ALTY DRAW MOORS IN FA CUP

The sides have never previously met in the FA Cup.

Andy Whing's Moors currently lie fourteenth in the National League and are schedued to meet Alty again, in the National League, on 9 November in the Midlands.

NEXT: VAUXHALL MOTORS

This will be the sixth meeting with the Motormen in cup competitions this millennium and every one has been drawn as a home tie for Altrincham! Alty have won four of those ties.

All the games have been midweek evening fixtures and they have all attracted small gates, with 245 spectators being the highest gate and 114 the lowest. For all of the five previous cup meetings the TOTAL gate has been just 893!

• CSC3: 31.1.23 Altrincham 1-1 Vauxhall Motors (Alty's goal: Own Goal 25, Altrincham won 2-0 on pens. *This tie was switched to Rivacre Park at Altrincham's request, gate 211)
• CSC1:16.9.08 Altrincham 4-2 Vauxhall Motors (After extra time; scorers O'Neill 69,82, Young 114, Senior 120, gate 128)
• CSCSF: 5.2.08 Altrincham 2-1 Vauxhall Motors (scorers Young 19, O'Neill 57, gate 195)
• UniBond League Cup 3: 6.1.04 Altrincham 1-2 Vauxhall Motors (scorer Hardy 64, gate 245)
• UniBond League Cup Group 5: 11.12.01 Altrincham 2-0 Vauxhall Motors (scorers Thornley 48, Murphy 64, gate 114)

Above: The sides line up before the September 2008 tie.

For the September 2008 clash, the Alty Files reported on the "Recipe for A Low Gate".

It read: "A low gate for Altrincham's clash on Tuesday night with Vauxhall Motors in the Cheshire Senior Cup was predictable for numerous reasons:

• The Cheshire Senior Cup attracts few customers at the best of times
• Season tickets are not valid
• The competition rules [at that time] required full admission prices to be charged - £12 to stand at Moss Lane, for example
• The opposition, Vauxhall Motors, have low home gates themselves, so visiting fans were minimal in number
• It was a damp night
• There was live European football on terrestrial TV at the same time
• The league clubs had been moved out of the Senior Cup into a separate competition
• Altrincham had not won for eight games
• Altrincham had scored just once in their previous nine hours of league football.
• Outcome: just 128 paying customers attended the game. On 11 December 2001 in the UniBond League Cup, just 114 turned up at Moss Lane to see Alty defeat the Motormen 2-0, though fog and icy temperatures were a factor then".

This time around both teams are in good form so and, especially in Altrincham's case, are much better supported. So, perhaps, we can hope for a larger attendance than in any of the above mentioned ties.

QUARTERLY REPORT: WHERE ALTY STAND

The early season ups and downs are settling down and Altrincham have risen to ninth, two places lower than at the same stage of last season but with the same 18 points' haul from the same stage of last season.

• 2023-24: P12 W4 D6 L2 F22 A18 PTS18 POS 7th
• 2024-25: P12 W5 D3 L4 F15 A 15 PTS18 POS 9th

A look at the league table also shows us that, so far, Alty have not beaten any of the eight clubs above them in five attempts and have not lost to any of the teams below them in seven games against such opposition this season.

THROUGH THE YEARS: 1 October

This and details of the other Altrincham matches played historically on 1 October can be found in Howard Watts and the late Mike Garnett's Through the Years data.

ALTY OLD BOYS

Elsewhere, Chris CONN-CLARKE has had an operation on the collar-bone injury that he picked up whilst playing for Peterborough United.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

From Wealdstone, West London Sport reports that "Wealdstone were again denied a much-meeded win by a last-gasp equaliser.

Sam Ashford put them ahead with a penalty but Halifax levelled with a spot-kick of their own, converted by Florent Hoti.

Micah Obiero restored the visitors’ lead but they were reduced to 10 men when Adrian Mariappa was sent off for a second yellow card for fouling Max Wright on 73 minutes.

And the Stones, who shipped a stoppage-time equaliser against Southend in midweek, did so again – [ex=Alty trialist] Tom Pugh the scorer this time.

Wealdstone’s Jaydn Mundle-Smith was sent off for dissent after the final whistle".

And it was a similar story for Ebbsfleet United as Kent Online records that "Ebbsfleet suffered a third successive National League defeat on Saturday at the hands of play-off chasing Oldham.

The Fleet looked to have snatched a late point but Oldham scored the winner with five minutes left at Stonebridge Road.

Ebbsfleet made two changes from the team beaten at Maidenhead in midweek, with Rakish Bingham and Craig Tanner replaced by Louis John and Lewis Page.

Oldham started brightly and nearly took a sixth-minute lead... It was one-way traffic throughout the first half, the Fleet’s only attempt at goal coming with the last kick of the first 45 minutes...

Oldham took just three minutes of the second half to get themselves ahead... Poleon did get on the scoresheet when Kitching’s foul at a corner was spotted by the referee. The Fleet striker sent keeper Mathew Hudson the wrong way from the penalty spot with nine minutes left.

But Oldham regained the lead just four minutes later when Kitching crossed from the left for Otis Khan to score from close range".

There is a sinking feeling at Hartlepool United where they "went down to a fourth defeat on the spin when they lost 1-0 at Forest Green Rovers.

While Pools produced an improved performance at the exquisite New Lawn they could not translate that into a goal and it’s now six hours without finding the opposition net.

Boss Darren Sarll rang the changes with five alterations with Adam Smith, Nicky Featherstone, Joe Grey and Mani Dieseruvwe all being moved down to the bench, with loan signing Nathan Asiimwe dropping out of the squad completely.

At the back, there was a welcome return for David Ferguson after missing Tuesday night’s defeat to Rochdale because of suspension.

It was a huge day for Brad Young, with the local lad making this debut in goal on loan from Premier League Leicester City.

The midfield underwent a complete re-shuffle with a diamond, with Nathan Sharon at the base and Adam Campbell at the top with Greg Sloggett and Darren Robinson coming in for starts alongside them...

After the break, Pools controlled play and should have taken a 63rd minute lead...

Midway through the second half, Steve Cotterill made a quadruple change bringing on Marcel Lavinier, Ryan Inniss, Harry Cardwell and Tyrese Osadebe for Knowles, Harvey Bunker, Liam Sercombe and Kyle McAllister.

The substitutions paid dividends when Lavinier and Osadebe linked up... before teeing up Charlie McCann who slotted his effort into Young’s right corner."

29 September 2024

TAMWORTH 1-2 ALTRINCHAM

Altrincham moved up to ninth with a 2-1 win at Tamworth on Saturday, leaving them with eighteen points this season, the same tally that they had achieved after twelve fixtures last season.

The win was tempered by the loss of Tom Crawford who was sent off for two cautions, the second being for celebrating his team's second goal with supporters, and the injury to Jake Cooper immediately afterwards, necessitating his substitution.

With Lewis Baines also currently sidelined ny injury, if Cooper is unfit next week, Altrincham have no natural replacement though right-back Lewis Banks (right) has performed that role previously.

Manager Phil Parkinson's post-match interview with Radio Robins' Laurence Howarth is here.

Match report here

• Alty line-ups
• Alty player statistics
• League table

TAMWORTH'S TAKE

Following their defeat by Altrincham, Tamworth have a match report.

NEXT: VAUXHALL MOTORS

Alty fans will be keen to see if former Alty hero Kevin Ellison appears for the Motormen.

Vauxhall are top of the NPL Division One West having won six of their nine fixtures to date. They won 3-1 away at City of Liverpool on Saturday.

ALTY OLD BOYS

Championship : DUNCAN WATMORE was credited with the assist for Millwall's second in a 3-1 home win over Preston.

Having missed Oxford United's last three matches, OWEN DALE came off the bench after 74 minutes of their goalless draw with visitors Burnley.

League One : JUNIOR QUITIRNA was substituted after 77 minutes, while TOBY MULLARKEY played the full game, but Crawley Town fell to a 0-2 home defeat against Bolton Wanderers.

CARL PIERGIANNI captained Stevenage to a 1-0 home win over Charlton Athletic.

JOE HUGILL (above, right) was withdrawn after 54 minutes as, despite having 17 goal attempts (6 on target) Wigan Athletic had to settle for a goalless draw at home to Exeter City - who didn't manage a single effort on target.

League Two : MARCUS DINANGA was a 71st minute substitute for Bromley as they drew 1-1 with visitors MK Dons.

By the time RYAN COLCLOUGH and JAMES BERRY came off the bench after 73 minutes at the Keepmoat Stadium, Chesterfield were already two goals up on 10 man Doncaster Rovers - indeed the hosts were down to 9 men when James scored Chesterfield's third after 95 minutes.

ELLIOT NEWBY was substituted after 63 minutes as Barrow went down 2-0 at Gillingham.

National League : DAN MOONEY started for Boston United, but was substituted after 72 minutes as the Pilgrims were surprisingly turned over 1-2 by visitors Maidenhead United, for whom MILES WELCH-HAYES played the full match.

FA Cup 3rd Qualifying Round : Wythenshawe Town's home tie against Farsley Celtic went out live via iPlayer at lunchtime. SAM SHERIDAN produced a string of dangerous set pieces, but nothing came of them, and the visitors, for whom CONOR BRANSON put in a full shift, got through to Monday's draw with the only goal of the game

Although YUSIFU CEESAY (above right) put Hereford ahead after 11 minutes at Bishop's Stortford, the hosts fought back to win 3-2

Alty loanees JOEL BAILEY and OWEN GERMAN underwent a chastening experience as Witton Albion were steamrollered 6-1 at Macclesfield.

DANNY CASHMAN scored Worthing's first two - the second from the spot- as they eliminated visitors Dartford 3-1.

NPL Premier : With his Bamber Bridge side trailing 0-2 to visitors Mickleover, Robins loanee LUCAS WEAVER popped up late, scoring after 90 and 95 minutes to earn a 2-2 draw.

Despite a late consolation from JACK REDSHAW, Hyde United went down 2-3 to visitors FC United.

NPL Division 1 West : LUKE WALL put Runcorn Linnets a goal ahead, direct from a free kick in the opening minute, and, although MASON FAWNS equalised for visitors Mossley from the penalty spot, Runcorn went on to win 4-1.

It was an unhappy Bootle debut for TOM HANNIGAN at Clitheroe. Having scored first, they were behind by the break. SEFTON GONZALES put the hosts 4-1 up, and then Bootle had a player sent off. SEAN WILLIAMS was withdrawn after 70 minutes, and AIDY ROXBURGH suffered the same fate 4 minutes later. Then Sefton scored his second to make it 5-1 in the 77th minute. Bootle scored twice in added time, but only Tom turned in a full shift. TONY THOMPSON remains on the injured list.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

• Saturday 5th October
• AFC Fylde v Aldershot Town
• Barnet v Boston United
• Braintree Town v Altrincham
• Eastleigh v Forest Green Rovers
• Ebbsfleet United v Rochdale
• FC Halifax v Tamworth
• Gateshead v Wealdstone
• Hartlepool United v Sutton United
• Oldham Athletic v Solihull Moors
• Southend United v Maidenhead United
• Yeovil Town v Dagenham & Redbridge
• Woking v York City k.o. 7:30pm

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Blues fell to a 3-1 defeat... The Head Coach was particularly let down by the manner of the goals we conceded.

'We looked like a team that had been thrown together against a team that’s played together for a while. The first goal’s really poor, there was hesitancy which is only caused by us.

'We get ourselves back in the game and at half-time we spoke about a plan of how to build pressure and we did the complete opposite... The whole performance wasn’t good enough....

'We’re a team in transition, and it looked like that... We gave pathetic goals away which we have done this season. We had the best defence in the league last season, but I think we’ve given four penalties away now and conceded from four set pieces, which is nowhere near good enough'...

Maher called on his team to show character and bravery. 'We were a play-off team last year and we’ve lost the nucleus of that team... The players in the building have got to stand up and be counted. The biggest worry is that we’re making it too easy.'"

28 September 2024

TAMWORTH 1-2 ALTRINCHAM

The Lambs forced a couple of decent saves from Ross but Altrincham only seriously threatened in first-half added time when Newby's first-time effort was saved by Singh.

At the break, which was reached goalless, the cautioned Linney was replaced by Nuttall.

Against the overall tenor of the match, Altrincham took a 61st minute lead when Amaluzor held off a challenge on the right and fed Newby who converted the chance.

Amaluzor made it 2-0 when an Osbone freekick was helped on by Cooper for Amaluzor to head home (78 mins) but, in the aftermath, Crawford was sent off for over-celebrating and earning a second yellow card (79 mins). Cooper was also injured in the process and had to be replaced.

Tamworth pulled a goal back deep in added time through Creaney (90+5 mins) but Altrincham held on.

Altrincham were unchanged for this afternoon's game at "The CR MOT Centre Community Stadium at The Lamb", in Tamworth, apart from one alteration on the bench where Ollie Crankshaw (right) is replaced by Max Haygarth.

It is said that Crankshaw's omission was due to the artificial pitch at Tamworth, with the winger only just having rsturned to action from a year's lay-off.

Eddy Jones remains outside the squad.

ALTRINCHAM: 1. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 6. James JONES (c), 5. Jake COOPER, 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 10. Alex NEWBY, 9. Regan LINNEY. Subs: 19. George WILSON, 21. Max HAYGARTH, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 15. Liam HUMBLES, 24. Joe NUTTALL, 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF, 30. Harvey RANDLE (gk)

As for Tamworth, they were also unchanged, except on the bench, where Curley and Lissimore dropped out and in came Acquaye and Cullinane-Liburd.

TAMWORTH: 1. Jasbir Singh, 5. Kennedy Digie, 8. Ben Milnes (c), 11. Luke Fairlamb, 12. Chris Wreh, 14. Kai Williams, 15. George Morrison, 19. Tom McGlinchey, 20. Nathan Tshikuna, 26. Haydn Hollis, 28. Munashe Sundire. Subs: 21. Leon Phillips, 22. Beck-Ray Enoru, 27. Miracle Okafor, 4. Tom Tonks, 9. Dan Creaney, 16. Ben Acquaye, 18. Jordan Cullinane-Liburd

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

• Barnet 2-0 AFC Fylde
• Boston United 1-2 Maidenhead United
• Dagenham & Redbridge 1-1 Solihull Moors
• Ebbsfleet United v Oldham Athletic k.o. 5.30pm
• FC Halifax Town 2-2 Wealdstone
• Forest Green Rovers 1-0 Hartlepool United
• Rochdale 1-0 Braintree Town
• Southend United 1-3 Gateshead
• Tamworth 1-2 Altrincham
• Woking v Sutton United
• Yeovil Town 1-1 Aldershot Town
• York City 0-0 Eastleigh

FREE NATIONAL LEAGUE CUP MATCHES FOR SEASON-TICKET HOLDERS

The Robins take on Rovers at The J.Davidson Stadium on Tuesday, October 8th (7:30pm) before the visits of Manchester United, Stoke City and Wolverhampton Wanderers round out the group stage by the end of January".

Manager Phil Parkinson said of the new cup competition "It will allow us to rotate our squad and get valuable minutes across our first team players which will stand us in good stead as the season progresses".

General admission for each game will cost just £7 for over-18s and £2 for under-18s, with tickets on sale online from Monday".

TODAY: TAMWORTH

Following the visit of promoted Boston United to the J. Davidson Stadium last week, Alty now travel to Tamworth, who won the National North division last season, whereas Boston had risen through the play-offs, having finished sixth at the end of the regular season.

The late Mike Garnett's data, updated since his untimely death, reveals Altrincham's record at The Lamb is not a good one!

• Home: P6-W3-D2-L1-F7-A2
• Away: P7-1-2-4-7-10
• All: P13-4-4-5-14-12

ALTY OLD BOYS

ALISTAIR SMITH's AFC Wimbledon have experienced a sink-hole in their Plough Lane pitch, whilst DIOR ANGUS has seen the pitch at AFC Telford's New Buck's Head Stadium under water.

NW NEWS

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Ties in the Fourth Qualifying Round are scheduled to be played on Saturday 12th October 2024.

At this stage of the competition, should scores be level at the end of 90 minutes, a replay would be required to determine the winners of the tie.

The replay, if required, will be played during the week commencing Monday 14th October".

Footnote: The Fourth Round Qualifying round was regionalised last season and, presumably, remains so for this season's competition.

Alty have bowed out at the first hurdle of the FA Cup in three of the last four years.

In 2023, they lost 0-1 at home to Oldham Athletic, in 2022 they lost a replay at Gateshead 1-2 and in 2020 it was AFC Fylde who saw off The Robins at the Fourth Qualifying stage, the Coasters winning 2-1 at Mill Farm.

In 2022 Alty won their only FA Cup tie in the past four seasons, knocking out Southport at Haigh Avenue 3-2 before Gateshead beat them at Moss Lane in a First Round replay.

2019-20 season, when Alty reached Round Two, is the only time they have progressed beyond the First Round Proper since 2016 when they lost 3-2 at Colchester United.

As recently reported, Southend United manager Kevin Maher had racked up 600 games for the club as either a player of manager. In response Southend United announce that "Maher has been awarded a testimonial year.

This honour is testament to Kevin’s remarkable career and positive impact he’s had for the Shrimpers spanning 17 years as a player and captain, U21 manager and now as first team Head Coach.

Tuesday night’s game away to Wealdstone was Maher’s 600th involved at the Club, of which 454 came during a glittering 10-year playing spell at Roots Hall.

The former midfielder captained the team to back-to-back promotions in 2005 and 2006, as well as a famous victory over Manchester United in the League Cup.

He returned in 2021 as Head Coach".

It is one-in and one-out at Oldham Athletic as the Latics "confirm the signing of forward Jack Stretton on a short term loan deal until 5 January.

The 23-year-old former Nottingham Forest and Derby County youth team player joins from Stockport County, where he has been since January 2023...

'This is a huge club with huge expectations,' he said...'It was a no brainer really... The coaching staff are incredible, this is a club on the rise so I’m privileged to be a part of it...

He had a brief successful spell on loan at Stockport in 2021 scoring three goals in five games.

Before the start of the 2022/23 season he joined Carlisle on a season-long loan deal... In January 2023, he was recalled to allow him to return to Stockport but this time permanently, for an undisclosed fee on a two-and-a-half-year deal".

But "Defender Liam Hogan has left Oldham Athletic by mutual consent", Oldham Athletic report.

The 35-year old joined Latics in the summer of 2022... The defender was appointed captain for the 2022/23 season and the following campaign, going on to make 82 appearances for the club and scoring two goals".

Meanwhile at Yeovil Town the Glovers "announce the signing of James Plant who joins on loan from Port Vale until January.

Plant is a versatile player capable of playing as a forward, central midfielder, or wing-back. He made his senior debut for Port Vale in August 2022 and gained experience on loan at Nantwich Town and Salisbury...

Plant continued to excel in the 2023/24 season, earning praise from his manager, but a shoulder injury sidelined him for 12 weeks. Despite being played out of position upon his return, he received further commendation for his adaptability and attitude."

At Aldershot Town the club is "delighted to confirm the loan signing of Dan Ellison from Bristol Rovers!

The 19-year-old centre-back joins the Shots on a month's loan...

Breaking through into Chippenham Town’s first-team early last season, Ellison went on to make 30 National League South appearances and his impressive performances earned him a move to League One side Bristol Rovers in the summer...

Head of Recruitment Jamie Hedges added 'With the unfortunate injuries we’ve had to the backline, we felt it was important to add more quality to this area of the pitch to add competition'".

27 September 2024

ALTRINCHAM'S STANCE ON NATIONAL LEAGUE CUP

He said, "The idea for the competition was first mooted over 12 months ago with the two main objectives being to benefit National League clubs through the redistribution of funds to the participating clubs and to benefit Premier League clubs by increasing the number of competitive matches their under-21 teams play against senior teams.

The money the Premier League is making available to the National League is the sizeable sum of £1.2m... but specifically excluding those clubs who have chosen not to take part in the competition. The prize money is generous...

As a club intent on achieving our ambitions while remaining on a sound financial footing, such considerations had to be taken on board and factored into the decision on whether to enter...

This means we need to identify new sources of income, and the National League Cup is one such source of a decent chunk of additional revenue.

Not taking part would simply hand over this income, which will be of real benefit, to a potential rival.

There will be a full review of the NL Cup at the end of the season and, by being part of it, we will have a say in how the competition will be in the future.

Our group stage fixtures in the competition are as follows...

• Blackburn Rovers (Tuesday, October 8th)
• Manchester United (TBC)
• Stoke City (Tuesday, December 3rd)
• Wolverhampton Wanderers (January 28th)

Tomorrow we'll be announcing some great news for season ticket holders, as well as ticket prices for the four group games at The J.Davidson Stadium".

NEXT: TAMWORTH

For details of travel to The Lamb, follow the Supporters' Travel icon further up this page.

In their ranks is a former Altrincham player who made his debut last Tuesday, when Tamworth won away at AFC Fylde. "With Jordan Cullinane-Liburd suspended, and Ben Acquaye unavailable, Andy Peaks made two changes... as [ex-Alty man] Kennedy Digie (right) made his first appearance of the season, and Kai Williams came to the eleven for the first time in the campaign".

The first half was goalless, but "with less than three second half minutes on the clock McGlinchey picked up the ball in the box and fired from the left of the box into the far corner past the despairing dive of the home keeper...

With 25 remaining though, Ormerod was pulled down by Fairlamb as he tried to get past him into the area giving the referee no choice but to award a penalty kick which Haughton fired to Singh’s right with the keeper going the opposite way (1-1, 66 mins)...

Lissimore took a tumble in added time meaning a late appearance for Okafor and from Tonks's throw, Creaney rose highest to power home a header and send the travelling fans wild with celebration. (1-2, 90+6 mins)

Tamworth: Singh, Digie, Milnes (c.) (Tonks 85), Fairlamb, Wreh (Creaney 73), Williams, Morrison, McGlinchey, Tshikuna (Lissimore 77), Hollis, Sundire. Subs: Curley, Phillips, Enoru, Okafor".

Footnote: After joining Alty in summer 2021, central defender Kennedy Digie played on loan at Hereford FC and Farsley Celtic, before signing for Gloucester City and Alfreton Town. He joined Tamworth this summer. He made 8(+2) appearances for Altrincham.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The Irishman, after a passionate plea for the backing of his supporters recently, lamented the aggressive nature of the Shots and called for more protection of his players from the officials.

'It was frustrating. Obviously, good to get a clean sheet and good to win,' he told the club’s media. 'I thought we were progressive with our play, and then obviously the red card happens. I actually thought the player (Theo) Widdrington, the manager's son, was cowardly with the challenge on Glover. It was an elbow in the back of the head, and then I’ve just seen he’s kicked all our bottles as well. Unbelievable.

'I see him in the first minute. I think the referee should get hold of the game where he clatters Shelton from side on and he doesn’t even have a word with him. I thought the red card was a clear red card. It’s a disgusting challenge.

'Gamesmanship is going to come into it and from their point of view, they’re trying to get an entry. They’re down to 10 men, and they’re making it difficult for us. But I thought our progressive play and our final third play were crap. In the second half, I mean... Our attacking players never produced,” said a frustrated Brennan...

'We’ve come here, it’s a tough place to come. We’ve come here with eight players injured'".

26 September 2024

ALTY TV HIGHLIGHTS

THROUGH THE YEARS: 28 SEPTEMBER

Right: Team-mates congratulate Ryan Colclough on the opening goal against King's Lynn Town in 2021.

Matty Kosylo, who started that match, is the only player remaining at Altrincham who was involved that day.

With this win, Altrincham moved up to eighth after an entertaining match in which, King's Lynn played the last fifteen minutes with ten men when Denton had to go off, injured, after they had already used their substitute quota.

