss Lane, eight games ago (six of these games being in the league). Leroy Chambers did not play for the Yorkshire side yesterday but we may renew acquaintance with our on-loan striker on Tuesday.