BISHOP AUCKLAND-ALTRINCHAM FAT2 REPLAY

in conjunction with the

and the

Match Report

10 December 2000

BISHOP AUCKLAND (1) 3 ALTRINCHAM (0) 1

F.A. Trophy Second Round Replay, played on Wednesday 6th December, 2000 at 7.45pm.

SCORERS

9 mins: Andrew SHAW (pen.)(Bishop Auckland 1 Altrincham 0)

55 mins: Danny MELLANBY (Bishop Auckland 2 Altrincham 0)

69 mins: Jonathan MILROY (Bishop Auckland 3 Altrincham 0)

72 mins: Mark MADDOX (Bishop Auckland 3 Altrincham 1)

REFEREE: Mr Richard Hewitt

ATTENDANCE: 235

TEAMS

6.12.00	BISHOP AUCKLAND	versus.	ALTRINCHAM
3pm	Light and dark blue quartered shirts and dark blue shorts and socks	---.	Red and white shirts and black shorts
1.	Steve JONES	1.	Stuart COBURN
2.	Stephen HUTT	2.	Gary SCOTT
3.	Anthony LEE	3.	Steve MORGAN
4.	David GALLACHER	4.	Gary TALBOT (capt.)
5.	Mark SALMON (capt.)	5.	James GLENDENNING
6.	Michael NELSON	6.	Mark WARD
7.	Stephen BELL	7.	Stuart SCHEUBER
8.	David BAYLES	8.	Steve HAWES
9.	Andrew SHAW	9.	Alex HAY
10.	Danny MELLANBY	10.	Leroy CHAMBERS
11.	Jeff SMITH	11.	Danny MURPHY
12.	Jonathan MILROY	12.	Richard LANDON
14.	Danny BRUNSKILL	14.	Mark MADDOX
15.	Mark FOSTER	15.	Barry CROWE
16.	Michael DUNWELL	16.	Otis THOMAS
17.	--	17.	Mario DANIEL

SUMMARY
For the third time in three weeks, Altrincham met Bishop Auckland and for the third time, Altrincham failed to win. I was unable to attend this Wednesday-night replay and am endebted to Alan Johnson for allowing me to use his report, as indicated below. This is supplemented by information about bookings and details from the match programme, both of which were kindly supplied by Stan Riley, to whom I am also very grateful.

TEAM NEWS
Altrincham did not revert to the disastrous 3-5-2 formation which was tried in the League match at Bishop Auckland but their more conventional line-up was equally unsuccessful against a Bishops team who were on a long unbeaten run. The home team was unchanged from that which played in the two recent League and FAT encounters between the sides.

MATCH REPORT
The report below was kindly supplied by Alan Johnson, webmaster of the Official Altrincham FC website, to whom I am very grateful for reproduction permission.

Altrincham were unceremoniously tossed out of the FA Trophy by Bishop Auckland. Gone was the evenly matched, hard-fought contest of Saturday's 2-2 draw as the Bishops were totally in control, particularly in the second half. They wanted to win this match more than Alty. Indeed the result could have been much worse. Home keeper Steve Jones had little to do, with only two on-goal shots to stop, one a good one, a low drive from Leroy Chambers and one, to his embarrassment, that he did not. At the other end Stuart Coburn could do little to stop the three goals, one of which included a penalty on 9 minutes. He was kept very busy and, particularly in the second half made a number of splendid saves which did save some of Alty's face.