Coincidentally, this was a replica of the situation against Boston United last Saturday when Ian Culverhouse was the Pilgrims' boss just as he had been for King's Lynn in this 2021 fixture.

In the twelfth minute, Ryan Colcough set the ball rolling, firing past keeper Jones from just outside the box.

Their second goal came when pressure culminated in Jake Moult scoring with a close-range shot across the keeper (53 mins). They underlined their superiority with two late goals, both laid on by fine runs up the right-wing by Joel Senior. First, he laid on a close-range goal for Mooney to make it 3-0 (86 mins).

But, just a minute later, man of the match Ben Pringle lost the ball, thirty yards out, and the impressive Morias went on to blast a rising shot into the top corner of the Alty net to make it 3-1. In another coincidence, Morias was at Moss Lane on Tuesday night, featuring for Dagenham and Redbridge!

However, Senior then laid on a close-range goal for substitute Josh Hancock to wrap up the scoring at 4-1 (90 mins).

ALTRINCHAM 1. Tony THOMPSON, 24. Joel SENIOR, 25. Toby MULLARKEY, 5. Tom HANNIGAN, 29. Joe BUNNEY, 6. Jake MOULT (c), 17. Ben PRINGLE, 7. Dan MOONEY, 11. Ryan COLCLOUGH, 15. Matty KOSYLO, 9. Marcus DINANGA. Subs: 23. Tom PEERS, 10. Josh HANCOCK, 19. David FITZPATRICK, 27. A-Jay LEITCH-SMITH, 28. Dean FURMAN,

NEXT: TAMWORTH

They started the season with a good 1-1 home draw against relegated EFL side Sutton United but then lost away at current leaders York City and at home to Hartlepool United.

A draw away at fellow North promotees Boston was followed by a 3-2 win over Aldershot Town. But after this decent start to the season, disaster struck at Barnet where they were trounced 7-0, followed by a 1-0 defeat at Eastleigh

They recovered to defeat Maidenhead United 3-1 before victory over Braintree Town, 1-0. They made that sequence into three wins in a row on Tuesday night with their 2-1 victory at AFC Fylde.

ALTY OLD BOYS

Hannigan, 36, was subject of a seven-day approach to the club from Northern Premier League West Division side Bootle at the beginning of September and expressed an interest in joining, before ultimately deciding to remain with the Yellows.

However, the centre-back has now informed the club of his decision to take up a deal with Bootle, enabling him to play closer to home.

The 2022 summer signing from Altrincham formed a superb defensive partnership with Evan Gumbs in his first season, helping the club to win promotion to the National League North.

He has been a consistent, top performer for the Yellows during his two years or so at the Cal.Delivery Stadium, and would have been due to make his 100th appearance in the next game against Chorley".

Footnote: Tom joins three other Alty Old Boys at Bootle in TONY THOMPSON, AIDY ROXBURGH and SEAN WILLIAMS.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Our Under 21s are already competing across four significant competitions in 2024-25, this combined with injuries and increased opportunities at first team level have led to higher-than-expected demands on the squad.

The original decision to enter was made back in June – however, after considering all options and discussing with the Premier League, the club felt the right decision would be to withdraw and allow another club to participate.

The Club would like to stress the decision to withdraw was not financially motivated, but instead due to managing the workload of our U21 playing staff".

One of Reading's planned opponents, Aldershot Town confirm that "Following the withdrawal of Reading Under 21s from the National League Cup, The Shots will now face Derby County Under 21s".

Prices being charged to watch the new National League club vary widely. As yet Alty have to announce their tariff but FC Halifax Town, for example, will charge adults £12, whilst Oldham Athletic have settled for a £5 entry charge for adults.

The Hartlepool Mail reports that "Hartkepool United manager Darren Sarll admitted his side were 'very poor' after Pools were hammered 3-0 by promotion-chasing Rochdale on Tuesday evening.

There was more pressure heaped on the embattled boss after... a second successive home defeat on Sarll's side.

There's not a lot going right for Pools at the moment and Sarll's decision to change his side's shape to a back three for the first time, in part to deal with the absence of the suspended David Ferguson, the club's only recognised left-back, and in part to get Mani Dieseruvwe and Gary Madine into the same side, certainly didn't seem to work...

Pools were booed at half time and booed again following the referee's full time whistle...

With Pools winless in six at the Prestige Group Stadium, scoring just once in nine hours of football... Sarll vows to continue facing up to frustrated fans...

'I stuck to my beliefs and values, I always try to say thank you for coming, I always try to show respect. If they want to show their opinions then good on them, they pay their money'...

Sarll's recent tweaks seem to have made his side more vulnerable at the back while making little to no impact in forward areas and the boss suggested he plans to return to the principles that served him so well at the start of the season when his team took seven points from their first three matches".

25 September 2024

THE MANAGER AFTER THE GAME

"We countered brilliantly in the first half", he said. He believed that the penalty decision was correctly given in Dagenham's favour.

"Myself and Sorvs know how to win games" he added and he also countered suggestions that Crawford's winner was offside having watched it on video.

As for "Joe Nuttall, he gave us more of a presence and a platform" after coming on as a substitute.

Responding to some fans' criticism after last Saturday's disappointment, he asserted "If people don't trust us [the management] now, they never will".

He added "People have got to keep believing... We are in a great spot... we've got to be positive".

Although he was very appreciative of the fans's support on Tuesday, referring to a minority of supporters he warned, "Don't turn on us when we get a draw", which he felt had happened after last Saturday's draw against ten man Boston.

ALTRINCHAM 2-1 DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE

Right: Tom Crawford, pictured during the game against the Daggers.

That opening goal came as Banks and Amaluzor got up towards the bye-line, right of goal, before Linney converted a simple chance in the goalmouth.

Altrincham, unchanged from Saturday's disappointment of conceding two late goals (and two points) to Boston United, went on to play some good football before Crawford gave the ball away some thirty yards from goal. This allowed Umerah to get into the box and, as he attempted to round the advancing keeper, Ross brought him down to concede a penalty.

Pereira sent Ross the wrong way from the spot to make it 1-1 (40 mins).

The second half was a less open affair and neither side had a clear chance before the ball came to Crawford, left of goal, reaching him from Golden. The former Hartlepool midfielder finished well with a shot into the far corner to restore Altrincham's lead (71 mins).

The Daggers made several substitutions but could not create a clear opening before the final whistle.

Match report here.

DAGENHAM VIEW

But after the early scare, the Daggers began to grow into the game... Altrincham came straight back with chances of their own...

With five minutes of the half to play, the Daggers were awarded a penalty, after Umerah was tripped by the keeper. Dion Pereira then stepped up and hammered the penalty home...

The hosts started the second half strong[ly]...

Despite some strong defensive moments, the hosts took the lead, as Crawford beat the offside trap and finished well into the bottom corner.

Despite an onslaught of Daggers pressure at the end of the game, the hosts held on to condemn the Daggers to a first defeat in four games"

NEXT: TAMWORTH

In 2011 Alty were relegated from the top flight, with Tamworth staying up, in 19th place. The results that season were:

• Tue.18.1.11 Away 1-1 (att. 795, Alty scorer Reeves 7 mins)
• Sat.19.3.11 Home 2-0 (att. 895 Reeves 36, Johnson 60 )

In 2014, with Altrincham now in the North division, Tamworth were themselves relegated to National North... just as Alty won promotion out of that North level.

But in 2016, Alty were again relegated from the National League, whilst Tamworth remained in the North so the two clubs met again in 2016-17 season

• Sat.3.12.16 Home 1-2 (att. 835, Alty scorer Lawrie 32 mins)
• Sat.29.4.17 Away 1-2(att. 902, Lawrie 34 mins) 22 mins). This was the last match of the season as Alty sank to tier three, the Northern Premier League.

Two years later, in 2019, the Lambs were themselves relegated from National North... just as Alty arrived back at that level for the 2019-20 season after their own dip into Step 3.

So the clubs have not been in the same league since the last fixture of the 2016-17 season when Alty lost at Tamworth as they finished bottom of National North. So, both clubs have dropped from tier one to level three before recovering their National League status.

AT TAMWORTH, THE LAST TIME

Above: In their yellow away strip, Alty's Micah Evans and Nicky Clee compete in midfield when the sides last met on 29 April, 2017 at The Lamb.

A good first-half showing by Altrincham had them 1-0 up at the interval and it could have been more but for saves by home keeper Jezeph.

Watched from the back of the stand by newly appointed management duo of Phil Parkinson and Neil Sorvel, Alty took a 34th minute lead when Nicky Clee fed James Lawrie through the middle and Alty's leading league goalscorer scored with a well-struck, low shot.

Tamworth improved after the interval and levelled the score seven minutes into the second period.

Misfortune struck Alty when keeper Tim Deasy went down injured, off the ball, and had to be replaced in goal by midfielder Clee in the 69th minute. Five minutes later, from a freekick conceded by Heathcote, the ball found Newton who scored at the back post.

Alty almost levelled when Hobson's fine 25-yard effort hit the woodwork but there was to be no way back.

Line-up: 1. Tim Deasy 2. Shaun Densmore (capt), 3. Kyle Brownhill, 4. Laurence Taylor, 5. Sam Heathcote, 6. Jake Moult, 7.James Lawrie, 8. Simon Richman, 9. Micah Evans, 10. Damian Reeves, 11. Nicky Clee. Subs 16. Craig Hobson, 12. Andy McWilliams, 14. Andy Owens, 15. Clayton McDonald, 17. Tom Hannigan.

OUT ON LOAN

The article refers to Harrison Howells (left) who was one of six Alty loanees in action for Cheadle Heath Nomads, who were formerly managed by Academy coach, Paul Fay.

Whilst Howells played the full ninety minutes, both Max Whittle and Lucas Edwards were used substitutes for the Nomads.

Elsewhere, Lucas Weaver was in a winning Bamber Bridge side.

Meanwhile, Owen German and Joel Bailey were both in Witton Albion's starting elven but their side lost 2-1 to league leaders Bootle in the Northern Premier League West".

ALTY OLD BOYS

League One: While the shoulder injury that CHRIS CONN-CLARKE picked up on Saturday led to him missing Peterborough United's 2-2 draw at Leyton Orient, and JOE HUGILL wasn't in Wigan Athletic's squad, CARL PIERGIANNI played the whole of the game for visitors Stevenage. The game ended goalless.

National League: Having been left on the bench on Saturday at the J.Davidson Stadium, DAN MOONEY was a 68th minute substitute for Boston United at Gateshead, but his team lost 2-0.

LUKE WATERFALL returned to captain Hartlepool United at home to Rochdale, while BILLY SASS-DAVIES was left on the bench to watch his team slump to a 0-3 defeat against Rochdale - for whom a third central defender to have worn our red and white stripes, KYLE FERGUSON (right) turned in a full shift for the victors.

MILES WELCH-HAYES picked up a yellow card as his Maidenhead United side won what already looks like a relegation six-pointer 2-1 against visitors Ebbsfleet United.

Oldham Athletic had JOSH LUNDSTRAM, REAGAN OGLE, and CALLUM DOLAN in their starting XI as they beat visitors Forest Green Rovers 1-0. Callum was withdrawn after 54 minutes, but the other two ex Robins put in a full shift.

York City were a goal up at the break at Solihull Moors, and went on to clinch a 0-3 victory when TYRESE SINCLAIR scored twice in three minutes late on.

NPL Premier : DONTAI GABIDON, newly signed from FC United of Manchester, was on Macclesfield's bench for the visit of Gainsborough Trinity. They had already wrapped up a 2-0 win when he came on for his debut after 72 minutes.

NPL Division 1 Midlands : Lye Town's home game with Quorn seemed destined to end goalless, but ZAK GOODSON put the visitors ahead in the 92nd minute, and there was still time for them to strike again for a 0-2 victory.

EFL Cup : It was always a big ask at Stamford Bridge, and sure enough what was effectively Chelsea's second string comfortably eliminated Barrow 5-0. ELLIOT NEWBY was withdrawn after 65 minutes.

EFL Trophy : He played just 4 games for Alty while Ollie Byrne's international clearance dragged on seemingly interminably, but DERMOT MEE (right) got a rare start for Manchester United U21 at Doncaster Rovers. Although he was beaten three times, he played a key role in his side's eventual recovery. After 96 minutes he was credited with the assist for their equaliser to make it 3-3, and then saved a penalty in the shootout as United clinched the game.

MARCUS DINANGA played the first 71 minutes of Bromley's 2-3 home defeat by Chelsea U21.

FA Trophy: BYRON HARRISON scored for Nantwich Town at Sporting Khalsa, but they were never ahead and bowed out 4-3.

Welsh Cymru Premier : Although JOEL TORRANCE was beaten twice at TNS, he was credited with 7 saves, and his Bala Town team made a magnificent recovery from 2-1 down at 90 minutes to win 2-3.

North West Counties League Premier : BILLY HASLER-CREGG scored to put Burscough 3-0 at home to Pilkington, and they survived a late rally to win 3-2.

Lancashire Challenge Trophy : AARON BENNETT rounded off the scoring as Lancaster City won their 1st round tie against Garstang 5-1 at Giant Axe.

News of a former Altrincham Youth player comes from Macclesfield FC who "announce the signing of forward DONTAI GABIDON (pictued, right, in his Alty days) from FC United of Manchester for an undisclosed fee.

The 23 year-old joins us from FC United... A player that Robbie [Savage] has admired for a while, Gabidon fits the profile of Macclesfield Football Club with his desire and hunger to succeed.

Dontai has made 75 appearances for The Reds scoring on 19 occasions during his time at Broadhurst Park and has great experience in the Northern Premier League.

Having excelled during his time at West Didsbury & Chorlton, Dontai became a focal figure at United since he joined in the 2022/23 season".

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

After playing more than 400 games for the Club in the 1990s and 2000s, Maher’s time as Head Coach will see him become just the second man to surpass 600 as player and manager, after Steve Tilson...

Maher said 'I obviously had a number of games as a player so it’s great to add to that as a manager and hopefully there’s many more to come and a lot of successful times ahead.'”

For TalkSport Ben Fletcher applauds "Eastleigh for taking the brave decision to withdraw from the newly created National League Cup. I only wish my own team, Woking FC, had done the same thing...

I can say with confidence right now that it will provide no benefits whatsoever to National League clubs and will more likely derail the ambitions of many of us...

They say National League Clubs will get to keep all the gate receipts, but the truth is they’ll probably be pretty scarce. Are people really going to be tempted out into cold November nights when the Champions League is on to watch what should probably be pre-season friendlies?

Most people I’ve spoken to have already called this out for what it is because they see it exactly for what it is. Training exercises for academy kids which will in turn burn out National League regulars in an already busy calendar".

24 September 2024

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

• AFC Fylde 1-2 Tamworth
• Aldershot Town 0-1 Barnet
• Altrincham 2-1 Dagenham & Redbridge
• Braintree Town 1-0 FC Halifax Town
• Eastleigh 2-2 Woking
• Gateshead 2-0 Boston United
• Hartlepool United 0-3 Rochdale
• Maidenhead United 2-1 Ebbsfleet United
• Oldham Athletic 1-0 Forest Green Rovers
• Solihull Moors 0-3 York City
• Sutton United 0-0 Yeovil Town
• Wealdstone 1-1 Southend United

NEXT: DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE

In the eleven opening fixtures for Altrincham, no fewer than seven of the opposing teams have been former EFL (or even Premiership) sides, including tonight's visitors.

Right: Chris Conn-Clarke is concealed beneath his bedraggled team-mates after his goal at a sodden J. Davidson Stadium in the 1-1 draw with Dagenham in August 2023.

In the case of Dagenham & Redbridge, after being robbed of promotion by the shenanigans of Steve Evans and Boston United in 2002, the Daggers finally reached the EFL five years later in 2007

They enjoyed nine seasons in the Football League, finishing in the top ten of EFL2 three times, before being relegated back to the National League in 2016.

Twice in the current millennium, Altrincham have been relegated from the top-flight just as Dagenham returned to that level.

Thus, Dagenham missed playing Altrincham when the Robins were relegated back to National North in 2016. They had likewise missed playing Alty in 2000-01 when Alty were again relegated from the Conference in 2000 just as Dagenham were re-promoted to that level.

So the Daggers only met Altrincham again as recently as 2020-21 season. Since then the results have been:

• Sat.12.12.20 WON | Dagenham & Redbridge 0-1 ALTRINCHAM, (att.773, Alty scorer Moult 39)
• Sat.20.3.21 LOST | ALTRINCHAM 0-1 Dagenham & Redbridge (behind closed doors)
• Sat. 2.10.21 LOST | Dagenham & Redbridge 3-2 ALTRINCHAM (att.1,360, own goal 10, Hancock 87, Mooney 90(+4))
• Sat. 26.2.22 WON | ALTRINCHAM 3-0 Dagenham & Redbridge (att.1,642, Mooney 19, Hulme 30, Hancock 53)
• Sat. 17.9.22 LOST | Dagenham & Redbridge 4-1 ALTRINCHAM (att.1,162, Lundstram 78)
• Tue. 18.4.23 DREW | ALTRINCHAM 2-2 Dagenham & Redbridge (att.1,185, Hulme 46, own goal 65)
• Sat.5.8.23 DREW | ALTRINCHAM 1-1 Dagenham & Redbridge (att.1,779, Conn-Clarke 80)
• Sat.2.3.24 LOST | Dagenham & Redbridge 3-1 ALTRINCHAM (att.1,449, Linney [pen] 45(+1))

Tonight's match is the first time since Alty's latest return to the National League in 2020 that the League has assigned this long-distance fixture to a Tuesday night, the previous midweek clash (in 2023) being a rearranged Saturday game.

IMPROVING START FOR ALTY WOMEN

They are now competing in the Cheshire Women's & Youth Football League Premier Division.

The match did not go well for Altrincham as they trailed 0-4 by half-time.

That became 0-5 early in the second half before Altrincham scored a consolation goal, late in the game, through Kira Saycell.

The Alty squad comprised Phoebe Dunn-Barrett, Ash Gilmore, Rose Hennessy, Elise Jones, Holly Lloyd, Natalie Lowe, Grace McArdle, Brianna Morrison, Annie Rose O'Donoghue, Emily O'Leary, Rhianna Pickering, Katie Robins, Kira Saycell and1 Ariella Shapiro.

Things were much improved in their next two fixtures. Firstly, they beat Northwich Vixens at Lostock Gralam FC, by four goals to two.

Kira Saycell opened the scoring in the first minute, with Natalie Lowe scoring the second goal after 15 minutes. Holly Lloyd added a third in the 36th minute before Grace McArdle completed Alty's scoring after 62 minutes.

The team was: Ash Gilmore, Isobel Hilton, Elise Jones, Holly Lloyd, Natalie Lowe, Grace McArdle, Annie Rose O'Donoghue, Emily O'Leary, Rhianna Pickering, Katie Robins and Kira Saycell.

And, last Sunday (22nd), came another excellent away win, this time 3-1 at Tranmere Rovers' Solar Campus, against Wirral United.

Saycell was again on target, scoring a brace in the 15th and 25th minutes before Elise Jones completed the scoring after 42 minutes.

The line-up comprised Caitlin Beaty, Charlotte Bromley, Ash Gilmore, Elise Jones, Holly Lloyd, Natalie Lowe, Grace McArdle, Brianna Morrison, Annie Rose O'Donoghue, Rhianna Pickering and Kira Saycell.

Altrincham now lie third in the nine-strong league.

Next Sunday, the Women are at home to Nantwich Town, at Partington Sports Village (2pm).

A DRAW FOR THE RESERVES

Alfred Igbinake scored Alty's goal in a game which saw Garswood reduced to ten men after 80 minutes.

Remi Thompson (right) was the only first-team squad member involved for Altrincham.

Alty's line up (in a/z order) was Blyth Emile Bywater, Alfred Igbinake, Charley Jarrald, Henry Murphy, Charlie Noble, Finley Ryan, Harry St Romaine, Vladislav Shtyhlian, Ben Taylor, Remi Thompson and Kyran Webster.

The substitutes were Kian Gonzalez-Moghaddam, Kian Leckey. Harry Watson. Thomas Whyte and Nathan Wood.

After playing eleven fixtures, Altrincham remain bottom of the table with two points.

EXCELLENT WIN FOR UNDER-19S

The Shaymen remain without a point at the bottom of the league whilst Alty rose to ninth in the thirteen-strong division.

COLTS INACTIVE

After two games this season they lie sixth out of ten in the Development Division of the NW Youth Alliance, with one or two games in hand on half of the rival teams.

ALTY OLD BOYS

League Two : MARCUS DACKERS (right) had already been a substitute for Morecambe's two previous matches, and he was one of four substitutions at the start of the second half of their match at Fleetwood. His side were 2-0 down at that stage but fought back to earn a 2-2 draw, with Marcus earning the assist for the equaliser. The hosts were without the injured HARRISON HOLGATE who, according to Sky Sports, has been ruled out for the rest of the season by injury.

The point was not sufficient to enable Morecambe to climb off the bottom of the League at the expense of Accrington Stanley. The pair are the only sides without a win after seven matches.

Southern Premier : Another former Robin who was watching early proceedings from the bench was AFC Telford's DIOR ANGUS at Barwell, and he joined the action ten minutes into the second half. The Bucks were already trailing, and a second Barwell goal in sixth of seven added minutes put paid to their hopes of moving above Stamford to top the division.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The first point to make is that if either a fairer financial distribution model was in place, or a proper football pyramid of three up, three down, between the EFL and National League, we may not have chosen to take part in the competition but concentrate[d] fully on a promotion push for one of the three places.

Unfortunately, the Premier League, EFL and National League have been unable to sort this out between themselves, and it is clubs like ours that are suffering financially because of this. We hope the proposed football regulator can intervene and force a settlement before another club goes out of business, as we so nearly did earlier this year. We are not in a position, as we try to run our club as sustainably as possible, to turn down the welcome income that this competition offers, and we recognise that this is at least some income being distributed further down the pyramid.

The competition was first proposed in the summer and the National League fully consulted with clubs. We raised concerns about the costs of hosting these fixtures, and... an acceptable financial proposal was agreed.

We believe the introduction of this competition is in no way linked to the scrapping of FA Cup replays. Rochdale AFC... are opposed to the scrapping of FA Cup replays. We have no say on this and have made our position abundantly clear to both the FA and the National League on this matter...

We recruited this summer with the knowledge of our participation in this competition, and currently have a squad of 24 players. We see this competition as an excellent platform for players to push for a place in our first team and as an opportunity for some of our talented Academy players.

Whilst there are obvious concerns... [and] taking all factors into consideration, the decision was made to participate during 2024/25 and review our position on this competition after one season".

Southend United "have been nominated for two Football Content Awards!

The annual awards ceremony celebrates the best in football media, from independent creators to clubs and media organisations.

This year, the Club has been nominated for Best Football Club (Non-League) and Best Branded Content, in partnership with c2c for the 24/25 home and away kit reveal; 'Every Journey Needs Its Threads'.

The winners will be decided by a combination of 50% judge votes and 50% fan votes".

23 September 2024

OLLIE'S WELCOME RETURN

Ollie joined from Stockport County for an undisclosed fee in a move announced on 30 August 2023. He was the club's eleventh signing of the summer.

A right-winger, he started out at Preston North End before having spells with Ramsbottom United, Clitheroe and Colne as well as for Morecambe under-23s.

From there he joined Curzon Ashton and then Wigan Athletic, in early 2019, before he was loaned back to The Nash.

A loan move to Dundee followed, a year later. He left Wigan for Bradford City in February 2021 before joining Stockport County.

Ollie returned to Scotland in January 2023, again on loan.

He had made more than fifty appearances for his previous employer, Stockport County, before leaving for Altrincham. However, in only his second appearance for Altrincham he suffered an ACL injury which prematurely ended his season at Barnet on 9 September 2023.

