The game got off to an amazing start with Altrincham scoring twice inside the first two minutes. Killeen charged down a defender's attempted clearance inside his own penalty area, to the left of goal as Alty attacked. The ball came to Ian Horton on the left of the box and though his first shot was blocked he slotted home the second to open the scoring inside the first minute. Then, from a Paul Glynn free-kick some 25 yards out on the Alty right, Steve Lunt volleyed home the second. It was not much longer before goal number three arrived when Frost advanced up the centre and drove a superb shot into the top of the net from 25 yards (6 mins).

Steve Lunt nets one of his three goals this afternoon.

Although Mid-Cheshire won themselves a corner after 12 minutes, a minute later Steve Lunt made it 4-0 to Altrincham when he finished off a headed flick on from Killeen inside the box. A cricket score looked in the offing at this stage as Glynn then got in a shot and Killeen followed up but the Mid-Cheshire goal this time stayed intact (15 mins). The visitors were then forced to take off the hobbling no.11 and bring on no.12. Although Glynn then had a shot saved it was Mid-Cheshire who made the running as far as winning corners was concerned but they were unable to convert them.

For Alty, Killeen volleyed well over the bar (26 mins) before the visitors' no.9 shot just wide (33 mins). Mid-Cheshire were now coming back into the game and the Alty bench was becoming perturbed that their side had taken their foot off the pedal. The Mid-Cheshire no.8 then advanced skilfully into the left-centre of the Alty box and was fouled by Byrne. A penalty was given which the no.7 converted despite a good dive by Harrison, to his right (34 mins). Then, the Mid-Cheshire no.4 was allowed far too much time to collect a ball on the edge of the box and he drove it into the top of Harrison's net to make the score 4-2 (38 mins). Mid-Cheshire enjoyed the better of the closing minutes of the half, though Altrincham did win a corner just before the break from which Lunt's shot was blocked by the visitors' no.4 (44 mins).

The start of the second half was a much more even affair than the corresponding period of the first half. Though Paul Glynn tried to lead by example with a number of runs from midfield, Mid-Cheshire were now a much more organised unit than they had been at the start of the game. The visitors then replaced their no.3 by no. 14 (61 mins) before Alty brought on Potts for Douthwaite (63 mins). Ian Taylor now moved to left-back as Potts operated on the left of midfield. A Glynn shot went narrowly over the bar (66 mins) but Harrison in the Alty goal had to be alert to claim the ball from the visitors' no.9. Harrison then made a fine save, to his left, from a 30-yarder by the Mid-Cheshire no.10 (72 mins).

Right: Francis Evans and Jon McEvoy take a breather.

After the visitors' no.4 had got past the Alty defence, Taylor made a saving tackle to concede a corner on the visitors' right. The corner was missed in the air by both of Alty's centre-backs and dropped to an unmarked Mid-Cheshire player to knock into the net from 6 yards; it was now 4-3 (73 mins). There was then a strange incident when the visitors no.4 was clearly tripped and picked up the ball expecting a free-kick, but the ref's award went to Alty. From the free-kick by Evans, Killeen's good shot was well saved. Alty then replaced McEvoy by Nick Killeen (76 mins), who soon got himself a lecture for a robust challenge in midfield.

Just as Alty looked as if they would hold onto their slender lead, a cross from the Mid-Cheshire left was dropped by Harrison and had crossed the line before the visitors' no.2 made sure of the goal.

So, it was now 4-4, with four minutes left on the clock but as the ref. was to play an inexplicable six minutes of added-on time, it was really only the 80th minute. Having clawed their way impressively back from a four-goal deficit, Mid-Cheshire then had a lapse of concentration and directly from the restart after the equaliser, Lunt hammered home Alty's fifth from wide on the left (81 mins). This time there was no way back for Mid-Cheshire who had given Altrincham a very good run for their money in a match which was very entertaining but which will have given George Heslop, Neil Thomason and Mal Bailey on the Alty bench a few missed heartbeats.