I am writing this report as John Laidlar, like many others was unable to make this long trip. The short notice, early start, distance and midnight return time meant that the Alty away support was at a low ebb, only 15 travelled on the supporters coach, (wrong, it was a mini-bus capably driven by SAFE's Alan Brotherton), and the number of independent travellers was down. I guess another reason was a feeling that Bishop Auckland were our bogie team and it was not a match we were going to win. Our team certainly gave that impression

Like our Saturday visit of a couple of weeks ago Bishop Auckland made us very welcome. How do they keep their bar prices so low? They underestimated the size of the crowd (guessing 300 and more than our last visit) as they ran out of programmes, having only ordered 70, and pies. There was no segregation but two police and a contingent of large Darlington stewards were present. However there was no suggestion of any crowd problem, indeed at the end of the game I saw two protagonists from Alty and Bishops who verbally sparred at the November 18th game chatting amicably and ending by saying see you next year! One minor victory for web site diplomacy, John Covey Bishop Auckland web master had pointed out that they they did not take exception to the Alty chants referring to them as "cheating bastards" but not "cheating Geordie bastards" as they were not Geordies; a word in the right ear and the term Geordie was not in any of the Alty chants. I still want to know what to call them?

Altrincham started badly when Gary Talbot was lucky not to have conceded a penalty in the first minute. On 9 minutes, much to the obvious disgust of Stuart Coburn, striker David Mellanby, who was creating all sorts of problems for Alty, was brought down by Steve Hawes in the box and an uncontested penalty was awarded. The keeper dived the right way for Andrew Shaw's well taken shot but could not prevent the goal. Throughout the first half Alty tried to mount attacks but far too frequently passes went astray, our players were robbed of the ball; often an attack faltered because there was no one in the opposition's box and shots were not on target. On 25 minutes Gary Talbot limped off injured to be replaced by Mark Maddox. As the players left the field at half time with the score 0-1 you sensed that Alty would be very fortunate to score.

HALF-TIME: BISHOP AUCKLAND 1 ALTRINCHAM 0

On 55 minutes a defensive error by James Glendenning gifted Bishop Auckland's 2nd goal scored by Danny Mellanby (0-2). Alty were giving away more passes and Bishop Auckland's attack becoming more effective. On 58 minutes Alex Hay came off to be replaced by Mario Daniel. On 60 minutes Mark Ward was replaced by Richard Landon. None of the substitutions made any difference to the control held by Bishop. On 65 minutes there was Alty's first decent shot when Leroy Chambers sent a low drive towards the corner of the goal but it was well saved by "out of work" Steve Jones. On 70 minutes Stuart Coburn made a good save but this was followed by a corner out of which Bishop's Jonathon Milroy scored (0-3). It really was one way traffic down the hill towards Alty's goal. On 73 minutes Alty's luck seemed to change. A free kick from Steve Hawes was picked up by Mark Maddox who somehow managed to send the ball goalwards. Steve Jones caught the ball, dropped it and it went straight through his legs for an Alty goal. It was worth coming a long way to see the look of embarrassment on his face and the delight on that of Mark Maddox. Naively you would have thought that this lucky gift goal would inspire Alty to greater efforts to try to achieve a draw and extra time. But, no, they did not respond and in fact Bishop Auckland seemed to treat it as an insult and increased the pressure on the Alty to restore a more respectable score. It was only the efforts of Stuart Coburn, who made some very good saves, that kept the score at (1-3).

Congratulations to Bishop Auckland they deserved their victory and wishing them all the best when they meet Burton Albion in the 3rd round - keep the UniBond flag flying! If Altrincham are going to finish the season with nothing to show for their efforts Mark Ward has a major task ahead of him to motivate the players back into a winning frame of mind. Although we are no longer favourites for promotion that is still an achievable aim and there are still the UniBond league Cups to play for. It can be done and will be assisted by more supporters coming though the turnstiles. This will also assist Altrincham's major battle, that of financial survival until the next season.

Robins: Stuart Coburn, Gary Scott, Steve Morgan, Gary Talbot (25min Mark Maddox), James Glendenning, Stuart Scheuber, Steve Hawes, Mark Ward (60 min Richard Landon), Alex Hay ( 58min Mario Daniel), Leroy Chambers, Danny Murphy, Subs not used: Barry Crowe, Otis Thomas.

FINAL SCORE: BISHOP AUCKLAND 3 ALTRINCHAM 1

FOOTNOTES

The following Altrincham players were booked:

24 mins: James Glendenning (Altrincham)

37 mins: Mark Maddox (Altrincham)

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Compiled by John Laidlar