Last Saturday was his first appearance since then when he came on, from the bench, after 86 minutes against Boston. Eleven added minutes meant he got fifteen minutes of action.

NEXT: DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE

Dagenham & Redbridge report that Josh "Umerah’s early goal and a heroic defensive display gave the Daggers a third consecutive win.

Despite an early onslaught from the hosts, the Daggers took the lead, as Sam Ling’s low cross found former Hartlepool man Josh Umerah who did well to control the cross before firing it into the corner.

After our early goal, the hosts took control, with Dieseruvwe missing a golden opportunity to bring the game level.

Despite Hartlepool’s dominance we proved threatening on the break...

Our bright start to the second half was met with immense pressure from the hosts... With the hosts in the ascendancy, the Daggers had to catch the hosts on the break, and with the introduction of Ryan Hill, a few chances presented themselves...

With minutes to go, [Hartlepool's] Ferguson saw red for a foul on Reece Grego-Cox.

Despite an onslaught of set pieces the Daggers then held on for a massive three points on the road.

Starting lineup: Justham, Ling, Eastman, Kalambayi, Woodhouse (77’ Rutherford), Vincent (46’ Grego-Cox), Phipps, Pereira, Rees, Morias (75’ Hill), Umerah. Unused subs: Strizovic, Remy, Stephenson, Vigrass".

Just 37 away fans attended this long-distance game

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The 21-year-old attacking box-to-box midfielder has previous National League experience from a five-month loan spell with Maidstone United in 2022/23 where he impressed across 16 appearances for the club...

Lawson had a short spell with Mansfield Town’s U18 side where he appeared in the FA Youth Cup".

It was fortunate for Boston United that before they met Altrincham last weekend, that they could report that "Goalkeeper Ellis Craven has extended his loan spell with Boston United into a second month.

The Norwich City custodian saw his initial stint expire following last weekend's 1-1 draw against Aldershot Town.

Craven, 19, has now extended his loan spell until mid-October".

When first-choice keeper Cameron Gregory was sent-off at Altrincham on Saturday, Craven played the final 34 minutes of normal time and eleven more of added time, as his team went two-down before recovering to draw 2-2.

At Gateshead forward Jovan Malcolm has arrived "on a two-year deal, having previously appeared in pre-season as a trialist".

Aged 21, he is a product of the WBA Academy. He was loaned to Cheltenham Town where he played ten times for League One Cheltenham Town in 2023/24 season.

Another arrival at Gateshead is Left-sided defender Dan Jones, who has rejoined Gateshead having played for The Heed five times in 2016/17 whilst on loan from Grimsby Town. He has now joined Gateshead on a one-month loan from Port Vale..

Last season he made 14 EFL1 appearances for Port Vale, following 25 appearances for them the previous season. In all he has also made 66 EFL2 appearances for the Valiants, Harrogate Town, Salford City and Hartlepool United.

22 September 2024

ALTRINCHAM 2-2 BOSTON UNITED

There is a match report here on the 2-2 draw in which ten-man Boston came back from 2-0 down to earn a point.

Above: Alty keeper Ethan Ross ran the length of the pitch to express his concern for his injured fellow keeper Cameron Gregory as he was tended by Boston physio staff, aided by Altrincham colleagues including Tommy Uda (bearded, kneeling). Surprisingly, Ethan was not named Man of the Match despite making five excellent saves to deny Boston more goals.

In his post-match interview with Erin Carroll, manager Phil Parkinson described allowing ten-man Boston United to score twice from two goals down and to secure a draw was "scandalous". "We should have won that very comfortably today" he asserted.

"We've got to hurt from that", he added but "so much of that game was good" by Altrincham.

Referring to Altrincham's mixed start to the season, , he assured supporters that "at some point, it will click for us" and the team will go on a good run of results.

Discussing the injured players, Phil expects both Isaac Marriott (right) and Lewis Baines to be out for another "two to three weeks".

PILGRIMS' VIEW

Despite bossing the territory and chances at 0-0, United were reduced to 10 men after 50 minutes when goalkeeper Cameron Gregory was dismissed for clattering Justin Amaluzor.

Alex Newby and Regan Linney fired the hosts into a quickfire 2-0 lead, but Keaton Ward and Cameron Green struck late on to secure a fabulous result on the road for the Pilgrims".

NEXT: DAGENHAM & REDBRIDGE

This time around, Altrincham lie in seventeenth place in the Vanarama National League whilst The Daggers are up in eighth place, albeit just four points ahead of The Robins.

Dagenham will arrive at Altrincham on the back of a 1-0 away win at Hartlepool United on Saturday.

ALTY OLD BOYS

Championship : DUNCAN WATMORE put Millwall ahead at QPR, but their lead was short lived. The game ended 1-1 and Duncan was withdrawn after 75 minutes.

League One : CARL PIERGIANNI was booked in Stevenage's 0-2 defeat at Exeter City, while JOE HUGILL was withdrawn after 59 minutes of Wigan Athletic's goalless draw at Lincoln City.

CHRIS CONN-CLARKE, who had just missed a chance to put Peterborough United 2-0 up, picked up a shoulder injury only 13 minutes into their home game with Bristol Rovers. He was forced off six minutes later, but his team went on to win 3-2.

Crawley Town had been 1-0 down at the break at Wrexham, but JUNIOR QUITIRNA equalised in the 54th minute. However, he was substituted after 68 minutes, and though TOBY MULLARKEY put in a full shift, the Welsh side forced a 2-1 win.

League Two: Having been credited with the assist for Chesterfield's goal, JAMES BERRY gave way to RYAN COLCLOUGH, who had missed the previous 7 matches. By that stage (69 minutes) Cheltenham Town had levelled, and the game ended 1-1.

Both Alty's Alex Newby and Barrow's Elliot Newby were on the mark for their clubs on Saturday.

ELLIOT NEWBY (right) opened the scoring for Barrow, and they had wrapped up a 2-0 win over visitors Newport County by the time he was withdrawn after 87 minutes.

Grimsby Town had just scored the game's only goal when visitors Bromley brought MARCUS DINANGA off the bench after 53 minutes. He went on to hit the woodwork.

Despite a full shift from JEFF KING, Swindon Town lost 0-2 to visitors Carlisle United.

National League : Dagenham and Redbridge visit the J.Davidson Stadium on Tuesday evening, and, having put 7 goals past Gateshead last weekend, they completed a North East double this afternoon, a single goal after just 7 minutes proving sufficient to beat Hartlepool. The London club collected six yellow cards, while the hosts, who withdrew BILLY SASS-DAVIES late on, finished with 10 men after their captain, David Ferguson, picked up his second such punishment.

Another ex Robin on the wrong end of a single goal was MILES WELCH-HAYES, as Maidenhead United succumbed to visitors Halifax.

REAGAN OGLE was credited with the assist for the only goal as Oldham Athletic beat visitors Yeovil Town. JOSH LUNDSTRAM played the full match for Latics, while CALLUM DOLAN joined the fray after 53 minutes. MATT GOULD was in his usual spot on the visitors' bench.

National North : KOLE HALL (right) opened the scoring for Chorley at South Shields, but, having been two goals up inside 15 minutes, they eventually had to settle for a 3-3 draw.

National South : Another early scorer was Worthing's DANNY CASHMAN at Weymouth, but the hosts fought back to draw 1-1.

NPL Premier : JACK REDSHAW equalised for Hyde United at Morpeth Town, and they took the lead ten minutes later, but the hosts snatched a 2-2 draw in the 97th minute

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

KentOnline says "While the breakdown is not being made public by the league, it’s been confirmed that competing clubs will receive prize money based on performance and progression through the competition but all clubs, including the 48 at North and South, will receive funds from the prize pot.

Despite only just avoiding relegation last season, and initially expecting to sit out the competition in its first year, Ebbsfleet have decided to take part.

Originally, the format was set to be the top 16 National League teams to be involved but some clubs declined to take part, so it was offered further down the division...

National League teams will host Premier League 2 sides in four group matches between October and January before quarter-finals in February, semi-finals in March and a final in April.

Group A: Brighton & Hove Albion, Fulham, Reading, Southampton, Aldershot Town, Maidenhead United, Wealdstone, Woking.

Group B: Blackburn Rovers, Manchester United, Stoke City, Wolverhampton Wanderers, Altrincham, Forest Green Rovers, Oldham Athletic, Rochdale.

Group C: Leeds, Middlesbrough, Newcastle United, Sunderland, Boston United, Gateshead, FC Halifax Town, Tamworth.

Group D: Nottingham Forest, Tottenham Hotspur, West Bromwich Albion, West Ham United, Braintree Town, Dagenham & Redbridge, Ebbsfleet United, Sutton United".

The Swindon Advertiser t ells us that "Swindon Town's versatile defender Tariq Uwakwe has made a short-term loan switch to Maidenhead United...

Having joined Swindon last summer under Michael Flynn, Uwakwe sustained a series of injuries that kept him out after October last season and has not made an appearance for Town in any capacity since being on the bench... last year.

Mark Kennedy arrived this summer and said that Uwakwe was not going to be part of his plans moving forward, leading to another disrupted pre-season in which he did not play due to a mixture of this and illness...

Kennedy said... 'All I can say to you is that I had a conversation with Tariq, who has been a model pro and a real pleasure to work with, about how difficult it would be to get into my plans. Nothing has changed about that and I am guessing that between him, his agent, and the club, we are looking to find a solution where he can get minutes but it will be elsewhere.

'Yes he is still training... every day with Swindon Town, just not with the first team... Unfortunately for Tariq, we don’t have space for him... What we have done is made sure he is training with a large group of players every day where he can get that.'"

21 September 2024

ALTRINCHAM 2-2 BOSTON UNITED

But it was to be Gregory's first real test, in the 50th minute, which opened the door to the hosts. Boston had just forced another excellent block from Ross, early in the second half, when Alty counter-attacked. As Amaluzor, who had somehow avoided a booking despite committing at least four fouls, got free he was clattered about 30 yards out from the Boston goal by Gregory (50 mins).

Referee Bannister showed an immediate red card but Gregory remained prostrate and needed nearly six minutes of treatment before trudging off to be replaced by substitute keeper Craven.

Against the ten men Altrincham attacked and scored twice in two minutes midway through the half. First, Newby put his side ahead with a low shot from the edge of the box (66 mins) before Reddin fed Linney who, from left of goal, netted with a good shot across the keeper into the far corner (68 mins).

Above, scorer of the second goal, Regan Linney, is congratulated by Tom Crawford and, right, Kahrel Reddin, who was credited with the "assist". In the background, left, we also see Radio Alty's Pete Scotson.

To their credit Boston did not accept defeat or damage limitation. They forced yet another excellent save from Ross from a shot from their left, only for the ball to be worked to Ward who scored with a firm shot (79 mins). Five minutes later, Green advanced up the inside left channel before hammering a low shot across Ross into the net to make it 2-2 (84 mins).

Added time was announced as a minimum of 11 minutes and Although Altrincham spent most of it laying siege to the visitors' goal, Boston spent the final moments in the Alty half, leaving their 200+ supporters to celebrate a memorable comeback.

Match report here..

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

• AFC Fylde 1-1 Woking
• Aldershot Town 0-0 York City
• Altrincham 2-2 Boston United
• Braintree Town 0-1 Tamworth
• Eastleigh 4-2 Rochdale
• Gateshead 0-2 Forest Green Rovers
• Hartlepool United 0-1 Dagenham & Redbridge
• Maidenhead United 0-1 FC Halifax Town
• Oldham Athletic 1-0 Yeovil Town
• Solihull Moors 2-4 Southend United
• Sutton United 3-2 Ebbsfleet United
• Wealdstone v Barnet (k.o. 5.30pm)

TODAY: BOSTON UNITED

And it was in the play-offs in 2020 that the clubs last met, with Altrincham winning 1-0 at Boston to secure their return to National League level, with a goal by Dan Mooney, who now plies his trade with Boston!

The late Mike Garnett's data, updated since his untimely death, reveals Altrincham's record in previous matches against Boston United.

• Home: P36-W16-D12-L8-F71-A35
• Away: P39-W13-D10-L16-F61-A70
• All: P75-W29-D22-L31-F132-A105

ALTY OLD BOYS

Meanwhile in the Polish Ekstraklasa: Immediately after their hosts, Pogon Szczekin, had scored the game's only goal, Legia Warsaw gave MAXI OYEDELE his debut off the bench.

Welsh Cymru Premier: JOEL TORRANCE had to fish the ball out of his net twice by the 19th minute as Newtown took a grip on their game at Bala Town, but the Lakesiders eventually came back to force a 2-2 draw.

In the big game at the top of the division, Penybont emphasised their title ambitions, beating visitors TNS 2-1. The perennial champions are 8 points adrift now, but have 3 matches in hand.

FA Trophy: Both DANNY MITCHLEY and ASTLEY MULHOLLAND [pictured, right] were in the City of Liverpool team which comfortably saw off visitors Pontefract Collieries 4-0.

And in other news, Warrington Town "has accepted the resignation of MARK BEESLEY from his role as manager.

Following discussions... his eight-year run as part of the club’s management team has come to an end.

A former Yellows player, who made five appearances in the 2012/13 season, Beesley arrived back at the club as assistant manager to Paul Carden in 2016, before taking over as manager when Carden departed to Telford United in November 2021.

Beesley took charge of 139 games, winning 59 of them... He will always be remembered as the manager that led the club to the National League North...

During his tenure, the club has grown with average attendances climbing from 547 in his first season to almost 1,200 last term".

From an earlier era, JOE PALADINO was a colourful goalkeeper for Altrincham. He joined the club in 1992 and combined his football talents with those of the noble art of boxing. Previously he had been at Wigan Athletic, Runcorn and Witton Albion.

Now the Lancaster Guardian reports that his son "Preston boxer Joshua Paladino has won his professional debut... and is determined to become a champion...

'My dad Joey Paladino was a professional heavyweight boxer, and my great grandad Billy Ellaway boxed professionally at middleweight... I love eating Italian food and having a full English breakfast and some cake every now and again. But none of that will stop me from fulfilling my ambition to become a world champion'", said Joshua.

His father, Joe, went into football management after ending his playing career, with Daisy Hill, St Helens Town and Congleton Town amongst the clubs he managed, whilst he was also the assistant manager at Rossendale United and goalkeeping coach at FC United of Manchester.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Whilst we qualified for the competition we, like numerous other National league teams, declined to enter the competition.

Our rational[e] for this decision was based on numerous factors...

• National League teams currently receive no compensation or protection for our young players, some of whom would feature in this competition. Premier League and EFL clubs simply take these players that have often had many years development at our clubs, something they cannot do to each other. Providing these clubs with competitive games to then play these players or showcase more of them to be taken under these circumstances is completely illogical.
• The financial reward for playing in the competition is negligible and is likely to cost the club some much-needed funds.
• We don’t believe there is a huge demand for the competition from our supporters or any other National League club. VThe fixtures are to be played between October and April which is a time in the season where the club would hope to be competing in the FA Trophy, FA Cup and mounting a challenge for the Play-offs/Promotion and to add more fixtures to this already busy schedule would be counter productive.

  To fulfil these extra fixtures, the club would need to increase the size of its first team squad which would come at considerable cost to cover games that would provide no revenue to support this.

• National League clubs were not consulted before the decision had been made by the National League in the same way that we were not involved in the removal of FA Cup replays recently. Both of these decisions have potentially huge financial implications for National League clubs and also for our supporters...
• It is incumbent on the clubs to push back against developments that devalue our national sport something which we believe this cup competition does...

After a terse two-liner from Southend United announcing that "Ollie Kensdale’s contract has been terminated.

The Club will not be commenting further", comes a more profuse update from Southend United as Tom Lawrence writes that "Since the takeover on 19 July 2024, we have been busy implementing our Facilities Plan...

On the football side, having renovated the Fossetts training ground pitches in March; earlier this month, the first team started to use the pitches for most of their training sessions...

Our groundwork contractor will start to mobilise next week (on a 10-week programme)... The aim is to have the facility fully operational before the end of January 2025...

At Roots Hall... in the West Stand we have created a new exit to the West bar which has increased the bar capacity by 100%, reducing queues... We have also made an application to position a container (to serve alcohol) at the rear of the West Stand...

On the East Stand we have installed air conditioning in the Far Post Bar and we have decorated the Blues Legends Lounge and Captains Bar, complete with fresh mosaics...

We have also introduced Sky Sports across all the bars - with a view to opening bars earlier and closing later, encouraging fans to spend more time at the Club...

Lastly, we have made an application to convert our gas floodlights to more efficient LEDs...

The initiatives above represent short term wins, however, we are aware of the need to undertake more substantial works to the ground...

Those medium-term works will include the construction of a Fan Zone (location yet to be determined), improving facilities in the West and South Stands and the replacement of the East Stand.

These very substantial works will run into many millions of pounds and require a lot of planning and input from architects, other professionals and our fans".

Rochdale "defender Sam Beckwith [said]... 'We were disappointed at the beginning of the week with the result (Solihull) but it’s in the past now'...

Dale have conceded the fewest goals in the league so far with five. 'We take pride in our defending, it’s one of the worst feelings in football conceding...

'One of the main things you need is the togetherness in the squad, we all get on. We’ve all got a really good bond.

'We notice the fans support a lot, when the fans are staying and clapping us off after defeat, it means a lot to us and can’t wait to see them all down at Eastleigh.'”

The Real EFL reports that "Barnet youngsters Jermaine Francis and Finley Wilkinson have joined fellow National League side Braintree Town on loan until the end of January...

Francis... rose to prominence in the 2022/23 season when he scored 18 times in 43 games for Hashtag United... This led to Francis going on trial with the Bees during the summer of 2023.

Although a move to the National League did not transpire, the London-born winger had a very impressive campaign in the National League South with Chelmsford City...

Nine goals in 42 league appearances were enough to finally earn the Grenada international a move to Barnet earlier this summer. He has since made four substitute appearances for the Bees.

Finley Wilkinson spent time in the youth academy of Ipswich Town before moving to Histon and then Hitchin Town... as he scored 16 goals for the seventh-tier side.

This prompted Barnet to sign the 22-year-old on a two-year contract this summer... Like Francis, Wilkinson has made just four substitute appearances for Barnet so far...

Despite signing two high-profile strikers this summer, John Akinde and Inih Effiong, Braintree’s struggles in front of goal have been well-documented".

Aldershot Town report that "Haydon Vaughan has joined Bognor Regis Town on a month's loan.

The midfielder has made two substitute appearances for the Shots in the Vanarama National League so far this season and scored a hat-trick in Tuesday’s 7-1 win over Newport IoW in the Servio Men’s Senior Cup on Tuesday night.

MIDWEEK GAMES TO BE SPLIT THIS SEASON

With Boston United now announcing that their fixture on 22nd October against AFC Fylde has likewise been moved to Wednesday 23rd, and Wealdstone also revealing the same change for their game against Braintree Town, it seems that in future National League midweek matches may all be split between two nights (Tuesday and Wednesday).

Apparent confirmation that this date-change is not a one-off comes from Boston United who explain that "the move is to allow the midweek programme to be split between Tuesday and Wednesday as DAZN officially launch their streaming platform of the National League".

As things stand Altrincham have four other midweek games after 23 October which could be affected:

• Tue.26.11.24 H YORK CITY
• Tue.14.1.25 H MAIDENHEAD UNITED
• Tue.18.2.25 A Hartlepool United
• Tue.4.3.25 A York City

THE CURIOUS CASE OF THE NATIONAL LEAGUE CUP

Curiously, however, it has emerged that National League clubs were allowed to choose whether they participated or not.

The original plan was that 16 of this season's NL sides would be eligible, these being the two relegated from the EFL in 2024 plus those 14 clubs who had finished in the top 16 of the NL last season (the other two places last season being those of clubs promoted to the EFL).

However, when the participants were announced yesterday it became clear that five qualifying clubs (those finishing 16th or higher last season) had refused to participate; these were Barnet, Eastleigh, Hartlepool United, Solihull Moors and Southend United.

This means that those clubs will be in the advantageous position of not having to play a minimum of four additional fixtures in the National Cup with the attendant increased risk of fatigue, injuries, fixture congestion and suspensions.

So this left the organisers with just eleven clubs which had met the original qualifying criteria and agreed to participate.

Therefore, the net was cast wider and the four clubs that had finished from 17th to 20th place last season were invited to participate.

It would appear that two of these clubs also did not wish to take part in the new Cup; they were AFC Fylde (18th) and York City (20th), whereas Woking (17th) and Ebbsfleet United (19th) did accept the offer.

So that meant 13 clubs had now said "yes".

As 16 clubs were required for the Cup to take place as planned, the invitations were further extended to the four newly promoted NL teams, with three of them accepting the offer (Tamworth, Braintree Town and Boston United) whilst the fourth (Yeovil Town) seemingly did not.

All very odd.

50 UP FOR ETHAN AND JUSTIN

In Ethan's case, his 49 appearances to date are all full 90-minute displays whilst, in contrast, Justin's total so far comprises 43 starts and six games in which he has come on from the bench. Those 43 starts include just fourteen games in which he completed ninety minutes, having been substituted on the other 29 occasions.

27 year-old Ethan (left) initially joined Altrincham on loan for the 2023-24 season from Stockport County in a deal announced on 25 July 2023. He joined Altrincham on a permanent basis in a process confirmed on 13 October 2023.

Before joining the Robins, Ethan had the distinction of having played against Altrincham for five different clubs, following appearances against the Robins for Worcester City, Weymouth, Aldershot Town and Stockport County!

Recently, Ethan has been described by Altrincham's website not only as a goalkeeper but also as a coach.

Like Ethan, who was born in Enfield, Middlesex, Justin (right) is also 27 years old and, likewise, a southern-born player having been born in Southwark, London.

His arrival at Moss Lane from Aldershot Town, for an undisclosed fee, was unveiled on 22 June 2023.

Having started at Luton Town and, after a brief spell at Dartford, Justin spent three years at Barnet (2015–2018) where he made 19 appearances. In 2016, whilst at Barnet, he changed to using his current name, having previously been known as Justin Nwogu.

After Barnet, he joined Braintree Town (2018/19), followed by a spell with Maidstone United (2019/21). 2021–2022 saw him up in Scotland at Motherwell, where he played 13 times, before he spent 2022-23 season at Aldershot.

In his 49 appearances to date he has scored eight goals for Altrincham.

"JOE MADE A DIFFERENCE" SAYS BOSS

There were positives from the 0-0 draw, not least the impact made by second-half substitute Nuttall, who is still to get off the mark for the Robins.

'Joe made a difference for us when he came on,' said Parkinson. 'He gave us an outlet and showed a real willingness to get involved, and that’s what we need from him.

'It’s obvious that he provides a physical presence, but he gives us much more than that. People question his work-rate, but his work-rate has been unbelievable.

He runs in behind, comes short to pick balls up and closes down defenders, and it’s only a matter of time before the goals start coming for him.'"

Footnote: 27 year-old Joe's arrival at the J. Davidson Stadium, on a season-long loan from Oldham Athletic, was announced on 20 June 2024.

Joe started out at Manchester City's academy before spending 2015-17 on Aberdeen's books. He had loan spells whilst in Scotland at Stranraer and Dumbarton.

The next five years were split between spells at Blackburn Rovers and Blackpool, where he made 28 and 27 appearances respectively for the Lancashire clubs.

He joined Scunthorpe United in 2022, and, following the Lincolnshire club's relegation from the EFL, he played against Alty for The Iron, scoring a penalty in a 2-2 draw at Moss Lane.

He moved on to Oldham Athletic for whom he again scored against Alty in another 2-2 draw, on Good Friday 2023.

This season he has made three starts and three more appearances from the bench, with his time on the pitch totalling 263 minutes.

