Altrincham 2 Vauxhall Motors 0

in UniBond League Cup

11th  December 2001.

Summary and other details by John Laidlar. His full report is in the Official Site by John

Alty have not met Vauxhall Motors in the League this season and even tonight's League Cup encounter nearly did not take place. Thick fog only cleared shortly before kick-off and with only a couple of minutes to go before the scheduled start the match officials and the two teams' managers were in deep conversation on the pitch discussing its playability. With sub-zero temperatures forcing closure of part of the terracing due to ice and the pitch being hard and frosty, there was obvious concern for the players' safety. The match finally kicked off four minutes late. This was Vauxhall's last game in the Group Stage whereas Alty have yet to play Colwyn Bay. Given the conditions, it was not surprising that the crowd is believed to have been Alty's lowest for a competitive match since the War.

After last Saturday when Alty had their biggest crowd of the season and there was bright sunshine as well as the glamour of the FA Cup, tonight we had pre-match fog, sub-zero temperatures making the pitch treacherous and just 114 paying spectators for this UniBond Cup match. Both goals came from free-kicks. Rod Thornley headed home the first after 48 minutes after Wills had headed on Hawes's free-kick. The second goal was also a header, by Murphy, from a Ryan free-kick after 64 minutes. Altrincham deserved to win but Vauxhall did hit the crossbar in the second half and contributed to as entertaining a game as could be expected in such climatic conditions.

Both sides fielded strong but not full strength sides. For Vauxhall, leading scorer Terry Fearns was on the bench alongside another first teamer, Wayne McDermott. Recently signed loan player Paul Aldridge was in the Motormen's side and his father, John, was in the stand. Also there was Port Vale manager Brian Horton, who was presumably on a scouting mission. Alty were without Jason Gallagher, who still awaits his operation, as well as Ian Craney and Kevin Hulme, whilst Lee Poland was only on the bench. Carl Furlong and Paul Taylor made their first starts since their injury lay-offs, though both made substitute appearances last Saturday. There were two complete newcomers for the Robins. Playing at right-back was Neil Ryan, son of Manchester United coach Jim Ryan, whilst on the bench was David Wills, who has played for Trafford this season. Ryan's international clearance only came through earlier in the day; he had been previously playing in the USA. Alty had three central defenders joining Ryan in the back-four, namely Maddox, Sertori and Taylor, the last-named playing at left-back. The midfield had two players who have generally played at full-back this season in Dave Swannick and Gary Scott, with Steve Hawes and Danny Murphy the other members of the midfield quartet. Furlong and Thornley were paired up front.

The kick-off was due for 7.45pm but at 7.00 very little could be seen because of fog A pitch inspection was due at 7.30. Officials, managers and captains discus whether  the referee would allow the game to be played. He did as the fog cleared but the pitch was hard and resulted in several falls

On the previous Saturday the stand was full for the FA Cup game against Darlington. This evening there were a total of 114! at the game

From the other end

Another fall, Rod Thornley goes down in front of the imposing figure of  Chris Holmes

New signings David Wills (throwing in), from Trafford and Neil Ryan (to the left of David) who has recently returned from America had an impressive debuts. Mark Sertori keeps an eye on things

Danny Murphy's header beats keeper Holmes for Alty's second goal

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