ALTRINCHAM FC MATCH REPORTS
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BOOTLE FC YOUTH (0) 2
ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH (1) 3
played at Bootle FC, on Thursday, 5 October 2017, at 7.45pm
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ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, black shorts, red socks): 1. Cameron TERRY, 2. Shaun WALKER, 3. James O'HARA, 4. Will HALL, 6. Harry SHERIDAN, 6. Harry BRACEGIRDLE, 7. Calvin BOYD, 8. Curtis MILLER, 9. Bailey RICHARDSON, 10. Dylan SCANLAN (capt), 11. Reiss HUGHES. Subs: 12. Fergus GROGAN, 14. Ollie OKUNOWU, 15. Craig BARNETT, 16. Dontai GABIDON, 18. Kane HUSSAIN,
BOOTLE (Blue shirts with yellow trim, black shorts and socks): 1. Ellis Mooney, 2. Lewis Gell, 5. Joe Cunningham, 6. Cameron McCormack, 7. Max Barton, 9. Will Quayle, 10. Cameron Grant, 11. Jake McKetterick, 12. Ellis O'Keefe, 14. Jamie Barnes, 15. Jack Heard. Subs: 3. Joe Carroll, 4. Elliot Egan.REPORT
On a windy night at Bootle, Altrincham were playing their first match in the 2017-18 FA Youth Cup, following two successive walkovers in the previous rounds, against clubs unable to raise a team. Tonight, Altrincham were fielding a young side whilst Bootle had a quick but, physically, slightly smaller eleven.
Alty kicked off but had an early scare when a ball over the top of the defence found Grant. As Terry came out towards him, the Bootle man hooked his effort narrowly wide. Altrincham responded well and when a foul by Quayle gave the visitors a freekick some 35 yards out, they struck the crossbar (4 mins).
Another Bootle ball over the top this time saw Terry reach it before the advancing McKetterick (8 mins). Next, a firm tackle by Heard on Sheridan was followed by a good move from the hosts as a right-wing cross reached McKetterick and his shot was deflected narrowly over the bar for a corner (11 mins).
Alty then had a three-versus-two counter-attack but a poor final ball allowed Bootle to clear. Bootle then went close but miskicked in the penalty area. At the other end, Scanlan fired over the bar following a good interchange on the right between Boyd and Miller (15 mins). A wild challenge by Heard now left Bracegirdle in a heap and the Alty midfielder had to be substituted, after treatment, by Grogan. Heard was fortunate only to see a yellow card (18 mins)
Grogan was soon involved in the match but his first shot went wide (21 mins) and then Miller saw his 25-yard effort saved by Mooney. End to end play continued as Grant just got to a ball ahead of Terry but put the ball wide of goal (23 mins). O'Keefe then put another effort narrowly wide from 20 yards (27 mins). After this, it took three successive defensive blocks by Alty to keep out Bootle as the game passed the half-hour mark (32 mins).
But having ridden their luck a little over the preceding few minutes, an Alty ball from the left located Miller, in space, at the back post. He controlled the ball well, made space and slotted the ball past the keeper to give Altrincham the lead (34 mins).
Altrincham now enjoyed a good spell but the next effort to threaten a goal came from Grant's shot into the Altrincham side-netting (41 mins). The sides each won a corner before the interval but the score remained 0-1 after an entertaining first forty-five minutes.
| Half-Time: BOOTLE FC YOUTH 0 ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH 1 |
Altrincham made their second substitution at the break, with Gabidon replacing O'Hara at left-back. Alty won an early corner, through Richardson, and soon afterwards Scanlan got in a half-volley but it flew well off target. Gabidon was soon impressing and he now won his team a corner on the left. Taken by Grogan, the corner was firmly headed home by Sheridan to make it 0-2 (51 mins).
Alty almost wrapped up the game three minutes later when Boyd did well and found Hughes, whose excellent shot across the keeper from left of goal came back off the inside of the far upright. This was followed by a Gabidon run and shot which was saved (54 mins). With Alty well on top, a Miller effort was fired over the bar. Another foul by the booked Heard passed without further punishment before a Richardson cross was almost deflected past his own keeper by a Bootle defender, but Mooney saved it.
Bootle got back in the game with a corner, after which Heard struck the outside of the Alty upright. Now Altrincham made their final swap as Hussain replaced Richardson up front (59 mins).
After Scanlan had seen a shot saved and Mooney had punched away an Alty cross, the hosts pulled a goal back. Barton threaded a good ball through to Heard, who scored from about 12 yards to make it 1-2 (69 mins). At the other end, Hussain was beginning to cause problems with his pace and, after he had been fouled, Gabidon got up the left and played an excellent ball to Hussain who steered it past the keeper to extend Alty's lead to two goals, once again (72 mins).
A strong challenge soon dumped Hussain on the ground again and, from the freekick, Alty had a header saved. With ten minutes remaining, Husssain's good shot was saved at the cost of a corner. Hughes then had to hobble off after being fouled but he was soon able to resume (83 mins). Scanlan then saw an effort go narrowly wide as Alty dominated at this stage.
A foul by Hall, who with Sheridan had a solid game, gave Bootle a freekick which cleared the bar (89 mins). But then Sheridan was harshly penalised, after he had been fouled himself, and the centre-back earned a booking for dissent (90+1 mins).
But there was to be a late goal for Bootle as Quayle lobbed Terry from 20 yards or more to make the final score 2-3.
This had been an excellent performance from Altrincham in difficult windy conditions.
| Full-Time: BOOTLE FC YOUTH 2 ALTRINCHAM FC YOUTH 3 |