PARKINSON RUMOUR MILL STARTS AGAIN

Carlisle United have identified the National League pair as two potential replacements for Paul Simpson. However, they have now ‘agreed’ a deal with Mike Williamson from fellow League Two side MK Dons.

The Cumbrians made the decision to part company with Simpson following their poor start to the new season. They were relegated from League One earlier this year".

NEXT: BOSTON UNITED

Both sides have found goals hard to come by this season, each netting just nine goals in their nine fixtures so far.

Alty should take note that the Pilgrims' only two wins this season were both away from home and both were impressive results against strong opposition. The first victory game in match five at current league-leaders York City, where they won 2-0.

The other victory was a handsome 3-0 win at Gander Green Lane against Sutton United in match seven of the season.

Before those wins, the Pilgrims had been dealt a difficult start to life back in the top-flight of non-League after promotion last season.

They lost heavily at home to Rochdale on the opening day of the campaign and, likewise, against Forest Green Rovers. Next came a 2-0 reverse at Roots Hall against Southend United.

Their only ever-present player this season is their goalkeeper, as is also the case at Altrincham. He is Cameron Gregory who joined the club in January 2023.

The Pilgrims' captain is the vastly experienced Michael Bostwick. He played at Moss Lane, for Crawley Town against Altrincham, as long ago as 18 November 2006 in a Nationwide Conference National match. He went on to have a long EFL career before signing for Boston.

Another familiar name in their squad is forward Adam Marriott who has played (or been on the bench against Alty) for at least six of his former clubs (Cambridge United, King's Lynn Town, Eastleigh, Barnet, Bromley and Lincoln City).

Whilst Isaac Marriott's injury spares the Radio Robins commentators the confusion of having two Marriotts on the pitch on Saturday, they will have to contend with differentiating between two Osbornes, one on each side, (Elliot for Alty and Sam for the visitors).

However, they may be glad to know that Boston forward Oluwalopemiwa Aderoju's first name is usually shortened to Pemiwa!

ALTY OLD BOYS

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The Yorkshire born striker... made his senior debut on 26th October 2021...

For the 2022/23 season, McGuckin went on loan to National League North side Scarborough Athletic... After returning to Rotherham in May 2023, he extended his contract with the club. By February 2024, he secured a loan move to Dundalk in the League of Ireland Premier Division".

Hartlepool United "confirm the signing of versatile winger Nathan Asiimwe on a short-term loan deal from Charlton Athletic,...

Asiimwe has been at The Valley since the age of nine, earning his first professional contract in May 2023. He is comfortable across both flanks as a full-back and winger.

The 19-year-old has played 26 times for Charlton’s first team, with 18 of those appearances coming in League One...

Pools manager Darren Sarll added 'Nathan has been a long time coming... In Nathan, we have another fantastic athlete who again shows that we are trying to learn as the games unfold. In the absence of Luke Charman, the ability to replenish the width in the team was a challenge and with Nathan we have cover for both flanks and even full-back positions'"

19 September 2024

NEW CUP COMPETITION DETAILS

Altrincham FC explains that "The National League Cup, an exciting new concept launched jointly by the NL and Premier League, will be in a group format initially over the next few months, with quarter and semi finals to follow and the final.

A total of 32 teams are taking part, split into four regions, and each group of eight will consist of four sides from the National League and four from Premier League 2, the division set up for under-21 teams from clubs with Category One Academies.

Under the rules of this newly-formed competition, each National League side will ONLY play the Premier League 2 teams in their group, meaning, in Alty's case, we will face Blackburn Rovers, Manchester United, Stoke City and Wolves...

Co-Chairman Bill Waterson commented 'The competition will give Alty our first-ever competitive fixture against our near-neighbours from the north of the borough, as well as renewing acquaintances with Blackburn Rovers after more than 50 years.

[Alty have also met Wolves competitively in the FA Cup].

'The prize and participation money will also be a very welcome addition to our coffers.'

All four of Alty's group games will be at The J.Davidson Stadium, kicking-off at 7.30pm, starting with the visit of Blackburn's under-21 team on Tuesday October 8th.

A date for the visit of United's emerging youngsters has still to be confirmed, but is expected to be in early-November, while Stoke head our way on Tuesday December 3rd and Wolves are our final group opponents on Tuesday January 28th".

NEXT: BOSTON UNITED

Last Saturday, Boston United drew 1-1 at home to Aldershot Town, coming "back from a goal down to earn a valuable point...

Visitors Aldershot Town took a 29th minute lead through Josh Barrett and Dewhurst intervened before half-time to keep out DAN MOONEY's spot-kick and subsequent follow-up...

United's afternoon was marred by an early injury for left-back Mitch Roberts. United's number 4 was stretchered off with suspected ankle ligament damage...

Aldershot edged in front... with BARRETT curling home a beauty from 20 yards...

However, the Pilgrims finally levelled in the 73rd minute when HAZEL rifled home an angled strike...

Boston (4-3-3): Cameron Gregory; Jai Rowe, Michael Bostwick, Zak Mills, Mitch Roberts (Cameron Green 20); Keaton Ward (Adam Marriott 77), Frankie Maguire, Dylan Hill; Sam Osborne (Tony Weston 61), Jacob Hazel, Dan Mooney (Pemi Aderoju 61). Subs (not used): Tom Leak, Martin Woods, Ellis Craven (gk)".

THROUGH THE YEARS: 21 SEPTEMBER

This and all other previous Altrincham games on 21 September are to be found in Howard Watts and the late Mike Garnett's Through the Years data.

Above: Alty take to the field ahead of their defeat at North Ferriby in 2013. Altrincham and North Ferriby United had met only once previously, in 2002 when NFU knocked Alty out of the FA Trophy 3-2.

Back in 2013 Alty were without Danny Boshell (groin) so youth team graduate Rob Gilroy joined the squad.

A lacklustre first-half show from Altrincham saw them fall behind in the 29th minute when Densmore was unable to clear and King fed Jarman for a goal from 20 yards.

Jarman added a second four minutes after the interval as NFU exchanged passes effectively. After finally bringing on Lawrie and Walshaw, Alty got a goal back through a Havern header which Walshaw knocked over the line (77 mins). Alty pressed in the final stages but had left it too late.

ALTRINCHAM: 1. Stuart COBURN, 2. Shaun DENSMORE (capt), 3. Matt DOUGHTY, 4. Carl RODGERS, 5. Gianluca HAVERN, 6. Scott LEATHER, 7. Simon RICHMAN, 8.Jake MOULT, 9. Kyle PERRY, 10. Damian REEVES, 11. Nicky CLEE. Subs: 14. Brian SMIKLE, 15. James LAWRIE, 16. James WALSHAW, 17. Rob GILROY, 18. Adam REID

ALTY OLD BOYS

When Stafford Rangers met Avro in the NPL Div.1 West this Tuesday, Phil Jordan reported here that MAX HARROP scored twice as Avro won 1-3 at Marston Road.

Now that the line-ups for that match have become available, it emerges that there were no fewer than SIX Alty Old Boys involved that match.

Stafford started with SEAN LAWTON, JOE MWASILE (right) and JOE ROBBINS in their eleven, whilst A-J LEITCH-SMITH came on as a substitute.

As for Avro DAVID FITZPATRICK as well as the above-mentioned MAX HARROP were in their starting eleven!

SIMON'S COMMUNITY PLANS

Above: Many Alty fans will know Simon Dow from his marshalling of the groups of youngsters who welcome the players onto the pitch at the J. Davidson Stadium. Simon is seen, far right of the above image.

Maintaining the high standard of guest speakers at our monthly breakfast gatherings, community manager Simon Dow will provide members with an in-depth insight into a newly-formed three-year strategic plan aimed at building on the strides already taken by staff at the club.

Simon has held the post for five years now and is immensely proud of the way a varied programme of initiatives has impacted positively on all areas and aspects of the local community...

He is looking forward to addressing our Business Club and providing a lot more detail in the plush surroundings of The John King Lounge on Friday September 27th. As is the norm, proceedings get underway at 8.30am with a selection of hot and cold breakfast items".

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

It was Fylde who struck first on the stroke of half time with Jon Ustabaşi heading home...

Southend were the dominant side after the interval and Scott-Morriss made this count, lashing home a half volley after being teed up by Macauley Bonne just before the hour.

Blues remained on top following this but in the opening minute of stoppage time Fylde retook the lead with a Nick Haughton strike from 20 yards...

As the game ticked into stoppage time the Coasters snatched an arguably undeserved winning goal.

The National League’s leading scorer Haughton scored an impressive strike from 20 yards".

After the match Southend United manager Kevin Maher said "I feel for the fans travelling so far on a Tuesday night and we thank them for their support. It’s a tough period for us, we know that, but we’ve got to stick together...

"After going behind and coming back into the game in the second half, we went on to try and win the game but we’re caught with one at the end from a player we highlighted... We looked like the team that were going to go on and win it, so to lose it is a real sickener.”

The 72 confirms that "Birmingham City midfielder Josh Home has joined Gateshead on loan until the end of the season...

The Blues spent a serious amount of money in the summer transfer window in a bid to build a squad capable of achieving their promotion goal...

Much of the focus was on incomings at St. Andrew’s in the summer, but there were departures too...

Midfielder Josh Home is the latest to head out... He has joined the Heed for the duration of the 2024/25 campaign... his maiden loan away from St. Andrew’s".

HARTLEPOOL MATCH MOVED

The Vanarama National League fixture will now take place on Wednesday, October 23rd, with kick-off remaining at 7:45pm".

NEXT: BOSTON UNITED

Dan surprisingly decided to move sideways from Altrincham to another National League club, Southend United, a move announced on 26 May 2022.

As a twenty-year old, Daniel had arrived at Altrincham from Fleetwood Town for an undisclosed fee and he made his debut on 1 February 2020 at home to AFC Telford United.

Alty's signing of the left-footed wingman was unveiled on 4 February 2020 and he made an impressive debut that evening, on the right wing, against AFC Telford United. He had previously played against Altrincham for Chester FC and Ashton United whilst on loan spells from the Fleetwood club, for whom he made two first-team appearances.

His 2020-21 season was disrupted by injury and he made just 13 starts and ten appearances from the bench. 2021-22 promised to be better as he completed seven of the first ten fixtures but after that he failed to play for 90 minutes in any of the next 17 league fixtures (to early February 2022).

Things did not work out for Dan at Southend, where he made 47 appearances but only netted three times.

Having not settled at the troubled Essex club, Dan returned to Alty where he was announced as a permanent re-signing on 22 December 2023.

On his return he played mainly as a substitute, coming off the bench, and making 8(+8) appearances in total, scoring once. Dan was released by Altrincham in summer 2024 and joined Boston for the start of the current campaign.

By the time he left Altrincham for the scond time, Dan had made 55(+15) appearances and scored 18 times for The Robins.

So far this season he has made 5(+3) appearances for the Pilgrims, with his game time totalling 404 minutes to date.

Last Saturday he had a chance to open his scoring account for Boston but he saw his penalty and follow-up saved by the visiting Aldershot keeper.

ALTY OLD BOYS

EFL Cup: HARRISON HOLGATE was injured only 7 minutes into Fleetwood's tie at Stoke City and was unable to continue. The Cod Army forced a penalty shootout, equalising to make it 1-1 in the 91st minute, but then missed 4 of their spot kicks, so Stoke, despite missing 2 of THEIRS went through.

FA Cup 2QR Replays: ROSS BARROWS (above, right) was a 76th minute substitute for Scunthorpe United, the scoring being already completed in their 5-0 win over Newcastle Town. They travel to Guiseley in the next round.

NPL Premier: JAMES HARDY scored the opener as Ashton United beat bottom club Matlock Town 3-2 at Hurst Cross.

AARON BENNETT struck for Lancaster City in the 84th minute to earn a 1-1 draw at Prescot Cables.

Robins loanee LUCAS WEAVER put Bamber Bridge ahead at Workington, and they increased their lead when his cross was converted by Jeff Adubofour, who was replaced at the start of the second half by BILLY HASLER CREGG. Bridge went on to win 1-2, with Lucas also being substituted late on.

NPL Div.1 West : MAX HARROP scored twice as Avro won 1-3 at Stafford Rangers.

Lancashire Challenge Trophy : Atherton Collieries were 2-0 down at West Didsbury & Chorlton, but EDEN BAILEY (right) reduced the arrears, and then went on to convert his penalty in the shootout when the game finished 2-2. Collieries won the shootout 5-4.

TUESDAY RESULT

• AFC Fylde 2-1 Southend United

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Ten days ago, Southend United were unable to get to Fylde by a broken-down train, so on Tuesday night they played the rearranged fixture, losing it 2-1.

Before that match, Southend United reported that "Jack Bridge is confident Blues can return to winning ways against AFC Fylde this evening...

Bridge said: “It’s probably a good thing that we’ve got a game so close because we want to put [Saturday] right. We were a little bit disappointed with the goals we conceded but we’ve got an opportunity to bounce back now.'

He’s been utilised both at left wing-back and further forward in recent weeks. On that, the 28-year-old added... 'Against Eastleigh I was up top and it worked out well, but the game on Saturday didn’t go the way we wanted it to...

'If I can get on the ball, then I know I can make things happen...

'We do everything right. We prepare well and do everything we can to make sure the players that are playing are fit enough to keep going.

'This game obviously wasn’t meant to be on a Tuesday night so it’s not ideal to have to go there on a Tuesday'", he concluded.

There is a second signing of the week at Wealdstone where the club is "delighted to welcome back Sam Howes on a loan deal from Leyton Orient!

The keeper re-joins the Stones for a fourth time, having left the Vale for the 'O's in 2023, following his 'Players' player' and 'Junior Stones' player of the year winning season at the club.

The 26-year-old played every minute of every game for the Stones during the 2022-23 season, earning himself a call up to the England C team...

Said Sam Howes 'When I heard the news after Archie's (Matthews) injury, I wanted to get the deal done quickly... They (Wealdstone) already know what I'm about'".

17 September 2024

NEXT: BOSTON UNITED

Having lost out to lower-finishing Altrincham in the 2020 play-offs, they themselves gained promotion last season despite finishing sixth.

• 2020-21 P13-W6-D5-L2-F20-A10-PTS23 season abandoned
• 2021-22 P42-W18-D9-L15-F63-A57-PTS63-POS 7 of 22
• 2022-23 P46-W15-D11-L20-F68-A66-PTS56-POS 15 of 24
• 2023-24 P46-W21-D12-L13-F68-A46-PTS75-POS 6 of 24

ALTY APPOINT DATA SCIENTIST

He adds that "I would like to thank everyone at Alvechurch for all the support" where, apparently, he has been working.

He adds, "Given my Mathematical and Data Analytics background I am excited to continue my journey but with a new focus into football data science!!"

His LinkedIn account says he started his "role at Altrincham FC two months ago". Johal is a mathematics graduate of Loughborough University.

He has also had "over 2 years experience as Data Analyst for East Midlands Specialist Learning & Development Hub based at Leicestershire Constabulary".

In another post on X he writes, "I’m delighted to announce that over the past month I have been working as a data scientist at Altrincham Football Club

For the new season I am liaising with the head of analysis Jack Farrelly to develop the pre match reports, building visuals through coding in Python

I travelled up to Manchester for the first game of the season vs Woking and it was great to meet the players, the gaffer Philip Parkinson as well as Chairman Lawrence Looney and CEO Sam Mackenzie

A massive thank you to everyone at ALVECHURCH FOOTBALL CLUB LIMITED including manager James Fry and in particular Dylan-Jai Scott for introducing me to HUDL Sportscode and more in depth video analysis".

Footnote: Altrincham's burgeoning professionalism off the pitch has seen two other recent appointments:

• 28 August 2024: Marc Tierney was announced as the new Director of Football.
• July 2024: Jack Farrelly was announced as Head of Analysis / a.k.a. Lead Analyst

MIXED RESULTS FOR THE RESERVES

Altrincham's starting eleven featured Blyth Emile Bywater, Sekouba Camara (who scored one goal), Jack Alexander Chandler, Oscar Cooper (who netted a hat-trick), Alfred Igbinake (who netted a brace), Charley Jarrald, Charlie Noble, Remi Raymond, Ben Taylor, Kyran Webster (who also hit a hat-trick), Thomas Whyte. Subs: Kian Gonzalez-Moghaddam, Kian Leckey, Finley Ryan (who scored once), Harry St Romaine and Nathan Wood.

However, last Saturday (14th) back in the Cheshire County League, Altrincham remained rooted to the bottom of the league with just a single point earned after ten fixtures.

Altrincham entertained Eagle Sports but, despite home advantage, the Robins lost 2-5.

Trailing only by three goals to two at the interval, thanks to goals from Webster and Wood, two second-half goals for the visitors ensured there would be no recovery for Altrincham.

The starting eleven comprised (a/z order) Blyth Emile Bywater, Lucas William Edwards, Alfred Igbinake, Charley Jarrald, Kian Leckey, Charlie Noble< Remi Raymond, Ben Taylor, Kyran Webster, Thomas Whyte and Nathan Wood> The substitutes were Oscar Cooper, Isaac Mannion, Henry Murphy, Finley Ryan and Vladislav Shtyhlian.

UNDER-19S OFF THE MARK

This was Alty's first point of the season having completed just two fixtures so far. They currently lie tenth in the 13-strong division, but they have a game in hand on seven of their league rivals

Next Wednesday, they are away to FC Halifax Town U19s at Wyke Community Sports Village.

COLTS IN MID-TABLE

Their opening match, played at Grove Park in Hale on 1 September, saw them beaten 4-0 at home by Trafford FC's Development Squad.

However, the following Sunday at Egerton Sports Club in Knutsford, they overcame their hosts, Egerton FC, 3-0

And last Sunday (15th) in the Cheshire FA U18 Youth Cup they lost 2-3 at home to Brooklands Dragons JFC U18 Olympique on the 3G pitch at Dixons Brooklands Academy.

ALTY LOANEES MAKING THEIR MARK

Amongst them, Alty youngster Joel Bailey (right) "scored his first goal for his loan club as he helped Witton Albion progress into Emirates FA Cup Third Round Qualifying...

Also present in Witton Albion’s victory was Altrincham’s Owen German. He played all 90 minutes of the game...

Elsewhere on Saturday, Harrison Howells bagged a goal for Cheadle Heath Nomads in an impressive 4-1 victory away from home against Stockport Georgians...

Howells was joined by another Altrincham prospect off the bench, as Max Whittle made an appearance in the Nomads’ important victory...

Earlier last week it was Lucas Weaver's turn to get off the mark for his loan club, Bamber Bridge. The winger scored the third tally in Brig's 4-2 home win over Prescot Cables in the Northern Premier League."

ALTY OLD BOYS

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The new boss made three changes with Dominic Poleon, Jim Kellermann and Luke O’Neill out injured, to be replaced by Will Randall, Josh Wright and Wes Fonguck...

The crucial goal arrived for the Fleet five minutes before half-time, the first goal in the opening 45 this season, and it came courtesy of Rakish Bingham. His quick feet and skill allowed him to get the better of Tom Parkes and he took his time with the shot that deflected off a defender to unsettle Smith and send the Fleet into the interval in front.

Hartlepool enjoyed plenty of possession as the second-half began but they couldn’t do much with it... The Fleet started to attack with more purpose from the 70-minute mark..

At the other end, Mani Dieseruvwe should have rescued something for Hartlepool but again, the visitors’ finishing was off on the occasions they did get the better of the Fleet defence and the home side stood tall to take all three points".

FC Halifax Town state that "Due to the retirement of the current post-holder, after several successful years in the important role of club mascot, the FCHT Foundation are looking to appoint our next Freddie.

Applicants must be over 18. Ideally they will have a driving licence, and their own transport, although this is not essential.

Any ultimate appointment would, understandably, be subject to a DBS check.

Expressions of interest in the first place, together with contact details, should be e-mailed to community@fchalifaxtown.com by 30/09/24".

Rochdale have made a good start to the season and they now report that "TArryn Allarakhia has been named as the Dale Supporters' Trust August Player of the Month. The summer signing collected his award after Saturday’s game at home to Solihull Moors.

Allarakhia made six appearances during the month, scoring his first goal for the club in the 1-1 draw with Dagenham & Redbridge.

He also helped Dale to 11 points in the month, with three wins and two draws...

Allarakhia commented ,'I’ve loved every single minute here, the boys are brilliant. I love the way we play and it’s nice to get the award from the supporters'".

At Wealdstone the club "announce the signing of midfielder Elliot Thorpe on a permanent deal!

The 23 year-old midfielder spent his youth career in Tottenham Hotspur's academy before moving to Luton Town in 2021. He made his first team debut in the FA Cup... before featuring four more times for the Hatters.

During his time with Rob Edwards's side, he had two loan spells, at both Burton Albion and Shrewsbury Town. Thorpe has also featured frequently at youth level for Wales".

EMIRATES FA CUP

40 matches were determined by the draw for the Third QR, which was made on Monday, and the northern section of just ten ties comprised:

• 1 Guiseley v Newcastle Town or Scunthorpe United
• 2 Stockton Town v Chester
• 3 Radcliffe v Bury
• 4 Southport v Curzon Ashton
• 5 Wythenshawe Town v Farsley Celtic
• 6 Darlington v Gainsborough Trinity
• 7 Newton Aycliffe or Warrington Rylands v Dunston or Scarborough Athletic
• 8 Spennymoor Town v Chorley
• 9 Macclesfield v Witton Albion
• 10 Buxton v Kidderminster Harriers

16 September 2024

MANAGER'S ANALYSIS

The interview can be heard here

NEXT: BOSTON UNITED

Right: Second-half action from Altrincham against Boston at Moss Lane in August 2018.

Altrincham won promotion in that game, back to the National League, thanks to a howler by Boston keeper Crook, which left Dan Mooney with an open goal, and he scored (65 mins).

That game was played behind closed doors. So next Saturday's fixture will be the first between the sides to which spectators have been admitted since 26 August 2019 when Boston United thrashed Altrincham 5-0!

The scheduled home fixture that season was never played owing to the curtailment of the 2019-20 season because of Covid.

Therefore the last time that the Pilgrims visited Alty was in August 2018 when the Lincolnshire side also triumphed, beating Alty, on their own patch, 2-0 in the Vanarama National League North. Alty did get revenge that season, winning 2-1 at Boston's former York Road stadium.

In the 2018 match at the J. Davidson Stadium, Altrincham could have no complaints about the result as they failed to land a shot on target. After a goalless first half, Alty went behind in the 49th minute. Harrop opted to pass rather than clear the ball, 35 yards from his goal. Thanoj gained possession and fed Marriott who thumped home a fine, low shot from outside the box.

But it was not till the 88th minute that the Pilgrims sealed the game. Moult was dispossessed in midfield and substitute Westcarr fed Arnold. From left of goal, the former Lincoln and Grimsby man's rising shot beat Thompson

Alty had made four changes from the team beaten in the previous midweek by FCUM; the previously injured White and Goulding returned to the back line, Richman came into midfield and Hancock also returned after his knock.

ALTRINCHAM : 1. Tony THOMPSON, 2. Andy WHITE, 3. Connor HAMPSON, 4. Tom HANNIGAN, 5. Liam GOULDING 6. Jake MOULT (c), 7. John JOHNSTON, 8. Max HARROP, 9. Jordan HULME, 10. Simon RICHMAN, 11. Josh HANCOCK. Subs: 12. Tom PEERS, 14. Brendon DANIELS, 15. James JONES, 16. Sean WILLIAMS, 20. Elliot WYNNE.

ALTY OLD BOYS

They remain unbeaten (W5, D2) but face a tougher challenge next weekend when reigning champions TNS visit them. The Oswestry based side have won all 4 of their league matches so far, and a goal difference of 11-1 tells its own story. Penybont will also cling to the hope that the involvement of TNS in the league phase of the Europa Conference could deflect their aim from domestic honours.

