Burton Albion 1  Altrincham 1

in UniBond Premier League

15th  December 2001.

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

This was the first-ever league meeting between these sides at Eton Park, though Burton had won the encounter at Moss Lane earlier this season, two-nil. It was only Altrincham's second league match since October, thanks to their progress in the FA Cup and Trophy. Burton led Alty by 15 points but had played 6 more games before today's kick-off. The unsegregated crowd of 1,712 was the biggest to have watched a UniBond match this season.

This was a highly entertaining game in which Burton took a deserved first-half lead after 19 minutes when Stride firmly headed home a Webster free-kick form left-centre. Altrincham then dominated the opening stages of the second half and got a well-merited equaliser from Craney's firm shot across Duke (58 mins), when the referee played a fine advantage after a bad foul on Thornley in the build-up. Burton finished the stronger side but the Altrincham defence held firm and Coburn was only required to make one top-class save. After the match the Altrincham supporters' coach was attacked by local hooligans and its driver was assaulted, a situation which arose because of stewards' insistence that the coach be removed from the car-park and parked several hundred yards away from the ground.

The Altrincham squad was experimental in that it included three players (Ryan, Taylor and Wills) who were making their first-ever League appearances for Altrincham, whilst a fourth (Furlong) had not completed 90 minutes since his injury at Witton more than 10 weeks ago. Centre-back Taylor played at left-back in place of the injured Adams whilst midfielder Kevin Hulme also missed the game with his hamstring injury. Also still out injured was Jason Gallagher, who undergoes a groin operation on Thursday. Jason was with the Alty squad for this the game as were Anthony Hargreaves and Stuart Locke, who had reportedly been released by the Club some weeks ago. Burton were without midfielder Glasser. Dale Anderson came into the side that had beaten Barrow 5-0 recently in the FA Trophy.

Burton Albion mascot makes sure the young mascots are in trim

Ray Armstrong Alty's ball boys manager should make a note - at Burton the boys have seats1nderson

A section of the Alty faithful Kenny is dead center having a cup

Another section of the faithful with Jean Heathcote fully recovered from being hit by a ball at Frickley

Danny Murphy goes high

Carl Furlong does not appreciate a tackle from behind

Danny Murphy in the air again

Mark Maddox is upended and Carl Furlong protests

A sad sight Carl Furlong is stretchered off

Goal Ian Cranny's super shot beats the keeper to equalise for Alty

In the last few minutes Burton attacked strongly but Alty packed the defense to keep their point

The team salutes the fans

An unfortunate end to what should have been a good day out. The Burton stewards would not allow the supporters coach to remain in the car park but insisted the it be brought back at the end of the game. An announcement was made towards the end of the game that the coach was available out side the ground. However it was not as the driver had arrived at the car park, parked only to be told that he had to again move the out of the car park. He had to make a circuit of the ground to pick up stranded supporters. On his way back hooligans damaged the rear of the coach and physically threatened the driver. The police and stewards were called and statements were taken. Burton Albion will have to take steps to ensure that supporters traveling on coaches are  protected from such hooligans. The match was not segregated and I do not believe that was the cause of the problem which occurred after the game. While we were waiting for the return of the coach many Burton supporters, without realizing we had a problem congratulated Alty on their performance and said what a good game it had been

From the Official Site As the match drew to its conclusion a Tannoy announcement invited Altrincham fans to proceed straight to their coach at the final whistle. What this announcement omitted to say was that Burton stewards had forced the coach driver, under pain of police action, to remove his parked coach from the club car park and take it some 250 yards away up the road. There it was set upon by a small group of local hooligans. As it waited for the disorientated Alty fans to locate it in the dark street, these locals attacked the it and broke its back light. When the driver went to remonstrate with them he was clearly punched. The coach then retreated back to the car park where the police were called. A half hour delay ensued as statements were taken but the Altrincham manager, coach and chairman all came to lend moral support and in the case of manager Bernard Taylor, also to bring physical sustenance in the shape of a bag of chocolate for the young fans on the coach and a tray of sandwiches and crisps for the other supporters! This was an incident that could have been avoided if the coach had been allowed to stay in its car-park bay. Despite this unfortunate end to proceedings, the Alty fans travelled home content with a fine performance by their team.