Altrincham F.C. Reserves: Match Report.

The overlap between the Altrincham Youth team and the Reserves' squad is so great that when there is a clash of fixtures, Reserves' manager Paul Cuddy is faced with a headache. Tonight, Alty Youth were playing at Burscough in the NW Youth Alliance Open Cup semi-final against Marine, so the Reserves' line-up bore an unfamiliar look.

An Alty team unused to playing together was always going to be up against the odds when facing a team such as Ossett who lay third in the Lancashire League before tonight's game. A surprise inclusion in the Robins' squad was first-teamer Danny Murphy, who was set to have his first competitive action after a long lay-off for a hernia operation. Paul had also recently lost regular Reserves' defender Pat Claffey to injury, which further limited his options. Alty started with three at the back (Taylor, Chesters and Cabia) and three forward players (Madew, Anthony and Duncalfe).

The game started fairly evenly and Alty had two good early chances. Firstly, a cross from the right by Duncalfe found Madew at the back post but his shot lacked the power to beat the Ossett keeper. Then Duncalfe chased down the keeper and his clearance fell to Jason Anthony, 20 yards out. The Alty striker hit his shot well but it cleared the bar narrowly (7 mins). However, Ossett also missed from a couple of openings after Anthony had shot over the bar with a first-time effort from Duncalfe's feed (11 mins).

From their second corner of the game an Ossett player headed badly wide before the number ten shot wide when he got the ball off Taylor (14 mins). Play was stopped after 20 minutes for a stern lecture for Jason Anthony, presumably for "verbals". Ossett were now looking the more polished side, not surprisingly given they were used to each other's style of play. However, their best effort at this stage was a well-struck 30 yarder from their number six which Alty keeper Dale Newbrook held well.

Ian Taylor then made a fine blocking tackle to stop the Ossett no.10, although he had to concede a corner in the process. Taken from the left by Cateroche, the corner came to the near post where there was a bit of a melee and the Ossett's McLaughlin seemed to get the last touch but the corner taker was credited with the goal. Dale Newbrook appeared to make an excellent save at the foot of his right post but the referee ruled that the ball had crossed the line to give Ossett a controversial but not undeserved lead (31 mins).

Dale had no chance three minutes later when the opposition's Cateroche got behind a flat defence and found Davison who thumped the ball home from ten yards (34 mins). It almost got worse immediately after the re-start when the impressive Liam Young for Ossett latched onto a pass from Briggs and only a fine save at his feet by Newbrook prevented a third goal. Young then sped up the left wing and cut in along the by-line before firing into the side netting from an acute angle (38 mins). Anthony won a late corner for Alty but half-time came with them trailing 0-2.

The second half started with another fine save from Newbrook, which gave Ossett a corner. Before this could be taken there was a bizarre incident as the Alty keeper was asked to remove his earring by the referee, who then booked him (47 mins)! Ossett dominated play at this stage and Bloomfield forced Newbrook to another fine parry but Young followed up to score his side's third goal (50 mins). The same player did less well soon afterwards when he again got behind the Alty defence and as Newbrook closed him down, he shot wide (52 mins).

Altrincham now brought on Green for Madew (54 mins). This allowed the Robins to have four at the back, with Duncalfe and Anthony left up front. Newbrook's reactions again stopped a shot from the menacing number ten as the one-way traffic continued. Ossett now made a double switch with Danny Young and Yarrow replacing Parker and Bloomfield (56 mins).

Almost immediately Liam Young struck his second and Ossett's fourth of the night when he received a thorugh ball and rounded Newbrook (57 mins). Ossett continued to press and got a fifth through Davison when the Alty defence stopped expecting an offside decision which never came (68 mins).

Alty now made a double switch with Murphy and Kerfoot coming on for Douthwaite and Anthony. Murphy replaced Douthwaite on the right of midfield whilst Kerfoot replaced Anthony up front (69 mins). The changes were to transform the game as Alty now belatedly put together some attacking movements. However, the Davison went close at the other end as he hit the upright (75 mins).

Then, Alty's Kerfoot went up the left and fed Duncalfe whose shot was saved (76 mins). Murphy began to show some good touches and pace and he won Alty's first corner of the half on the right (77 mins). A second corner immediately followed. Ossett, however, then once more got behind the Alty defence but Newbrook did well to beat out Davison's shot (80 mins).

Altrincham then scored a consolation goal when Kerfoot's extravagant chip from 20 yards looped over the keeper and bounced into the roof of the net (83 mins). Murphy's header then played in Kerfoot but he lost his footing as he went forward and then, from a late Alty free-kick by Baker, Murphy rose superbly but headed narrowly over the bar (89 mins). Ossett deservedly won the game but Altrincham had showed some late resolve and but for a string of fine saves from Newbrook the defeat could have been heavier. For the opposition's view, visit their excellent website.

ALTRINCHAM SQUAD: 1 Dale Newbrook, 2 Adam Douthwaite, 3 Ian Taylor, 4 Alex Cabia, 5 Chris Chesters, 6 Francis Evans, 7 Kevin Duncalfe, 8 Levi Kennedy, 9 Jason Anthony (capt.), 10 Stuart Madew, 11 Sam Baker, 12 Danny Murphy, 14 Mike Green, 15 Liam Pearson, 16 Paul Kerfoot.

OSSETT TOWN SQUAD: 1 Mick Clark, 2 Dave Cateroche, 3 Danny Chesmond, 4 Dave Parker, 5 Dave Briggs, 6 Danny McLaughlin, 7 Robert Bloomfield, 8 Ross Wood, 9 Danny Davison, 10 Liam Young, 11 Brook Newton, 12 Chris Allen, 14 Danny Young, 15 Nigel Yarrow.