Other news includes reports that ANDY KEOGH scored for Wythenshawe as they beat Congelton 3-1 in the NPL Division One West.

Alty loanee EWAN McGEADY was credited with an assist for Witton Albion's opening goal in their 2-1 away win at Crook in the FA Cup 2Q round.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The club would like to place on record their thanks to both Chris and Nick and wish them all the best in their future endeavours.

Club Chairman David Haythornthwaite will be providing an update to the club website on the reasoning, and how the club intend to move forward tomorrow (Monday) evening.

In the meantime, Chris Neal and Nathan Delfouneso will be taking charge of all first-team matters ahead of Tuesday night’s game against Southend United".

Footnote: AFC Fylde lie 23rd, albeit with a game in hand, having won just once and securing two more points from draws this season.

15 September 2024

YEOVIL TOWN 0-0 ALTRINCHAM

Match report here.

Yeovil Town have made match highlights available.

Phil Parkinson told the NL Paper, "I'd say a point was fair. Yeovil's a brilliant club and they make it a difficult place to come.

"It's such a trek for us. To get a point is not to be sniffed at".

Counterpart Mark Cooper agreed from his perspective, too, "It's a great point. We have to play every game with that effort and desire...

"I thought we were really good, committed and dogged at times, but didn't produce as much as we'd have liked".

GLOVERS' VIEW

'If we play like that every week I think we will be right up there. It was just the final product for us today.'”

And Yeovil Town reported that they "held Altrincham to a goalless draw...

Both teams were unsuccessful in finding a breakthrough in the first half of the match and struggled to find the final ball into the box after progressing down the pitch, leaving the first half with limited excitement...

Altrincham looked particularly dangerous as the second half resumed... Altrincham’s Alex Newby found captain James Jones in front of goal, but a great stop by the Glovers’ number one denied the visitors the lead.

Altrincham thought they had broken the deadlock in the 54th minute when Linney made a good run down the left and cut inside, laying off a shot that deflected into the path of Alex Newby. A scramble with Ollie Wright followed, but the goal was ruled offside, giving the Glovers a reprieve.

Wright made another fantastic save in the 60th minute when Linney, Altrincham’s number 9, made a great run down the right, putting himself through on goal...

The best chance of the game came from a spectacular shot by Michael Smith in the 76th minute. He decided to shoot from around 30 yards out during a 2v2 counterattack, leaving the crossbar shaking and Altrincham defenders scrambling to clear."

ALTY OLD BOYS

Back in England, in the Championship: A full shift from DUNCAN WATMORE was not enough to prevent Millwall from going down 0-1 to visitors Luton Town. Meanwhile Oxford United didn't need to bring OWEN DALE off the bench - a single goal was enough send Stoke City back up the M40 empty-handed.

League One: Two first half goals from JOE HUGILL put Wigan Athletic in control at Bristol Rovers, and they went on to win 0-4.

After visitors Stockport County had led at half time, Crawley Town brought JUNIOR QUITIRNA on after 66 minutes - and just two minutes later he equalised from the penalty spot. The game ended 1-1, with TOBY MULLARKEY playing throughout for the hosts.

Trailing at home to Lincoln City, Peterborough United made four 59th minute substitutions, including the introduction of CHRIS CONN-CLARKE, and earned a 1-1 draw.

CARL PIERGIANNI scored Stevenage's second in a 3-0 home win over Barnsley.

League Two: AFC Wimbledon withdrew ALISTAIR SMITH in the 80th minute. Already ahead of visitors MK Dons, they then added two late goals to win 3-0.

By the time they withdrew JEFF KING in the 86th minute, Swindon Town had already seen off visitors Newport County 4-0 (all the goals were scored in the first half).

Having raced into a 2-0 lead inside 6 minutes, Bromley collapsed to a 2-4 home defeat against Notts County. MARCUS DINANGA was a 58th minute Bromley substitute.

Chesterfield withdrew JAMES BERRY in the 64th minute as they lost by the only goal at Port Vale.

National League : DAN MOONEY returned to Boston United's starting lineup. When he was withdrawn after 61 minutes, visitors Aldershot were a goal up, but the Pilgrims fought back to draw 1-1.

BILLY SASS-DAVIES was booked as Hartlepool United's visit to Kent ended with Ebbsfleet United's first win of the season by the only goal.

MILES WELCH-HAYES played the whole game for Maidenhead United at Tamworth, but his team were 3-0 down before reducing the arrears in the fourth added minute.

JOSH LUNDSTRAM opened the scoring for Oldham Athletic at Woking, and they went on to win 1-3. REAGAN OGLE played the whole game too, but CALLUM DOLAN remained on the bench.

New league leaders York City were a goal up against AFC Fylde when they withdrew TYRESE SINCLAIR just after the hour, and went on to win 3-0. The visitors were not helped by having a player sent off just before the interval.

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round : Two goals from TOM PEERS set Chester on their way to progressing 3-0 against visitors Hebburn Town.

Witton Albion travelled in the opposite direction to visit Crook Town. Robins loanees JOEL BAILEY and OWEN GERMAN joined ELLIOT ROKKA in the starting lineup, while JAMES LAWRIE was among the substitutes - and it was Joel who put Albion two goals up in the 19th minute. Crook did reduce the arrears before half time, but a goalless second half saw the Northwich side progress.

CRAIG MAHON left himself on the bench for Curzon Ashton's home tie with Barnoldswick Town, and by the time he joined the action in the 69th minute his team were practically home and hosed with a four goal lead. They eventually won 6-0.

Ilkeston Town were on course to shock their legendary giant-killing hosts Hereford, but a 65th minute equaliser from YUSIFU CEESAY means that the sides must replay in Derbyshire.

With three former Robins in their starting lineup, and another on the bench, Radcliffe travelled to Warrington Town - who started two ex Robins, and also had one on their bench. With so many Old Boys involved it was perhaps inevitable that one of them would write the headlines - and so it turned out as Radcliffe came from behind to win 1-2, both goals being scored by JORDAN HULME.

NPL Division 1 Midlands : ZAK GOODSON rounded off the scoring as Quorn won 1-4 at Worcester City.

NWCL First Division South : Robins loanee HARRISON HOWELLS was among the Cheadle Heath Nomads scorers in their 1-4 win at Stockport Georgians.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

• AFC Fylde v Southend United

Saturday 21st September 2024

• AFC Fylde v Woking
• Aldershot Town v York City
• Altrincham v Boston United
• Braintree Town v Tamworth
• Eastleigh v Rochdale
• Gateshead v Forest Green Rovers
• Hartlepool United v Dagenham & Redbridge
• Maidenhead United v FC Halifax Town
• Oldham Athletic v Yeovil Town
• Solihull Moors v Southend United
• Sutton United v Ebbsfleet United
• Wealdstone v Barnet (k.o. 5.30pm)

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

The Daggers made a dream start to the contest, a lovely, floatedcross from Rees was headed across goal by Morias and smashed home by Dion Pereira...

The Daggers' dream start continued, with Josh Rees doubling the lead...

The Visitors made a strong start to the second half... Despite Gateshead pressure, it was The Daggers who extendedtheir lead. Periera with the assist, he rolled the ball into Morias’ path who curled a shot past Brooks and into the far corner...

An unbelievable Daggers performance got even better. Moriaswas tripped in the area and the referee blew for a penalty. Dion Periera made no mistake from the spot...

Two minutes later, Morias got his second and The Daggers fifth... Umerah made it 6-1with a header from a corner...

Josh Rees made it 7-1with the final kick of the game, to round off an unbelievable day at the office".

14 September 2024

YEOVIL TOWN 0-0 ALTRINCHAM

Alty started the second half brightly with James Jones forcing a good save early on after the break.

Yeovil got on top as the second half progressed, however, and they went close in the 76th minute when right-back Smith got forward and struck the bar.

As regards team selection, Elliot Osborne returned in place of Eddy Jones for Altrincham.

For Yeovil Williams, Sims and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton came in to replace Bernard, McGavin and Nouble. The Glovers named only six substitutes.

The teams:

YEOVIL TOWN: 1. Ollie Wright, 23. Michael Smith, 4. Morgan Williams, 6. Jake Wannell, 3. Alex Whittle, 24. Charlie Cooper, 8. Matt Worthington (c), 19. Josh Sims, 7. Sam Pearson, 16. Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, 9. Aaron Jarvis. Subs: 11. Jordan Young, 5. Finn Cousin-Dawson, 10. Frank Nouble, 14. Brett McGavin, 22. Matt Gould, 33. Dom Bernard.

ALTRINCHAM : 1. Ethan ROSS, 2. Lewis BANKS, 6. James JONES (c), 5. Jake COOPER, 23. Tylor GOLDEN, 6. Elliot OSBORNE, 15. Liam HUMBLES, 22. Tom CRAWFORD, 11. Justin AMALUZOR, 10. Alex NEWBY, 9. Regan LINNEY. Subs: 3. Eddy JONES, 14. Matty KOSYLO, 20. Kahrel REDDIN, 24. Joe NUTTALL, 28. Remi THOMPSON, 29. Jake BICKERSTAFF, 30. Harvey RANDLE (gk)

Report to follow

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

• Barnet 3-1 Braintree Town
• Boston United 1-1 Aldershot Town
• Dagenham & Redbridge 7-1 Gateshead
• Ebbsfleet United 1-0 Hartlepool United
• FC Halifax Town 3-1 Eastleigh
• Forest Green Rovers 2-2 Wealdstone
• Rochdale 1-2 Solihull Moors
• Southend United 1-3 Sutton United
• Tamworth 3-1 Maidenhead United
• Woking 1-3 Oldham Athletic
• Yeovil Town 0-0 Altrincham
• York City 3-0 AFC Fylde

TODAY: YEOVIL TOWN

The match is NOT being covered by Radio Robins but two alternatives are available:

• Yeovil Town Radio
• BBC Radio Somerset

Right: One familiar face on the home bench today is likely to be goalkeeper Matt Gould who left his goalkeeping/coaching role at the J. Davidson Stadium over this summer. The message on the Golf Road banner behind him in the adjacent image coincidentally alludes to Matt's following his family members Bobby and Jonathan into professional football.

Yeovil returned to the top-flight of non-League this season after successive relegations had taken them down to National South for 2023-24 season.

Since gaining EFL status in 2003 after winning the Conference, the Glovers have seen many ups and downs. By 2013-14 they had climbed to the Championship but finished bottom that season. Successive relegations saw them drop into the lower reaches of League Two by the end of the 2015-16 season.

Four seasons in the EFL's bottom tier saw them not finish higher than 19th and a bottom-place finish in 2019 consigned them back into non-League football.

After four seasons at National League level they were relegated to the regional South division in 2023.

They bounced back last season winning 29 of their 46 fixtures to clinch the National South championship.

So, they have not shared many seasons with Altrincham over the last twenty years, the clubs only meeting in 2020/21 and the following two seasons since 1999/2000, at the end of which campaign Altrincham were relegated.

The results in the most recent clashes in Somerset were as follows. Two of these games involved midweek treks for Altrincham!

• 2020-21: Sat.13.2.21 Yeovil Town 2-0 Altrincham, (played behind closed doors)
• 2021-22: Tue.12.10.21 Yeovil Town 1-1 Altrincham, (attendance 1,640, the Alty scorer was Leitch-Smith).
• 2021-22:Tue. 28.2.23 Yeovil Town 1-1 Altrincham,

ALTY MONTHLY DRAW WINNERS

• £500 cash | #82 | John Gothard
• £75 cash | #542 | David Lewis
• Hospitality for Two | #84 | Peter Dudley
• £25 cash | #242 | K. Bradshaw
• Bottle of Alty Gin | #224 | Mr Valentine
• Scarf & Team Photo | #14 | Jonathan Moore

Congratulations to all the winners!

ALTY OLD BOYS

And in the Cymru Premier, there was a clean sheet for JOEL TORRANCE as Bala Town comfortably beat visitors Aberystwyth 3-0.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The route from the bus station/Len Medlock Centre to the stadium via Boots in the Market Place and the Quayside Hotel on London Road remains as in previous years, with the route now expanded to return to the Len Medlock Centre via Sleaford Road with additional pick-up points added along Sleaford Road at Listers and the Woodville Road Park.

Buses depart the Len Medlock Centre at 12.00pm, 12.45pm, 1.30pm and 2.15pm – returning at 5.00pm and 5.45pm – on Saturdays.

Midweek buses will run at 5.00pm, 5.45pm, 6.30pm and 7.15pm – returning at 10.00pm and 10.30pm.

A full map of the route together with approximate timings is available on our website (via above link).

The cost is £1.50 per journey. Payment can be made as you enter the bus either by cash or contactless cards".

Supporters' news of a less positive kind comes from York City who are "disappointed to report on repeated anti-social behaviour which continues to re-occur on matchdays, despite warning.

So far this season, seats have continued to be broken and even toilet urinals needlessly damaged. These incidents inevitably come at a cost to the Football Club.

Individuals continue to be identified, with retrospective action taken against those clearly involved...

The Club can be liable of being charged by The FA, with a range of sanctions a clearly outlined possibility if incidents occur, as stated last season and ahead of this season...

Please do not bring into any stadium any form of pyrotechnic or throwable missile, or engage in any form anti-social behaviour of any kind.

Supporters can text YORK to 60060 (£1 per text) to anonymously alert York Stadium Management Company and their stewards to anti-social or discriminatory behaviour within the LNER Community Stadium on home match days".

Our third report on supporters comes from Southend United where "The Club are pleased to announce details of a newly formed Fan Advisory Board, which will give fans a voice in helping to shape the Club’s future...

The Fan Advisory Board (FAB) is in addition to existing arrangements between the Club and various supporter groups but will allow a unified platform for fans to pass comments and ideas on to the Board. It will also keep fans involved and informed regarding the strategic direction of the Club.

The FAB will consist of eight members, each of which will retire after two years in the role... There will be two reserved positions, for a current Southend United Board member and for a member of the Shrimpers' Trust, as nominated by their membership.

Its remaining members will be selected by a panel consisting of a COSU member who is not a Board Director, a representative of the Football Supporters' Association, and Greg Marshall, who is the Head of Supporter Engagement at Rangers FC.

The FAB members will appoint a Co-Chair to sit alongside the nominated COSU Board Member...

The FAB will communicate regularly with fans via a dedicated section of the Club’s website... The FAB will meet at least four times a year but may meet more often if deemed appropriate.

They will discuss topics such as the Club’s future vision, efforts in relation to financial sustainability, home and away matchday experience, facilities at Roots Hall, local community and charity work done by the Club and much more".

And still on the theme of National League supporters, Aldershot Town are "delighted to confirm that we have sold over 1000 season tickets for the 24/25 season!

Now that season ticket sales have died down, we have been able to work out that a total of 1003 season tickets have been sold.

Not only is surpassing the 1000 season ticket mark a great milestone to have surpassed, it also represents around a 25% increase on numbers from last season.

We’re incredibly thankful for the brilliant support which has been shown already this season and look forward to the rest of the campaign and in the words of Tommy Widdrington, 'buckle up, it’ll be a great journey'"

Relegated from the National division last season, on Thursday Boreham Wood issued a two-sentence announcement "that the Club has parted company with Head Coach Ross Jenkins with immediate effect.

Everyone at the Club would like to thank Ross for his efforts during his time at Meadow Park and wish him the best of luck for the future".

The very next day came another statement from Boreham Wood revealed that the club "are delighted to announce the return of Luke Garrard to Meadow Park as First Team Manager.

Luke returns to Meadow Park five months after departing the Club, having previously spent nine seasons in the hotseat and 18 total years with the Club in various capacities...

Garrard takes over the team currently sat [sic] in 10th place in the National League South...

The Club urges the Wood Army faithful to get behind the Club, Luke and the team this weekend as we look to kick start our season following a difficult year, a poor start and an indifferent spell of results and performances of late".

Ross, the former manager of Oxford City was sacked after just eight games of the season.

The Halifax Courier reports that "Calderdale Council has issued a response after a compensation claim by FC Halifax Town for postponed games last season. The Shaymen had to postpone matches 11 times last season...

Chairman David Bosomworth said... 'The pitch was so decimated after rugby fixtures being played on an overly wet surface, the only outcome was the pitch was going to become unplayable... It left us with less than two weeks to find alternative venues to stage our three fixtures against Barnet, Ebbsfleet and Oldham Athletic...

'With all this has come a significant financial cost... We have submitted a claim for compensation of circa £76,000 to the council...

'We have had a brief reply from the council that simply states it is none of their responsibility (this will be in reference to the annual user agreement we are signed in to), but they have offered one month's free rent which is to a value of £3,939.75 prior to VAT, as a gesture of goodwill'".

Barnet "announce the loan signing of Bailey Hobson!

The 22-year-old midfielder joins the Bees on a month’s-long loan deal from Chesterfield FC.

Bailey began his career through the youth setup at Sheffield United before eventually joining Alfreton Town in 2021. He featured over 85 times for the Conference North side before joining Chesterfield on a permanent deal.

Hobson spent some time out at Kidderminster Harriers last season on loan where he featured 18 times in the National League.

So far this season he has featured five times for Chesterfield".

13 September 2024

VOTE FOR ETHAN AND CHRIS!

Just over a year on from joining Altrincham, initially on loan and then, thankfully, on a permanent basis, the giant keeper continues to gain admirers...

He is widely regarded as the best in the business. It's an accolade that... would be nice to have... recognised by all and sundry...

Alty fans can help make that happen now by casting their vote for Ethan, and brilliant former Alty attacking midfielder Chris Conn-Clarke, in the Armstrong Projects Northwest Football Awards, the UK's biggest regional awards event.

Ethan has been nominated in the NL Player of the Year category and Chris for Rising Star, and there is no question both would be worthy winners, should they be called forward when the silverware is handed out at the Gala Awards Dinner on Monday, November 25th at The Point, Emirates Old Trafford, home of Lancashire County Cricket Club...

Come on, Alty fans, get voting here now".

SATURDAY FIXTURES

• Barnet v Braintree Town
• Boston United v Aldershot Town
• Dagenham & Redbridge v Gateshead (k.o. 5:30pm)
• Ebbsfleet United v Hartlepool United
• FC Halifax Town v Eastleigh
• Forest Green Rovers v Wealdstone
• Rochdale v Solihull Moors
• Southend United v Sutton United
• Tamworth v Maidenhead United
• Woking v Oldham Athletic
• Yeovil Town v Altrincham
• York City v AFC Fylde

NEXT: YEOVIL TOWN

Yeovil Town this week announced "the launch of Yeovil Town Radio, your brand-new, dedicated commentary stream covering all Yeovil Town fixtures! Whether home or away, you can now follow every kick, tackle, and goal as it happens.

Yeovil Town Radio will provide live commentary for matches across the Vanarama National League, FA Cup, FA Trophy, and Somerset Premier Cup. We’ll also occasionally bring you updates on our women’s team and under-18s, ensuring you never miss a moment of Glovers’ action.

Tune in and support the Green and Whites by clicking here when we’re live".

In addition, BBC Radio Somerset is also covering Yeovil's match with Altrincham on Saturday.

ALTY STORE HOURS

• Friday 13th Sept: 10am - 4pm
• Saturday 14th Sept: 10am - 3pm

ANN RETURNS TO MOSS LANE

The "Local Independent" free newspaper has an article in its September issue which tells us that "Two residents at an Alderley Edge care home have been treated to a trip down memory lane with a visit to Altrincham Football Club".

One of the two is "Football-mad Ann Wilshaw [who] has lived at Brookview Bupa Care Home for two years and [who] often talks about her time volunteering at the National League club, with her late hudband Derek".

The care home manager, Sharon Helliwell-Short arranged a visit to the Club for Ann and another resident, Christina Walker.

The article continues, "On arrival they were welcomed to a table in the hospitality lounge and Ann was presented with a Robins' scarf as a memento".

Ann said, "I want to thank the team for organising such a special event. It brought back many memories from years past and it made my day".

Sharon added, "You could tell it meant the world to Ann to see her local club again... I want to say a huge thank-you to the team at Altrincham FC, as they were so accommodating and excited to welcome Ann back".

Accompanying the article was a photo of Ann and her friend with Neil Dawson, Jackie Gallimore and her husband Ron, all of whom are longstanding Alty volunteers themselves.

NW NEWS

Reynolds, who joined the club in October 2018... was dismissed following Tuesday night's 1-1 draw at Warrington Rylands.

That result leaves FC United in the Northern Premier League's bottom four, with just one win and six points to show from their opening eight league matches... They have also been knocked out of the FA Cup by local rivals Hyde United...

Reynolds only signed a new two-year deal with the club in January, taking his time in charge to the end of the 2025/26 season".

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Watling, 34, has most recent experience as first-team coach in the Scottish Premier League with Glasgow Rangers and before that he was first-team coach at Championship side QPR.

Prior to those high-profile roles... the new Fleet boss was head coach at USL Championship side Hartford Athletic, spending 18 months from January 2021 in the United States... He was one of the youngest coaches in England to achieve UEFA A, B and Pro licences having started out as an Academy coach for Chelsea aged 20....

Alongside Watling in the Fleet dugout will be assistant manager David Kerslake and first-team coach John Cotton... As assistant manager he has achieved promotion with Northampton Town and Nottingham Forest...

Fleet CEO Damian Irvine added 'We went through a process back in January for a new manager and so it hasn’t been a process we’ve had to start again from scratch when it came to do so this time... and we’ve been able to move quickly to secure the right people with the right credentials who are very highly regarded in football coaching circles to take this club forward.'”

Aldershot Town report that "James Henry has been named as the Vanarama National League Player of the Month for August 2024!

Despite an impressive career with over 500 Championship and League One appearances to his name, this is Henry’s first Player of the Month award!

The midfielder has enjoyed a successful start to his Shots career since joining in August and scored on his debut, coming off the bench in a 3-3 draw with Forest Green Rovers.

He then scored twice in our 4-1 win over Oldham Athletic, added a brilliant free-kick against Tamworth and netted and assisted Hady Ghandour in our 4-3 win over Maidenhead United to end August with five goals and one assist in just 330 minutes of action!"

Southend United have been "pleased to be able to extend the mural in our Blues Legends Lounge...

Part-funded by JLS Building Services’ sponsorship of the Southend United Ex-Players Association, the mural now includes the football from our Club crest as well as five of the greatest managers in our history.

The first manager is Dave Smith... In May 1976 he took over from Arthur Rowley as Southend manager...

Next on the wall is David Webb. Webb managed Blues on no fewer than three occasions...

Our third manager to be featured is Steve Tilson, who represented the Club as both a player and manager..

The fourth manager to feature on our mural is loveable figure Paul Sturrock [who]... "joined a crisis-struck Southend United in 2010...

The fifth and final manager to be featured is Kevin Maher... Maher joined Southend in 1998 and spent 10 years as an ever-present in the midfield...

The 47-year-old captained Blues to successive promotions in 2005 and 2006 and a famous League Cup win over Manchester United...

Maher [re-]joined the club at a tricky time in the Club’s history. The Shrimpers were languishing near the bottom of the National League after back-to-back relegations... However, Maher quickly turned the tide for Southend...

The team led by Maher, have won 60 of the 142 games Blues have played".

Sutton United "announce the signing of Chinwike Okoli on loan from Millwall, on a deal that runs until January.

The young defender is highly rated within the Lions’ youth setup and will offer aggressiveness and composure to Steve Morison’s backline, becoming the U’s 19th signing of the season and the third player to join from Morison’s former club following Nino Adom-Malaki last season and Nana Boateng earlier in the summer.

A Millwall academy product, Okoli has played... in the National League already, with a short-term loan spell at Torquay United at the start of the 2022/23 campaign...

The 20-year old later joined Bromley ahead of the 2023/24 campaign... and appeared 20 times during the first half of the season for the Ravens".

12 September 2024

PHIL: "LAPSE OF CONCENTRATION" TO BLAME

Despite the result, Phil though that the team is "ahead of where we were" last season, when Alty lost 3-0 at The Hive. This time, "We pushed them all the way" he stated.

He blamed the winning goal on "a lapse of concentration from a long throw". In short the result "was a tough one to take".

As for full debutant Lewis Humbles (right), the Alty boss felt that the Salford City loanee "acquitted himself brilliantly".

BARNET BOSS LAYS INTO HIS CRITICS

The seething manager said "I'm very angry" and added that he was "sick and tired of miserable moaning" at games and he even threatened to go elsewhere if the moaning continued.

He was also critical of the overall attendance asserting that there "were only 900 fans here" by which he was drawing a distinction between the official gate of over 1,200 (which included 54 from Altrincham) and the actual number of Barnet fans who turned up, the difference presumably being accounted for by absentee season ticket holders.

BARNET MATCH HIGHLIGHTS

ALTY OLD BOYS

NPL Division 1 West: MASON FAWNS scored the only goal of the game as Mossley beat visitors Hednesford Town on Tuesday evening.

NEXT: YEOVIL TOWN

Gloverscast includes the following observations.

The home side produced "a flat performance... we already look like we could use some time to rest...

"Mark Cooper said he was underwhelmed with his attacking players, I say let’s give Jarvis a partner...

"We’ve now made the Half-Time double sub Hail Mary on each of the last two games, suggesting the first eleven probably wasn’t right, we’ve seen the defence chop and change more times in eight games than we did in 48 last year...

"How about this, on Saturday [v. Altrincham], Glovers fans promise to give you everything, the drum will beat, the ‘Everywhere we go…’ chat will fill the Thatchers stand.'"

The official Yeovil Town site reported that it was "their third home defeat of the season... following a 12th-minute goal from Conor Wilkinson...

Solihull’s momentum didn’t dip as they pushed for another goal...

Despite most of the second half being played in and around the Solihull box, the Glovers were unable to break through the visitors’ defence and equalise".

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Gateshead manager Rob Elliot knew he had a job on to repair some broken hearts when EFL regulations prevented the club from competing in the play-offs in April.

But the Heed have suffered no lasting damage, and were the only National League side in the division to head into September undefeated.

Beginning the campaign in style with a 5-1 thumping of Ebbsfleet United, fellow strong starters Eastleigh and Yeovil Town were also put to the sword in the North East.

Solid draws at FC Halifax and Oldham Athletic as well as a 2-0 win against Woking means life on the road is good too. Just one team scored more than Gateshead, and only two conceded less".

In the regional divisions, Andy Butler, the Scunthorpe United manager , won the North divisional award.

Scott Davies of Slough Town earned the South award. "By beating Weymouth on the month’s final gameday, they took their unbeaten home run to 26 league games meaning they hadn't lost in front of their fans for a whole year".

Following the sacking of Danny Searle, Ebbsfleet United "kept a clean sheet against one of the division’s leading scorers to earn a first point at home against Aldershot Town in a much-improved display...

Under Josh Wright who watched from the dugout, the Fleet made four changes in welcoming Mustapha Olagunju back to the Kuflink and he was joined in the starting lineup by Franklin Domi, Jim Kellermann and Luke O’Neill....

Fleet produced plenty of effort and fight in that first-half and the second was much the same".

Last Friday, Woking announced "the signing of Tom Leahy. The 20-year-old joins on loan from Sky Bet Championship side Millwall until January.

A centre-forward, Leahy came through the Millwall academy, playing regularly for both their under-18s and under-23s sides, including an FA Youth Cup goal at Sheffield United in 2021.

After a pre-season where he scored against Real Murcia following a contract extension, Leahy has been involved in Millwall’s Championship squads, making... his debut late on against Bristol City".

11 September 2024

BARNET 2-1 ALTRINCHAM

Right: Justin Amaluzor scored Alty's goal at The Hive.

For their second successive away game Altrincham lost 2-1 to a goal in added time.

Alty had taken the lead against the run of play in the fifteenth minute with a well-worked goal finished by Amaluzor after a one-two with Linney to his left.

But thirteen minutes later the Bees were level when a defence splitting pass set Chapman running at goal and his left-footed shot gave Ross no chance (28 mins).

Barnet dominated the second half but Alty defended well until the second added minute when a long throw from the left saw the ball clear James Jones at the near post and Browne headed home, unchallenged, to win the game (90+2 mins).

Nevertheless, Alty still had a good chance to equalise when Kosylo wriggled free but from the edge of the box dragged his shot wide (90+2 mins).

The Robins could not complain at the outcome but to lose to a goal from a poorly defended throw was very disappointing.

Match report here

BARNET, AFTER THE MATCH

Barnet didn’t let their heads drop and... in the 27th minute Zac Brunt controlled a fizzed ball into him as he quickly got his head up to find the run of Harry Chapman with a through ball that put the midfielder through on goal. Chapman took his chance slotting the ball past the keeper to give the Bees an equaliser that made the score 1-1...

As the second half carried on both sides played a tight battle as they both searched for a winner with neither team coming [close to?] getting a clear-cut chance until the 71st minute a low cross from Jordan Cropper found Mark Shelton just inside the edge of the box who blasted the ball towards the bottom left corner, but his effort was kept out by Ethan Ross with a quick reaction save...

Then in the 92nd minute of the game a long throw by Jordan Cropper into the box finds the head of Rhys Browne who blasts the header home past the keeper to give the home side a last-minute winner".

NEXT: YEOVIL TOWN

Alty now lie 16th after their third defeat in four away outings this season.

Like Altrincham, their opponents Yeovil also lost on Tuesday night, conceding the only goal of the match at The New Lawn to Solihull Moors.

ALTY OLD BOYS

National League: DAN MOONEY was brought off the bench by Boston United after 72 minutes, but having already lost their early lead to two Hartlepool United goals in the space of 7 minutes, they were unable to make any impression on BILLY SASS-DAVIES and his colleagues, and the visitors won 1-2.

Having been booked in the first half at The Shay, CALLUM DOLAN was substituted by Oldham Athletic just before the hour, and JOSH LUNDSTRAM also went off after 76 minutes. REAGAN OGLE (right) went the distance, but hosts Halifax came from behind to draw 1-1.

MILES WELCH-HAYES made his first start for Maidenhead United at Rochdale, and put in a full shift, but the home side won 3-1, with KYLE FERGUSON coming off their bench in the 81st minute.

TYRESE SINCLAIR was a 66th minute substitute for York City, as they recovered from going behind to visitors Braintree Town after just 4 minutes to earn a 2-1 win.

NPL Premier: Robins loanee LUKE WEAVER scored the third Bamber Bridge goal as they dispatched visitors Prescot Town 4-2.

ALTY'S ACHIEVEMENTS

Right: Rob is pictured, far right with Neil Sorvel and Phil Parkinson.

Rob writes, "Turning the ship round took time and a whole lot of energy and expertise but leaving this summer after coming within two wins of making it to the Football League for the very first time in the club’s history, I knew I could not be leaving the football ops in better shape...

"Success can be measured in many different ways.

• Appointing a management team that is in its eighth season and is one of the most sought-after pairings around. Eight seasons is largely unheard of in football anywhere in 2024!
• Transitioning from part-time to full-time – and comfortably avoiding transitioning from best part-time team to worst full-time team! The diligence that went into the planning and execution was intense, but you would have no idea where we had come from if you witness the environment we have created now
• 17 players sold for fees in seven years – including the club’s all-time record fee received for a player
• In turn, developing that profile allowed us to pay a club record fee for a player and ultimately build the value in a squad – arguably higher than any point in the club’s history
• Two promotions and our highest ever finish for decades – it is one thing to have an outstanding record of trading players at large profits, but you need to win football matches at the same time! Easier said that done and sometimes it can be one step back, but that is fine if you’re then going two steps forward
• Highest average attendances in decades – there’s obviously more that goes into attendances than just winning football matches, but you rarely see rising attendances for teams losing
• Implemented a style of football that is pleasing on the eye. That was on the key elements we wanted when recruiting manager Phil Parkinson back in 2017. You cannot win every match, but if supporters go home at least enjoying the brand of football on show, they are more likely to stay with you when things aren’t going your way.

We’ve set ourselves ahead of so many others at Altrincham because we have constantly sought to drive forward and we’ve built an environment that so many want to be part of. Loaning players from Manchester United was a pipe dream when we first came in."

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Rabdall stated that Randall was "the Fleet’s third new signing this past week as the 27-year-old arrives on a permanent deal following his departure from Notts County in the summer.

Randall secured promotion to the EFL... as Sutton United won the 2021 National League title... The Swindon-born wide player made his senior debut for his hometown club in League One the day after he turned 17 and went on to make nine appearances for them before Wolves signed him for a fee in 2016. While at Molineux, he had loan spells with Walsall, Forest Green Rovers and Spanish third-tier club FC Jumila.

The Fleet’s newest signing settled at Sutton after his release by Wolves, joining the U’s in 2019 after a brief spell at Newport County. He spent four years at Gander Green Lane, making almost 130 appearances and scoring 18 times...

Randall moved on to League Two new boys Notts County in summer 2023 and featured 13 times for the Magpies".

Gateshead have announced the arrival "on a temporary basis" of centre-back Ben Radcliffe from Derby County. In 2022-23 Radcliffe was at Burton Albion from where he went on loan at Banbury United.

Also joining Gateshead "on temporary terms" is right-sided midfielder Ryan Carr from Ipswich Town. Aged 19, he spent the final part of last season on loan at Essex club Aveley in the National League South where he made eleven appearances as the club reached the play-offs.

Maidenhead United report that "There may not have felt like much to celebrate following the reverse to Aldershot Town last Saturday afternoon but the match marked a significant milestone for Alan Devonshire. The seven-goal thriller at The Rec was Dev’s 800th game in charge of Maidenhead United, across two spells.

Initially coming in at York Road in the summer of 1996, Dev shared management responsibilities with former QPR player Martyn Busby until March 1997 before going it alone after Busby decided to step down. Dev left in 2003 after a hugely successful period which included promotion to the Isthmian Premier League. He was tempted back in the summer of 2015 with United a perpetually struggling National League South club. Nine years on and we are established in the National League".

And also at Maidenhead United "United’s match programme will go DIGITAL ONLY. The programme will be available as a FREE download to all supporters, with the opportunity to catch our regular features and club news and statistics via a QR code which will be displayed around the ground.

Our digital programme can also be found here!

Whilst there will be no printed versions to purchase on a matchday there will remain an option for supporters to purchase a printed version which will be posted to your home address, by selecting the relevant match on our ticketing portal".

Rochdale boss "Jimmy McNulty says he is pleased with the four recent additions to his squad.

Three made their Dale debuts during Saturday’s win at Aldershot Town, in the form of David Robson, Dan Sassi and Leon Ayinde, whilst Joe Westley was an unused substitute.

Goalkeeper Robson featured in our pre-season... and was called upon by the Head Coach to replace the injured Luke McNicholas at the weekend.

'“We’ve looked secure and calm defensively thus far, and the team have made a really respectable start,' commented McNulty... 'Luke picked up an injury with his groin and he has been working through it... The problem was getting worse, and, in the end, it was too uncomfortable for him to carry on further... We’ll be without Luke for some time'...

Defender Sassi made his second debut for the club, after playing ten games for Dale on loan last season... 'He had a brilliant loan here last season and only lost once in ten games. To come into the defence as a young lad and to have that record is something to take note of...

Off the back of having a solid start from the base of the team, we’re suddenly without captain and goalkeeper, so we’re really happy with the guys that have joined us.”

Striker Westley was named in the matchday squad, having signed on a one-month loan from Burnley last week... 'He’s here to support Kairo [Mitchell] and impact the team... The actual out-and-out nine position is one that we’re not deep in squad-wise... Dev [Devante Rodney] has been playing behind the striker a bit and there are other guys who play in-and-around Kairo a lot.

'But we’re always looking for quality, freshness, variation to give ourselves as many options as we can'".

10 September 2024

MIDWEEK FIXTURES

• Barnet 2-1 Altrincham
• Boston United 1-2 Hartlepool United
• Dagenham & Redbridge 3-0 Sutton United
• Ebbsfleet United 0-0 Aldershot Town
• FC Halifax 1-1 Oldham Athletic
• Forest Green Rovers 3-0 AFC Fylde
• Rochdale 3-1 Maidenhead United
• Southend United 2-0 Eastleigh
• Woking 1-0 Wealdstone
• Yeovil Town 0-1 Solihull Moors
• York City 2-1 Braintree Town

NEXT: BARNET

In our last league outing away in the northeast against table toppers Gateshead, it was the hosts who took all three points in a two-nil win ... Callum Whelan opened the scoring... and despite most of the pressure coming from the Bees it was the hosts who grabbed the second".

Alty will be aware that Barnet's last home game ended in a7-0trouncing of Tamowrth and, prior to that, they beat Southend United and Forest Green Rovers at The Hive...

Forward Regan Linney will be one to look out for...

The last time these two sides met was in January this year when in a close thrilling encounter at the J. Davidson Stadium it was Altrincham who took the win [3-2]."

The match will be covered both in video via the National League and in audio by Radio Robins.

Also Altrincham FC has announced that "Our free Watch Party opens in the CSH Bar at 7:15pm on Tuesday evening and includes live coverage of both Barnet v Altrincham and England v Finland on our big screens".

BARNET, LAST TIME AT THE HIVE

The Alty boss said "Barnet are the champions elect; they and Forest Green... I can see why with Barnet. Dean [Brennan]’s built a brilliant team there, he’s a superb manager, they’re really attack- minded and it should make for a great game. It’ll be an entertaining one no matter what happens because they certainly won’t hold back and we won’t either.”

Altrincham lost the corresponding match last season 3-0, their heaviest defeat of the campaign. Coincidentally the match took place a year and a day before tonight's clash.

Left: Ethan Ross saved a penalty last time Altrincham visited The Hive London

At the time Barnet were the league leaders going into a match which was played in sweltering heat of more than 30C. The referee showed no mercy adding nine minutes to a first half which ended with Altrincham fortunate to be just a single goal adrift.

Alty were outplayed in the opening stages and went behind in the tenth minute, to a header from a corner by Collinge.

Alty did improve for a while but could have fallen further behind when Amaluzor was penalised for supposed handball in the box. However, Ross made a good save from Pritchard's spot-kick. The same player also put the resulting loose ball over the bar (32 mins).

However, it did get worse for an Alty side already without main striker Linney, through injury, when Crankshaw suffered what proved to be a season-ending injury.

The hosts dominated the second half before a superbly worked second goal was scored by Brunt (67 mins).

Altrincham were no threat in the second half as Barnet once again camped in the Altrincham half and the Bees deservedly picked up a third goal in added time when a short corner led to a low ball being diverted by an Alty defender for Kabamba to tap in at the far post.

Just six of the startine eleven at The Hive last September also started Alty's most recent game this season.

Alty's line-up at Barnet was: 29. Ethan Ross, 2. Lewis Banks, 3. Eddy Jones, 6. Elliot Osborne, 27. Ollie Crankshaw, 14. Dior Angus, 15. Jake Cooper, 10. Chris Conn-Clarke, 11. Justin Amaluzor, 8. Isaac Marriott (c), 16. Sam Roscoe. Subs: 4. Lewis Baines, 7. Matty Kosylo, 17. Justin Donawa, 22. Joey Jones, 32. George Burroughs.

ALTY OLD BOYS

"Jennings, 37, will act as number two to Adam May... after PAUL FAY stepped down...

"Fay runs the Altrincham Academy and opted to stand aside owing to increasing workload. He took the Nomads to the highest ever league position, boasting a squad with an average age of under 21".

ACADEMY SEASON STARTS WITH DEFEAT

They have completed one fixture so far this season, a match played at Cheadle Heath Sports Club, which they lost 1-4 at home to Solihull Moors at lunchtime on 28 August.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The forward was in the academies of Ipswich Town, Norwich City and Colchester United... While at Colchester, Bonne would play with current Blues man George Moncur, before he joined Leyton Orient in 2017... Between 2017/18 and 2018/19, he scored 45 goals in 90 appearances as Orient were promoted back to the EFL.

The season after, he netted at a ratio of one in three at Championship level for Charlton before doing similar for Ipswich in League One in 2021/22.

Last term Bonne spent time at both Gillingham and Cambridge, and the 28-year-old... said 'I’m really happy to be here and crack on. I’ve been in today and trained with the boys and it’s a really good group, so I’m really happy...

'The last couple of years haven’t really gone to plan but I spoke with the manager and hopefully I can get back... to scoring goals in a league I know really well'...

Head Coach Kevin Maher added '[Macauley]’s got a proven record in the National League and has played higher up so we’re really pleased to have someone of his pedigree in... He’s not been playing but he’s kept himself in good shape'".

The next visitors to the J. Davidson Stadium on Saturday week, Boston United "are advertising for an Apprentice Sports Turf Operative to join the team... [on a salary of] £13,312 a year for "40 hours per week Monday to Friday including matchdays (Saturday and Tuesday)...

This is a great opportunity for an individual to learn and practice a range of grounds duties and to assist the groundsman in the preparation, presentation and maintenance of the main pitch and 3G at the Jakemans Community Stadium, including site maintenance...

Successful applicants will be required to complete a Sports Turf Operative (Level 2) course with Bishop Burton College.

Key responsibilities include "divot management, assisting with mowing, line marking, renovation and setting out equipment".

"A typical day in the life of an apprentice Sports Turf Operative would include some of the following:

• mowing and marking out the pitch
• setting up goals
• pre-match, half-time and full-time divot repair and any pitch repairs after matches
• 3G cleaning and maintenance

9 September 2024

EBBSFLEET MANAGER GOES AFTER DEFEAT AT ALTY

The Club would like to go on record as recognising the incredible job that Danny achieved last season in saving the club from relegation, after taking over initially as interim manager in February through to that memorable afternoon at Boreham Wood that maintained the Fleet’s National League status.

Right: A pensive Danny Searle watching Ebbsfleet in their 4-0 reverse at the J. Davidson Stadium last Saturday.

It is with that very status in mind this season, however, that the decision has been made to part company with Danny after a start to the season which has fallen below expectations. Such a decision is never one that is taken lightly or without due consideration but it must always be taken with the good of the football club in mind.

The club would also like to thank Assistant Manager Anwar Uddin for his contribution to the club as he departs the Kuflink Stadium with Danny today.

We wish Danny and Anwar every success in their future careers. Both men deserve all our gratitude not only for steering the club clear of relegation last season but for their immense hard work and dedication for the duration of their time at the club.

A management update with be provided later this week whilst in the interim, [team captain] Josh Wright will lead the team from the dugout in tomorrow evening’s fixture v Aldershot".

Footnote: The Fleet remain without a win this season, having earned a single point from thir seven fixtures.

.

ALTY v EBBSFLEET HIGHLIGHTS

NEXT TUESDAY: BARNET

On Saturday, Barnet reported that "The Bees fell to defeat at the Gateshead International Stadium as goals from Whelan and Adom ensured the three points would be staying in the northeast...

Despite the early pressure from the Bees, it was the hosts who took the lead. An initial first shot was well saved by Nick Hayes, but the ball was poked into the path of Callum Whelan who placed the ball into the net...

With five minutes to go in the first half Gateshead looked to make it two, Kain Adom received the ball down the right-hand side before cutting onto his right foot and bending an effort goalwards, he saw his shot strike the post and bounce away.

Gateshead were raring to go again in the second half and doubled their lead when Adom’s clever footwork inside the box allowed him space... before placing his effort past Hayes."

Lineup: Hayes, Hall-Johnson (Kanu 57’), Stead (Cropper 76’), Chapman, Glover, Brunt (Wilkinson 62’), Hartigan, Shelton, Oluwo, Kenlock (Okimo 57’), Kizzi.".

NEXT SATURDAY: YEOVIL TOWN

It was a third away win for The Glovers "in a chaotic, see-saw match at AFC Fylde yesterday.... That was absolutely bonkers. If anyone doubted the Spirit of 2023/24 had departed, think again. In the second half, we just went for it and it was a performance built on fearlessness to attack, character to get back up after Fylde pulled it back to 3-3, and a healthy dose of quality.

Aaron Jarvis quite rightly got the plaudits from his manager post-match...

But can I also give a shout out to Ollie Wright? He’s had his critics this season, but made some important saves... All that said, Sam Pearson was my Man of the Match...

Mark Cooper... only had five [subs] to pick from today... and the changes he made all paid off... That is three wins from four away from home, now let’s get our home form going".

Altrincham will be hoping that the upturn in home form is at least a week away! Before that, the Glovers welcome Solihull Moors on Tuesday night.

The official Yeovil Town site adds that the Glovers came "from 2-0 down at half-time to secure a 4-3 victory over AFC Fylde. Second-half goals from Sam Pearson, Aaron Jarvis, Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, and Dom Bernard completed a remarkable turnaround...

Mark Cooper was forced into two changes from the side that won at Boston United the previous week, with Alex Whittle and Dom Bernard replacing the injured Raphael Araoye and suspended Jake Wannell...

[At half time the score was 2-0 and Fylde's] Haughton nearly completed his hat-trick immediately after the restart... Yeovil were in desperate need of a response, and Cooper [had] made two changes at the break, bringing on Sam Pearson and Jordan Young for Finn Cousin-Dawson and Sims.

[At 2-2], with the game now finely balanced, Cooper introduced Sonny Blu Lo-Everton in place of Brett McGavin. Lo-Everton made an almost instant impact, picking up the ball from 25 yards out and rifling a low shot into the bottom corner to put Yeovil ahead for the first time, [before the Coasters levelled it at 3-3].

Undeterred, Yeovil pushed forward again... Bernard... smashed the ball into the net to spark wild celebrations on his debut".

ALTY OLD BOYS

After a draw at Moss Lane, Celtic had won the original replay at the Bower Fold (2-1) but, afterwards, they were found to have played an ineligible player. Rather than being thrown out of the competition, the FA in its wisdom ordered a replay, which Celtic again won (3-2). So Kevin has now scored two goals against the same club (Stalybridge), separated by 25 years, which may be a record!

Above: Kevin is pictured (far right) in that game at Stalybridge in October 1999.

Alty fans will hope to see Kevin again when Vauxhall Motors visit Altrincham on 1 October in this year's Cheshire Senior Cup.

On Saturday, another Ellison, the former Alty reserve keeper CRAIG ELLISON, made a vital save for Bradfprd (Park Avenue) as they won 3-1 at Witton Albion in the FA Trophy

8 September 2024

ALTY "CONTROLLED THE GAME"

Against the bottom club, he added "Everyone expects you to win but it's not like that in this division, anyone can beat anyone".

Altrincham had two players make their club debuts from the bench on Saturday. Left, is Lewis Humbles who is on loan from Salford City, and right is ex-Waterford forward Remi Thompson who joined the club after one brief pre-season appearance.

Altrincham had 17 shots, 8 on target, whilst the Fleet failed to muster a shot on target and had only two off-target efforts.

Fleet boss Danny Searle said, "I'm lost for words. I'd just like to apologise to the fans who have travelled up...

"In spells we looked good but every time the ball turned over, it looked like they were going to score".

ALTRINCHAM 4-0 EBBSFLEET UNITED

Match report here.

Tom Jolley interviewed Phil Parkinson after the Ebbsfleet game on Alty TV.

EBBSFLEET'S VIEW

The good news pre-match was that Rakish Bingham returned to starting line up following two months on the sidelines while Kwame Thomas was back on the bench. There was also a debut for Will Randall whose signing was announced an hour before kick-off...

The Fleet did settle after that but struggled to execute a threatening chance on goal...

The second half was under way for less than a minute when Altrincham extended their lead through Eddy Jones. Again it was a good shot from distance...

A fourth arrived for Altrincham late on when substitute Kahrel Reddin drove in from the right and rode a tackle to squeeze a shot inside the post".

NO RADIO ROBINS NEXT SATURDAY

ALTY OLD BOYS

Phil Jordan reports that SONNY ALJOFREE (right) has joined Accrington Stanley on loan.

Further afield, he advises that in Australia's NPL Victoria, Oakleigh Cannons, with CONNOR HAMPSON in their side, won the League Playoff Final by the only goal of the game at South Melbourne, who had finished top of the regular League despite dropping four points to Oakleigh.

Unfortunately, there is no promotion on offer, and next season will see changes - a new National Second Division is due to start, although Oakleigh are not expected to be involved - however they do have their Australia Cup quarter final at Macarthur to look forward to next Saturday. Watch this space.....

As for "old boys" in action on Saturday...

In League Two: ELLIOT NEWBY was booked, and later substituted, as Barrow suffered the handicap of their goalkeeper being sent off after 42 minutes when they were a goal up. Visitors Swindon Town (who also finished with 10 men) equalised after 98 minutes, to make the final score 1-1.

JEFF KING put in a full shift for the Railwaymen.

JAMES BERRY opened the scoring for Chesterfield before being substituted after 70 minutes as they won 2-1 at home to Grimsby Town.

MARCUS DINANGA was withdrawn midway through the second half of Bromley's 1-1 draw at Colchester United.

National League : BILLY SASS-DAVIES was booked in Hartlepool United's goalless draw at home to Halifax.

National North : CONNOR KIRBY scored Buxton's clincher in a 2-0 home win over Rushall Olympic.

TOM PEERS scored the only goal as Chester beat South Shields at the Deva Stadium.

JOSH HANCOCK (right) opened the scoring for Radcliffe at Southport, but, after being two down at the break, the hosts fought back to draw 2-2.

Welsh Premier League : JOEL TORRANCE was beaten only once, but that was enough for visitors Cardiff Metropolitan to beat Bala Town and retain second place in the league behind Penybont on goal difference - though TNS, who have won the last three championships, have three games in hand and a 100% record.

FA Trophy: As City of Liverpool hosted Mossley, MARK LEES captained Mossley, while MASON FAWNS was a sub, used just after the hour. The game ended 2-2 but Mossley lost the shootout 4-2.

DAVID PARTON (right) kept a clean sheet as Congleton Town won their home tie with Wythenshawe FC by the only goal.

RYAN TOULSON was booked as Liversedge were beaten 1-2 at home by AVRO.

Vauxhall Motors' KEVIN ELLISON hit the crossbar twice in the first half and, soon afterwards, they fell behind to visitors Newton Aycliffe. He was substituted after 65 minutes, but although his team equalised they bowed out 3-2 on penalties.

7 September 2024

ALTRINCHAM 4-0 EBBSFLEET UNITED

Right: Regan Linney takes the plaudits after opening the scoring.

Ebbsfleet started reasonably but were hit by two goals in quick succession inside the opening ten minutes. Alty had already won two corners and Linney had fired a shot miles over the bar before a neat flick from Bickerstaff on the right allowed Newby to advance and, when the ball came back out to Linney, he hit a fine shot from outside the box into the back of the net (9 mins).

And no sooner had play resumed when Newby fired home an equally good shot, again from outside the box, to make it 2-0 (10 mins). Alty then comfortably retained their lead to the interval.

A third goal arrived just a minute after the start of the second period when Eddy Jones smacked home a shot, again from the edge of the box.

After that, the half was blighted by eight stoppages for substitutions but Altrincham added a fourth goal in the 88th miinute when substitute Liam Humbles, making his debut on loan from Salford City, flicked the ball forward in his own half and the move culminated in another substitute, Kahrel Reddin, firing home from right of goal.

Match report here.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE FIXTURES

• AFC Fylde 3-4 Yeovil Town
• Aldershot Town 0-2 Rochdale
• Altrincham 4-0 Ebbsfleet United
• Braintree Town 0-0 Woking
• Eastleigh 1-0 Tamworth
• Gateshead 2-0 Barnet
• Hartlepool United 0-0 FC Halifax Town
• Maidenhead United 1-1 Dagenham & Redbridge
• Oldham Athletic 1-1 Southend United
• Solihull Moors 0-1 Forest Green Rovers
• Sutton United 0-3 Boston United
• Wealdstone 0-2 York City

ALTY SIGNING

The 20-year old arrives with a reputation as an energetic central midfielder with an eye for goal...

Parkinson said 'I'm really pleased to get Liam in to the club for the next month, as we've got a few knocks and niggles in that midfield area. We needed to address that, but it's not easy finding someone of real quality at this point in the season, particularly when the budget is done, so we are extremely grateful to Salford for supporting us in that regard.

'In return, we can help them by giving him the game time he needs to support his progress... He's a high quality player with a degree of experience in League Two after making 10 appearances for Salford last season and one so far this time, as well as a few from the bench.

'We're talking about a player who is really pushing for a place in a League Two club's first team,'...

Liam started for Salford in our pre-season friendly against the Ammies...

After coming through the youth ranks at Salford, Liam had a loan spell at Nantwich Town from last March until the end of last season".

TODAY: EBBSFLEET UNITED

The club has announced that "Solly Temkin (from The Bliss) will be playing live in the Fan Zone (home fans only), which opens at 1pm AND we'll have special guest Chris Conn-Clarke involved in a live interview with Brian Flynn at 1:30pm".

LEWIS'S LANDMARK

Like Tylor, Lewis is comfortable on either flank, whilst Eddy Jones has been the first-choice left-back over the past seasons, so Phil Parkinson faces some difficult choices over the season.

27 year-old Lewis's arrival at Moss Lane was announced on 14 June 2023. He had ended the 2022-23 campaign up at Arbroath in the Scottish second-tier where he had made 12(+1) league appearances. Prior to that he had made 118 appearances for Sligo Rovers, since early 2019, in the Republic of Ireland and had appeared for them in the European Conference League.

However, Lewis had started out at his hometown club of Stoke City where he had played up to under-23 level before leaving to join Stafford Rangers in summer 2018.

Lewis soon established himself as the regular right-back at Altrincham where he was not only reliable but weighed in with four goals, playing predominantly on the right of the back line.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

McCallum, 31, has scored 74 goals in his 116 appearances for the club across two spells... He first joined the Spitfires back in 2017 and spent two seasons at the club...

He returned to SO50 last season and scored an impressive 35 goals across all competitions...

McCallum said 'I think me and the club have got a good history. I have always scored a lot of goals here. I enjoy my time here, it's my second home. Even though it's a long drive down from London every day, I enjoy being here'...

The Daily Echo understands Eastleigh rejected approaches from National League rivals Forest Green Rovers to keep McCallum this summer".

Forest Green Rovers "announce the first professional contracts of young academy talents Keon Sanniola and Will Merrett.

The pair were part of the group during pre-season and featured in and around the first-team squads.

Sanniola already has first-team experience... on the final day of the League One season in May 2023.

Merrett is yet to make his senior debut... Both have progressed through the academy system here".

Maidenhead United "announce the loan signing of James Golding from Oxford United until January.

The 20-year-old defender was on loan with the Magpies last season during the first part of our National League campaign and made ten appearances before being recalled by Oxford United. Golding impressed during his first spell at York Road and we look forward to seeing him soon!

The East Anglian Daily Times reports that "Ipswich Town youngster Leon Ayinde has joined National League side Rochdale on loan until January.

The 19-year-old forward, who turns 20 next week, featured for Kieran McKenna's side throughout pre-season and scored the U21s’ goal in their 3-1 friendly defeat to Borussia Monchengladbach.

Ayinde joined the Blues from Cork City in January 2023 and has been a regular goalscorer for John McGreal's team in the Professional Development League".

York City "confirm the signing of Mo Fadera from Garforth Town.

The 19-year-old winger joins Adam Hinshelwood’s squad after impressing on trial...

The youngster netted against York City in pre-season for Garforth Town...

Fadera originally started out playing grassroots football with Hamilton Panthers, who play at the Knavesmire, before joining Garforth in the summer".

lso the inews reports on "In a decade York have gone from fighting for survival to flying high in the National League after a busy summer of transfers...

[Matt Uggla] York’s 30-year-old co-owner... says 'I’m happy with how it’s going but I do remember where we were... The Altrincham defeat turned out to be the start of a revival rather than a staging point on more regression.

Under Adam Hinshelwood, the bright young manager with a free-flowing, attacking philosophy that Uggla plucked from Worthing to replace Neal Ardley, a stunning unbeaten run followed. National League status was retained on the final day of the season...

Before York there was an ill-fated takeover attempt [by Uggla] at Yeovil Town. 'An absolute mess, lawless,' he says now, looking back...

'We wanted to find one [club] that had fallen from grace a little bit but had the chance to go far,' he explains...'[York] is a big club in a big city but it’s almost like it had been left to rot for 10 to 20 years. That was quite shocking... We rushed... and we made mistakes in terms of our recruitment'...

The club’s wage budget now mirrors what Uggla sees as the 'magic number' of £1.8m-a-year that took Stockport and Notts County out of the National League".

As well as Regan Booty extending his contract at the International Stadium, The Deck reports that "Northern Premier League side Macclesfield FC have signed the former Manchester United winger D’Mani Bughail-Mellor, despite the 23 year old signing a short-term deal with Gateshead in August...

The winger had a number of trials this summer with fellow National League sides AFC Fylde and Hartlepool United and seemed to have found his home for a period of time in Gateshead two weeks ago. However, Mellor has signed a deal with the ambitious Northern Premier League side...

After a loan spell with Salford City, the 23 year old moved to Wycombe in 2022... He spent the majority of his time out on loan with spells at Rochdale and Sutton United.

After... an unsuccessful couple of weeks at Gateshead, D’Mani has taken a step down the pyramid to sign for Macclesfield FC... The 23 year old is a direct and pacy winger who likes to run at the opposition".

And the independent Ipswich Town site, TWTD reports that "Blues youngster Ryan Carr has joined Gateshead on loan until January 5th.

The 19-year-old moved to Town from Carlisle in January 2023, then spent time on loan with Essex-based National League South side Aveley last season.

Midfielder Carr featured for the [Ipswich] first team in pre-season friendlies, having joined the senior players for the training camps in Austria and Germany...

Carr [said] 'It’s one that has been trying to get sorted for a while now – I’ve watched quite a lot of Gateshead anyway... I know [player/assistant manager] Louis [Storey] from being at Newcastle when I was younger'".

Hartlepool United "announce left-back David Ferguson has signed a new deal to remain at the Suit Direct Stadium...

The 29-year-old will enter his fifth season at Pools, having joined in August 2020 from York City. Since then, Ferguson has amassed 193 appearances...

Ferguson stated 'I wasn’t thinking about going anywhere else. Since I’ve been here, it’s felt like home...

Manager Darren Sarll commented... 'He’s got great experience and attributes that will compliment the new Hartlepool United'".

Yeovil Town "announce the signing of former Forest Green Rovers captain, Dom Bernard, who joins us on a one-year deal.

The 27-year-old defender has been without a club since leaving Forest Green Rovers at the end of the 2023/24 season...

His talent led him to join Birmingham’s Academy at the age of 12... In the 2018/19 season, Bernard joined Aldershot Town on loan and became a regular starter...

Bernard signed with Forest Green Rovers, where he quickly established himself as a reliable defender".

6 September 2024

CSC DATE CHANGED

Hopefully, Alty's former star man, Kevin Ellison will be included in the Motormen's squad for the match.

NEXT: EBBSFLEET UNITED

This Saturday the Robins welcome bottom of the table Ebbsfleet United, who have yet to win a National Game this season.

Altrincham currently lie fifteenth after winning twice and drawing once in their six fixtures to date.

Both The Robins and The Fleet have netted just four times this season, making them the lowest scorers in the National League, apart from three-goal Braintree Town.

In previewing the game Ebbsfleet United point out that they will "take on Altrincham with new signing pair Charles Ondo and Mustapha Olagunju part of the squad aiming to build on the last away point at Braintree...

This weekend is not subject to the 3pm blackout so you can stream the game on NLTV – or better still, join us at the Kuflink Stadium for free to watch it… just register your attendance here in advance" so travelling supporters are likely to be limited in number.

Whilst goals may be in short supply for both teams in 2024, last year there was a glut of goals when the two sides met...

THE LAST TIME: EBBSFLEET UNITED

That day, Ebbsfleet were without their leading scorer Dominic Poleon and they had no answer to a scintillating first-half display from an Altrincham side lacking half a dozen injured players.

Alty were without Ollie Crankshaw, Regan Linney, George Wilson, James Jones, Liam Brockbank and Matty Kosylo. New loanees Gerald Sithole and Alex Newby joined the squad.

Phil Parkinson made three changes for this match. Out went Joey Jones, Roscoe and Banks whilst the two Justins, Donawa and Amaluzor, as well as Alex Newby all came in to the starting eleven. Newby was deployed on the left with Donawa at right-back.

By half-time it was 4-1 thanks to Alex Newby (5 mins), Lewis Baines (16 mins), Justin Donawa (32 mins)and Chris Conn-Clarke (45 mins), with Nathan Odokonyero pulling one back for The Fleet in the 41st minute.

The second half was largely an anti-climax in which the visitors had the lion's share of the ball and territory but they spurned a great chance in the 81st minute when Ross saved a penalty awarded against substitute Lewis Banks for a foul.

Alty's then on-loan keeper from Stockport County had now saved three penalties in his last six games since joining the club this season. The previous saves were against Barnet and AFC Fylde.

Ross's save (above) allowed Alty to go on to a 6-1 win..

However, in the seven minutes decreed for added time, Altrincham scored twice more.

The fifth goal saw Conn-Clarke net his second goal of the afternoon (90+2 mins).

And the icing on the cake was a sixth goal for the Robins in the 95th minute when an excellent header from Baines flew past Cousins in the Fleet's net. It was the first time since February 1991 that Altrincham had scored six in the top level of non-League football.

The Fleet were missing their top scorer Dominic Poleon who had been withdrawn during their midweek game suffering fatigue. They had also made numerous changes from their midweek game.

ALTRINCHAM: 29. Ethan Ross, 17. Justin Donawa, 15. Jake Cooper, 4. Lewis Baines, 3. Eddy Jones, 6. Elliot Osborne, 8. Isaac Marriott (c), 11. Justin Amaluzor, 28. Alex Newby, 10. Chris Conn-Clarke, 14. Dior Angus. Subs: 2. Lewis Banks, 16. Sam Roscoe, 22. Joey Jones, 32. George Burroughs, 28. Gerald Sithole.

EBBSFLEET UNITED: 1. Mark Cousins, 4. Josh Wright, 7. Omari Sterling-James, 8. Ousseynou Cisse, 10. Craig Tanner, 11. Darren McQueen, 16. Franklin Domi, 20. Chris Solly (c), 21. Nathan Odokonyero, 23. Hayden White, 25. Shaq Coulthirst. Subs: 17. Toby Edser, 18. Billy Clifford, 22. Ben Chapman, 26. Haydn Hollis, 24. David Amoo.

CCC RETURNS... FOR ONE DAY

"As evidence of the lasting affection he has for his old club, he will address supporters in the Fan Zone at 1.30pm and then join hospitality guests in the John King Sponsors’ Lounge at 2pm before cheering the Robins on".

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

The 29-year-old played for The Shaymen in 2021/22, scoring 19 goals in 47 games – earning a move to Barrow, from where he then moved to Wrexham in 2023.

The striker... ended last season out on loan with Doncaster Rovers...

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said 'There were a number of clubs interested in him, but he had his heart set on Halifax, where he had a successful spell before, and I wish him well.'”

The most recent signings for tomorrow's visitors to Altrincham, Ebbsfleet United are, firstly, "defender Mustapha Olagunju, a 22-year-old [who] joins following a previous loan spell with the club last season. The defender came to us originally on a temporary deal from Huddersfield Town in October 2023... and he featured nine times in all for the Fleet during that loan.

The 6ft 3in centre-back joined the Huddersfield academy ranks from Kent Football United in 2018... Olagunju then went on to make six EFL appearances for Port Vale on loan in 2021, adding another League Two outing with Crawley Town following his time at the Fleet last season".

The other new arrival at Ebbsfleet United is Charles Ondo, "The 20-year-old Spanish-born wide left player moves to the Kuflink Stadium after four years with Huddersfield Town, during which time he has also earned four international caps for Equatorial Guinea in the Africa Cup of Nations.

The tall and versatile Ondo started out with Millwall as a youth, moving into Huddersfield... in 2020.. He made his senior debut in October 2022 against Hull City in the Championship...

Direct and speedy, Ondo crossed the Irish Sea last year to gain further experience in playing for Waterford on loan"

5 September 2024

ALTY GAME A "LIVE PICK"

Until the Vanarama National League is available on the DAZN platform, fans will continue to sign up to NLTV in order to watch enhanced games, and all other National League matches.

Once up and running with the migration of NLTV onto the DAZN ecosystem as an add-on channel the agreement with DAZN will run until 2031. This agreement will, for the first time, enable National League games to be accessed around the globe across devices including desktop, smart TVs, IOS, Android, SKY Q, Apple.tv, Amazon Firestick and even games consoles.

Confirmation of DAZN live picks:

• Saturday 5 October Woking v York City – 5.30pm
• Saturday 19 October Rochdale v Southend United – 5.30pm
• Wednesday 23 October Solihull Moors v Woking – 7.45pm
• Saturday 26 October AFC Fylde v Altrincham – 5.30pm"

So, as noted above, the match now kicks off at 5.30pm and not 3pm as originally arranged.

NEXT: EBBSFLEET UNITED

The Real EFL reminds us that "Six games into the National League campaign and Ebbsfleet United are the only side yet to register a victory...

Danny Searle led the Kent side to safety on the final day of last season...

Opening the season with the long trip to Gateshead, Searle’s team returned home on the wrong end of a 5-1 scoreline, followed by a 2-1 home defeat to title favourites Barnet.

Two more defeats away at Yeovil and at home to Woking did nothing to lift the gloom before they registered their first point and clean sheet in a 0-0 draw at Braintree Town on Bank Holiday Monday.

However, a fifth defeat last weekend by a single goal to FC Halifax Town has left the Fleet three points adrift...

Searle hasn’t yet seemed to find the right combination to turn losses into wins. Prolific striker Dom Poleon has struggled to find game time so far with Dominic Samuel and Kwame Thomas preferred instead... the loss also of Rakish Bingham has hampered the side in the final third of the pitch.

Defensively, no one has conceded more in the same amount of matches...

The chance for Tyler Cordner to rebuild his career and the solid signing of Lewis Page from Dagenham & Redbridge have not shown signs yet of any green shoots".

WOMEN OUT OF FA CUP

Despite dominating the tie from the early minutes, Macclesfield were thwarted by a disciplined defensive performance from the Robins, led by Charlotte Bromley and Brianna Morrison, before two goals in three minutes around the half hour mark, from Katie Locke and Ebony Stewart, put Mark Alderson’s team firmly in the driving seat...

Despite being outplayed, Altrincham kept plugging away and were rewarded midway through the second period, with a wonderful move, involving four of Alty’s most influential players, producing the finest goal of the game to halve the deficit..

Alex Hilton-Slee reflected on his first game in charge 'In the first half we struggled to retain the ball in attacking areas and failed to create real chances so at half-time we switched formation and brought Katie Robins into the game along with Rhianna Pickering. Both players made a real difference, and we managed to get a goal back through Kira Saycell.

'I couldn’t be prouder of the girls’ efforts'".

Alty TV has highlights of the match.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

This will be the 20-year-old’s first spell in senior football after joining the Eagles following his release from Tottenham Hotspur last summer..

Mathurin stated... 'It’s a new experience for myself but one I’m really looking forward to. I’m eager to get out on the pitch and play in front of the fans'...

Pools manager Darren Sarll added... 'He brings us great athleticism in wide positions that we’ve been short of since the injury to Luke Charman. His ability to dribble and create chances will be evident from the outset'".

Tamworth report on "An Afternoon to Forget at Barnet [as] Tamworth recorded their biggest defeat in 34 years, as they were beaten 7-0 away at Barnet on Saturday. The loss was the Lambs 3 rd of the season, and it sees them move into the relegation zone for the first time.

Peaks made no changes to the side that won 3-2 against Aldershot last Monday. Barnet were in control from the first minute, and it took just 7 minutes [for Zak Brunt] to put the Bees ahead. Ryan Glover doubled Barnet’s lead 20 minutes later... In the 32nd minute, Brunt turned home his second of the game... to put Barnet three goals ahead and in complete control of the tie...

The Bees started the second half strongly as they were given an early penalty... Brunt grabbed his hat trick by sending Jas Singh the wrong way... 60 minutes in, Dean Brennan’s side made it 5-0... Shortly after, Callum Stead got in on the act to grab Barnet’s sixth goal of the game...

76 minutes in and... Harry Chapman ran onto and smashed the ball into the back of the net to make it 7-0. The result was Tamworth’s biggest loss since 1990, when they lost 7-0 to Nuneaton Borough away.".

4 September 2024

CLIVE FREEMAN R.I.P.

Right: Clive pictured playing for Guiseley against Altrincham in 2002

Terry Rowley's profile in his Alty Legends series tells the story of Clive's impact at Altrincham..

Position: Full-Back

Although only at Moss Lane for one single season, Clive made a lasting impression. He will always be remembered at Moss Lane as a legend, if only for that goal against Chester, which was captured on film by the BBC Sportsnight cameras and subsequently went on to win the November Goal of the Month competition. (We assume most Robins will have this on videotape!).

Clive started his career with Farsley Celtic and had spells at Doncaster Rovers, Bridlington Town, Swansea City (14 League games) and Swansea City (on loan, 4 league games) before arriving at Moss Lane pre-season for trials which led to him signing terms just prior to the start of the season. Gerry Quinn appointed him captain but it was to be a tempestuous relationship, with Freeman unable or unwilling to conform with the defensive duties allotted him.

He opened his scoring account with a relatively tame second half penalty equaliser against Witton Albion. But the first sign of his phenomenal shooting ability came with a 25-yard bullet in the defeat against Macdesfield in the Drinkwise Cup. He followed this with another long range effort against Sheffield F.C. in the F.A. Cup.

In fact most of his goals came from 25 yards+ (the exceptions included 2 penalties). As for the goal that qualifies him as a "legend", we believe most Altrincham fans will need no reminding but just in case...the setting was Moss Lane, the occasion, the F.A. Cup 1st round replay against Chester. With a capacity crowd of 3,000 in the ground and thousands more witnessing the highlights on Sportsnight. Altrincham were leading 1-0 coming into injury time. Bradshaw ran down the right wing, towards the Golf Road end before pulling the ball back into the path of the oncoming Freeman.

He ran on to it, hit it from at least 35 yards and the ball, travelling like a bullet, hit the back of the net a split second later. Freeman later admitted that he was so exhausted that, rather than run on, he quite literally just hit it.

Up until December he had scored 11 goals; he only scored 3 more all season.

But all was not well in other areas. He was dropped for the game against Welling for missing training and, from then on, relations between Captain and manager were soured. A deal transferring him to Bridlington Town fell through. To be fair to Clive, he had spent most of his career playing in midfield, but the manager expected him to take on defensive responsibilities and Clive simply could not or would not comply.

The fans loved him but it was no surprise when, in spite of finishing as leading scorer with 14 goals, Freeman was released, ending up the following season at Doncaster and subsequently Emley and Bradford Park Avenue.

By 2002-03 he was player/assistant manager at UniBond Division One side Guiseley having formerly been the player/coach.

Footnote: By coincidence Alty were drawn against Guiseley in the FA Cup in 2002 and lost 1-2 in Yorkshire, with Freeman ironically playing at full-back for the victors, as seen above.

ALTRINCHAM RECORD

Clive	Freeman
GAMES
Season	League	FAC	LC	CSC	FAT
1992/93	26+6	9	2	3	0
Total	26+6	9	2	3	0
GOALS
Season	League	FAC	LC	CSC	FAT
1992/93	8	4	1	1	0
Total	8	4	1	1	0

NEXT: EBBSFLEET UNITED

It is 45 years since next Saturday's visitors, Ebbsfleet United, visited Moss Lane, under their former name of Gravesend & Northfleet in the inaugural season of the Alliance Premier League. This was the beginning of national-level non-League football in England and, today, has become the Vanarama National League.

Like Altrincham, the last forty-five years have witnessed many ups and downs. In their case that has meant no fewer than eleven relegations or promotions! That total cold have been even higher as they were also involved in three failed play-off campaigns.

1. In 1979 Gravesend & Northfleet qualified for "promotion" to the Alliance Premier League and spent three years at national level, finishing fifth in their inaugural season when Altrincham became the champions.
2. They were relegated in 1982.
3. They dropped another level in 1986.
4. They regained Southern League Premier status from 1989.
5. Another three-year cycle meant they were relegated in 1992
6. Southern (later Isthmian) League Premier status was earned in 1994.
7. 2002 saw them back in the top-flight (Conference) before the club changed its name to Ebbsfleet United in 2007.

   They won the F.A. Trophy in 2008 and were losing finalists the next season.

8. Ebbsfleet were relegated to the South in 2013.
9. Having twice lost out in the promotion play-offs, they succeeded at the third attempt in 2017

   In 2018, after finishing sixth they lost out in the play-offs for promotion to the EFL

10. After the curtailed Covid-season of 2019-20 they were relegated to the South on the PPG principle
11. They regained National League status as champions of the South division.

Above: Altrincham lost 2-0 on their first visit to Gravesend of the current millennium, in November 2005. Their team comprised 1. Stuart COBURN; 11. Gary SCOTT, 15. Peter BAND, 4. Mark MADDOX (capt), 16. Chris BUTLER; 14. Lewis CHALMERS, 8. Val OWEN, 12. Warren PEYTON, 23. Kirk HILTON; 9. Colin LITTLE, 29. Kyle WILSON. Subs: 2. Steve ASPINALL, 7. Colin POTTS, 17. Karl MUNROE, 19. James ROBINSON, 20. Kieran LUGSDEN.

ALTY'S LOANEES

Altrincham FC has an update on its players who have gone out on loan this season.

"Owen German (left), who sealed a month-long loan to Witton Albion on Friday, began his spell... by helping Albion reach Emirates FA Cup Second Round Qualifying with a dramatic 3-2 victory over City of Liverpool...

Also featuring in this game for Witton Albion was young centre-back, Joel Bailey... He has already made seven appearances across August...

Lucas Weaver made a strong first impression on his debut for Bamber Bridge... playing the ball out wide to be crossed into Mark Cullen who finished clinically...

Two Alty academy prospects played a part in Cheadle Heath Nomads’ 3-1 victory away from home against Foley Meir.

Afernee Denise (right) started the match and Harrison Howells made an appearance from the bench".

ALTY OLD BOYS

Phil Jordan reports on Tuesday's fixtures...

National North: It was a mixed evening against Chester for ASHLEY HEMMINGS. Having given Kidderminster Harriers a 65th minute lead, he saw a red card just 11 minutes later, and from the penalty he conceded the visitors equalised to draw 1-1.

EFL Trophy: HARRISON HOLGATE was a 65th minute substitute for Fleetwood, but a strong Aston Villa U21 outfit, including Emmy Buendia (who scored two goals), Ross Barkley, and Jacob Ramsey, ran out 2-3 winners.

CHRIS CONN-CLARKE was credited with the assist for Peterborough United's opening goal at Gillingham, but was substituted midway through the second half as his team went on to win 0-2.

JOE HUGILL was a second half substitute for Wigan Athletic with his side trailing to visitors Morecambe. He equalised from the penalty spot, but within two minutes the visitors regained the lead and went on to win 1-2.

MARCUS DINANGA scored in the first minute for Bromley, and added a second midway through the first half - but visitors Cambridge United turned the game on its head and led 2-3 within two minutes of his being substituted after 66 minutes. Bromley equalised in the 90th minute to send the game to penalties, and won the shootout 5-4.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

York City "announce the signing of defender Malachi Fagan-Walcott on a season-long loan deal from Championship side Cardiff City.

The 22-year-old... [was] picked up by Tottenham Hotspur at the age of 13.

Fagan-Walcott penned a first professional deal with the Premier League side in 2018 before going on to gain senior experience with Spurs in the EFL Trophy, the UEFA Champions League from the bench, and with Dundee during a brief loan spell...

Cardiff City acquired him in the summer of 2023... In January, Fagan-Walcott was signed on loan by Dunfermline manager James McPake, who’d initially taken the defender to Dundee previously.

15 appearances in the Scottish Championship followed".

From the Farnham Herald comes the story of how "Aldershot Town beat Maidenhead United 4-3 in the National League at the EBB Stadium on Saturday.

The Shots went 1-0 up within three minutes... [as] James Henry... struck the ball into the top left-hand corner of the net.

In the 12th minute, Maidenhead made it 1-1 through Tristan Abrahams...

Just before the hour mark, the Shots regained their lead... The visitors equalised almost immediately..

The Shots reacted well and went 3-2 up in the 62nd minute... Nine minutes later, the Shots doubled their advantage... In the 78th minute, the Magpies made it 4-3".

There is yet another new face at Gander Green Lane as Sutton United "announce the signing of Ipswich Town right back Edwin Agbaje on a loan deal until January.

The 20-year old... will offer Steve Morison athleticism, diligence and composure on the ball... Born in Edenderry, Ireland, Agbaje began his career in the Shamrock Rovers academy where he caught the eye of Ipswich Town, with the Tractor Boys bringing him to England in 2020...

Agbaje gained first team experience whilst on loan at Yeovil Town last season, featuring ten times...

'Coming from Ipswich Town, where we’ve also secured Fin Barbrook on loan, it’s clear that Ipswich sees the value in nurturing young talent through our club'" opined manager Steve Morison.

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3 September 2024

CLIVE FREEMAN R.I.P.

Altrincham FC has announced "the death of Clive Freeman, our Player of the Season in 1992-93.

Right: Clive pictured playing for Guiseley against Altrincham in 2002

He is of course immediately memorable for 'That Goal', probably the most famous goal ever scored by an Altrincham player. The strike came in stoppage time in the FA Cup 1st Round Replay against League Two side Chester City, securing a 2-0 win for the Robins in a game that was televised on BBC TV’s Sportsnight programme".

Footnote: Clive was only 61 at the time of his death. There will be more on this sad news, later...

FOUL PLAY AT THE JDS!

For the last two Altrincham home games in the National League fixtures, spectators have been witnesses to the NL fixtures with the highest number of freekick awards for fouls on each of those dates.

On 24 August, against Eastleigh, the NL Paper recorded 27 stoppages for fouls, 15 awarded against Altrincham and 12 against Eastleigh.

Last Saturday (31st), despite referee Yates arguably not penalising quote a few challenges, there were 31 stoppages for fouls, 10 fouls by Alty and a whopping 21 by Oldham.

Above: Altrincham defend one of the freekicks awarded against them last Saturday when facing Oldham Athletic. The defensive wall here comprises Justin Amaluzor, James Jones, Lewis Baines and Tom Crawford.

And the omens for next Saturday at home to Ebbsfleet United are not good either, as The Fleet's last fixture, at home to FC Halifax Town, was the match with the second highest number of fouls, 29, comprising 16 by the hosts and 13 committed by the Shaymen.

When combined with a potential for ten substitution stoppages this season, second halves of games in particular are in danger of becoming punctuated by repeated breaks in play.

The fouls have translated into fifteen yellows and one red for Altrincham so far this season, with Tom Crawford picking up three successive yellows in his most recent games. The former Hartlepool midfielder amassed twelve yellow cards last season for the Pools!

Alty's only red card arrived after some 12 minutes of the new season when Eddy Jones was dismissed against Woking.

ALTY OLD BOYS

On Monday night, Phil Jordan reports that in the National South, a late goal from DANNY CASHMAN (right) earned Worthing the points in a 1-2 win at Boreham Wood.

ALTY TV HIGHLIGHTS

Alty TV has highlights of the match last Saturday between Altrincham and Oldham Athletic.

RESERVES' NARROW DEFEAT

On Saturday, Altrincham Reserves suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat at Crewe FC's Cumberland Arena. The match saw recent first-team signing Remi Thompson (pictured, left) in the starting eleven.

The line-up was: Jack Alexander Chandler, Oscar Cooper, Charley Jarrald, Kian Leckey. Henry Murphy, Charlie Noble< Remi Raymond, Vladislav Shtyhlian, Ben Taylor, Remi Thompson and Thomas Whyte. Subs: Sekouba Camara, Alfred Igbinake, Kyran Webster and Nathan Wood

22 year-old Remi was the last signing of pre-season, having appeared only as an 83rd minute substitute on the right-wing in the final game of 2024 pre-season fixtures.

Remi was previously with Fulham, Manchester United and Huddersfield Town as a youngster but made his professional bow in Ireland with Waterford.

NEXT: EBBSFLEET UNITED

Ebbsfleet United are the next visitors to the J. Davidson Stadium, on Saturday 7 September.

The Fleet currently lie bottom of the National League but have strengthen their ranks since last weekend with "the permanent signing of defender Mustapha Olagunju. The 22-year-old Olagunju joins following a previous loan spell with the club last season.

The defender came to us originally on a temporary deal from Huddersfield Town in October 2023, making his debut at Southend United, and he featured nine times in all for the Fleet during that loan.

The 6ft 3in centre-back joined the Huddersfield academy ranks from Kent Football United in 2018 where he went on to feature 31 times for the U17s, earning him a move to the U19s in 2020.

His first senior football experience came in spells in the Northern Premier League with Tadcaster Albion and then a further seven appearances for Welling United in the National League South. Olagunju then went on to make six EFL appearances for Port Vale on loan in 2021, adding another League Two outing with Crawley Town following his time at the Fleet last season".

This follows the acquisition of another defender ten days ago when Ebbsfleet United announced that manager "Danny Searle has made pacy defender Giles Phillips his latest addition to the Fleet squad as the 27-year-old arrives with League One and National League experience.

Born in Milwaukee in the USA, Phillips played college football there before joining QPR from FC Barrington in 2017... He made 11 League One appearances in the Chairboys’ promotion season in 2019/20 before joining them on a permanent basis in 2020.

His first link-up with Danny Searle came in a loan move to Aldershot Town... earning a permanent deal there in 2021. Phillips spent the next two years at the EBB Stadium...

Phillips reunited with the current Fleet boss again at Waterford in January 2023... He returned to England and played the final three months of last season with Oxford City".

JOSEPH ACHIEVES HIS GOAL

Congratulations go to 21 year-old Joseph Adams, an Altrincham (and Liverpool) supporter with Downs Syndrome, who has completed ten 10km runs in ten European countries over a five day period. He has raised more than £300,000 for the Altrincham FC Community Sports charity.

Former Liverpool captains Stephen Gerrard and Jordan Henderson were amongst the celebrities to have sent Joseph encouraging video messages.

Right: Joseph, with his father, and (right) Pete Scotson, the man behind Radio Alty, pictured at the Altrincham game against Eastleigh on 24 August.

On Sunday, his final 10km run brought him down Moss Lane to the town centre as part of the Altrincham 10K event.

His European runs took place in Amsterdam, Liege, Luxembourg, Stuttgart, Bregenz, Zurich, Como, Monaco, and Nice.

Joseph's feat was marked in a feature on BBC's North West Tonight, broadcast on Monday evening. And at the Community Sports Hall at the J. Davidson Stadium, the Alty players and staff were present to welcome Joseph and to applaud him on his achievement.

Contributions to Joseph's fundraising can be made via GoFundMe.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

News of Altrincham's next but one away opponents comes Yeovil Town where the Club "and Jordan Maguire-Drew have mutually agreed to terminate Jordan’s contract.

The 26-year-old joined Huish Park in December 2022, initially on a one-month loan deal from Grimsby Town. A month later, Maguire-Drew officially departed Grimsby by mutual consent and subsequently signed an 18-month contract to join Yeovil Town permanently.

In August 2023, Maguire-Drew extended his contract by signing a new two-year deal, which saw his current deal run until Summer 2025.

Jordan featured in 30 matches for the Glovers, scoring four goals during his time in Somerset".

Rochdale "announce the signing of Dan Sassi on loan from Blackpool. The defender, who made ten appearances for Dale last season, has joined on an initial two-month deal.

Sassi is a product of Stoke City’s academy, where he departed to join Burnley as a scholar in 2020.

Whilst at Turf Moor, the 20-year-old impressed in their under-18s before moving up to the under-21s...

He joined Blackpool on a permanent deal earlier this year, before joining Dale on loan for the remainder of the campaign. In his ten appearances, of which six were starts, Dale were beaten just once".

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2 September 2024

GEORGE MAKES HIS MARK

Above, left George Wilson and, right, Eddy Jones.

Although left-back Eddy Jones was named as Altrincham's Man of the Match after a good performance against Oldham Athletic on Saturday, a rival for that accolade must have been 23 year-old midfielder George Wilson.

Making his first start of this season, his tenacious tackling and impressive runs forward brought post-match praise from manager Phil Parkinson. The Alty boss said that George had shown the qualities against Oldham that he had seen in him before signing him from Coalville Town in summer 2023

Phil went on to state that George had now set himself a standard for the rest of the season and that, if he achieved that high level consistently, he was likely to be snapped up by a club higher up the footballing pyramid.

When George was initially signed last summer, after a year at Coalville Town, the Alty boss had indicated that the midfielder would go out on loan. However, he impressed sufficiently to remain at Altrincham last season and to make 17(+10) first-team appearances and to score twice.

Last season, an injury sidelined him after his second start for Altrincham, at Fylde, in September 2023 before he returned to action in November. From February 2024, he established himself as a regular starter until red-carded near the end of the season at Dorking.

As for Eddy Jones he has come through a bad start to the season, being sent off early in the opening game against Woking and suffering a three-match suspension.

On his return, last week, at Forest Green, he was substituted at half-time after an imperfect 45 minutes. But the normally ever-present left-back now seems to have got back to his former high level of performance.

LATICS' BOSS EXPLAINS SUBSTITUTION

The Oldham Times states that "Oldham Athletic will not take any chances with James Norwood as he edges towards full match fitness.

The striker, who turns 34 next week, scored in only his second game since recovering from a calf tear, only to see his goal against Altrincham cancelled after he had been substituted.

In the two games Norwood has started, he has been brought off around the hour mark by Micky Mellon, with the Latics boss carefully managing the former Tranmere and Barnsley front man's return to first team action...

'He was frustrated to come off but we've got to be careful because we have to be scientific with it, if you like,' said the Latics boss, Micky Mellon.

Mellon added 'It was a good goal because we pressed them really well and we knew they would want to try to take chances and we knew if we got things right we would catch them, which we did a couple of times, so it was nice to see it go in.

'For about half an hour we were excellent, scored the goal and sort of settled on it... but it became a bit scrappy... We gave away a cheap goal and then missed three that you would expect to at the very least hit the target'".

ALTY WOMEN BOW OUT OF FA CUP

In Sunday afternoon's Adobe Women's FA Cup First Round Qualifying tie, at Moss Lane, Altrincham FC Women lost 1-3 to Macclesfield FC Women.

ALTY OLD BOYS

Phil Jordan advises us that on Saturday "in the NPL Division 1 West, a goal from LUKE WALL was enough for Runcorn Linnets to see off visitors Congleton Town.

JEROME WRIGHT scored the winner as Trafford won their home fixture against RYAN SHOTTON's Hanley Town 2-1.

KEVIN ELLISON scored again as Vauxhall Motors beat visitors Stalybridge Celtic 3-2".

Meanwhile in the FA Cup DONTAI GABBIDON netted for FC United of Manchester in their 3-3 draw with Hyde United.

Also in the Cup, DANNY MITCHLEY's shot was diverted into the net by a team-mate as his City of Liverpool team drew 2-2 at Witton Albion.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

AFC Fylde "confirm that prior to [the] deadline for EFL Clubs to complete their transfer business, the club rejected a significant six-figure bid for midfielder Taelor O’Kane.

The 19-year-old, who recently signed a two-year extension to his original deal, has come through the ranks at the academy... The teen made 19 starts last season... and has since made a further four appearances this campaign...

Director of Football Alex Hughes said 'We are pleased to see clubs in higher divisions taking note of our club’s successes... He remains central to our future plans and the decision to reject the bid by the Chairman was made without hesitation.'”

On the eve of Saturday's postponed game with Southend United AfC Fylde had announced the "loan signing of Jamaican international Tyler Roberts from Wolverhampton Wanderers... which runs until January 31st.

A product of the Wolverhampton Wanderers academy, the Jamaican... earned EFL experience whilst on loan at Sky Bet League Two side Doncaster Rovers last year... Roberts featured in 15 games ...

Roberts said... 'I’ve been at Wolves for around 13 years so a long time and it’s good to get out and have new experiences...

Head Coach Chris Beech also added... 'Tyler adds a different dynamic to our side. He adds amazing pace and loves driving at defenders, asking questions of his opponents which is exactly what we we’re looking to add to the squad...

'With a couple of more additions, I think we’ll have the balance across all areas of the pitch to be a competitive force in this division.'”

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1 September 2024

WOMEN'S FA CUP AT JDS TODAY

This afternoon (2pm) at the J. Davidson stadium, Altrincham FC Women face Macclesfield in the FA Cup. Entry to watch the game is free.

ALTRINCHAM 1-1 OLDHAM ATHLETIC

A battling performance from Altrincham earned them a point against an Oldham side which looked the far better side for the opening 23 minutes.

Right: Jake Bickerstaff had a quiet debut. He is seen here with Justin Amaluzor

It was at that stage that the Latics took the lead when they gained possession off Osborne deep in the Alty half on their right flank. The ball was worked inside to Norwood and, with Ross out of his goal, he had the simple task of netting from a central position... Regan Linney glanced a header across the keeper and into the net to level the score (69 mins).

Match report here

Match highlights from Alty TV.

• Alty line-ups
• Alty player statistics
• League table

ALTY MANAGER'S REACTION

Altrincham manager Phil Parkinson was interviewed after the game with Oldham Athletic. The video interview is provided by Alty TV

OLDHAM'S VIEW

After the draw at Altrincham, Oldham Athletic reported that "Latics were forced to settle for point at the J Davidson Stadium, after Altrincham came from behind in the second half to end the game all square...

The visitors started the game on the ascendancy, taking the game to Altrincham... Their pressure was then rewarded on the 24th minute as good work from Harry Charsley on the right hand side resulted in him taking possession from the Altrincham defender. He played the ball to Dan Gardner who squared it for James Norwood and the striker made no mistake, firing home to put Latics ahead.

The hosts grew into the game after the set back and took the game to Latics...

In the 69th minute Altrincham won a free-kick on the right hand side of the pitch. Alex Newby delivered a low ball into the box which was met by Regan Linney who headed home to bring the scores level".

NEXT: EBBSFLEET UNITED

The visitors to the J. Davidson Stadium next Saturday are Ebbsfleet United who lie bottom of the National League after a 1-0 defeat at home against FC Halifax Town.

The Fleet report that they "were unfortunate to fall to an early deflected goal as FC Halifax Town took that and held on to it for 87 minutes to bring the three points back to Yorkshire. Danny Searle made only the one change, Dom Poleon in for Dom Samuel, whose broken leg injury was confirmed, and he also named new signing Charles Ondo on the bench.

But it wasn’t to be the start that the manager and his team wanted or needed as the visitors found the opener with just three minutes on the clock. It was wide player Angelo Capello who found the back of the net following a double-deflected assist from Adan George that was initially saved by Mark Cousins before Capello made sure of it...

EUFC: Cousins, Phillips (Tanner 75), Page (Chapman 71), Dallison, Cordner, Wright, Kellermann (Domi 63), Fonguck (Edser 57), , Cundle (Ondo 57), Tanga, Poleon. Subs not used: O’Neill, Berry FCHT: Johnson, Senior, Adetoro, Capello (Galvin 81), Evans, Cooke, Smith, Hoti, Oluwabori (Emmerson 72), Bray (Pugh 85), George (Wright 68), . Subs not used: Arthur, Jenkins, Ford".

ALTY OLD BOYS

Phil Jordan reports on Friday's game in the Australian NPL Victoria: CONNOR HAMPSON was quickly back in action just three days after Oakleigh Cannons fine Australia Cup win, as they travelled to Avondale in the playoff semi final. They had lost the home league meeting 1-2 early in the season, but a 3-3 draw in the return match seven weeks ago offered some hope.

Wednesday's exertions proved no problem, however, and Cannons produced another top drawer to performance to win 0-3. They now face an away final against local rivals South Melbourne, who topped the league in the regular season. The winners will go on to play another state league winner - there is no promotion to the A-League however, as it is a closed shop.

And Phil adds that, closer to home on Saturday, in the Championship, DUNCAN WATMORE scored Millwall's second goal in their 3-0 home win over Sheffield Wednesday.

League One: JOE HUGILL was withdrawn after an hour at St.Andrews as his Wigan Athletic side lost 2-1 to Birmingham City.

CHRIS CONN-CLARKE came off the Peterborough United bench at the start of the second half, but couldn't help his team avoid a 0-2 home defeat by Wrexham.

CARL PIERGIANNI was booked in the 10th added minute as Stevenage went down to a home defeat by the only goal of the game against Lincoln City.

League Two: Although Bromley led after just two minutes, visitors Crewe Alexandra didn't take long to turn things round, and went on to win 1-2. Andy Woodman apparently didn't think that bringing MARCUS DINANGA (right) off the bench would help.

CONNOR JENNINGS was credited with the assist for Tranmere Rovers' winning goal in a 1-2 result at Carlisle United.

National League: MILES WELCH-HAYES, signed from Livingston yesterday made his Maidenhead United debut as a 70th minute substitute with his new side trailing 3-2 at Aldershot; they eventually lost 4-3.

DAN MOONEY only came off the Boston United bench in the 80th minute of Boston United's 1-3 home defeat by Yeovil Town.

TYRESE SINCLAIR played 89 minutes for York City, who won 0-2 at Dagenham & Redbridge.

After LUKE WATERFALL saw a 35th minute red card for Hartlepool United against visitors Braintree Town, BILLY SASS-DAVIES came off the bench at the start of the second half. The game ended goalless.

National North: Chester's final goal in their 3-0 home win over Peterborough Sports was scored by TOM PEERS.

JONNY MARGETTS scored both King's Lynn goals in their 1-2 victory at Radcliffe.

National South: After Worthing had trailed early at Hampton & Richmond, DANNY CASHMAN equalised, and his team went on to win 2-3.

NWCL First Division South: After they'd gone behind at Foley Meir, HARLAN RODGERS-MORRIS (right) equalised for Cheadle Heath Nomads from the penalty spot. Two late strikes gave them a 1-3 win.

Welsh Premier: A JOHN DISNEY penalty featured in a 1-5 win for Connah's Quay at Briton Ferry.

VANARAMA NATIONAL LEAGUE NEWS

Southend United reported on Saturday that "Our game against AFC Fylde has been postponed.

The train carrying our players to the game has suffered a power failure between stations. The train left London at 10.18am and was due to arrive in Preston at 12.39.

Avanti West Coast are in the process of organising an 'evacuation train' which will take the players back to London. It is currently unclear when the evacuation train will arrive and so a decision has been made to postpone the game.

We apologise to our supporters for the inconvenience caused. For those who are already in Fylde, we have put some money behind the supporters' bar at the stadium - please have a beer on us".

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