Bamber Bridge 1 Altrincham 1

in UniBond Premier League

3 April 2002.

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

This match had been twice rearranged (from 27 October and from 19 February). It looked in jeopardy again last night when the Altrincham team arrived but their kit did not. Eventually the kitman arrived and kick-off was delayed by 16 minutes. Bamber Bridge had given Alty a close game at Moss Lane, losing to the odd goal in seven and Alty came to the Irongate on a dreadful run of no wins in ten league and cup games. A defeat in this match would consign the Brig to relegation. They had already completed all of their away games this season and they therefore were finishing the campaign with four consecutive home games on a pitch that was in excellent condition. Alty, however, still had ten league games to play. One of the linesmen for this game was a Mr G. Heathcote and the other was Mr C. Hargreaves; the former was not the Altrincham coach Graham Heathcote and the latter, one assumes, was not any relative of Brig's Anthony Hargreaves. The referee, Mr Ireland, had handled Alty's league cup defeat by Trafford at Moss Lane earlier this season and he was to have a very good game here. The matchday programme was excellent value at £1 and was packed with statistical information, the most telling of which was the form chart. Printed originally for this fixture when it was due to be played in February, it showed Altrincham then in fourth from top position. The revised form table for 1 April showed us joint bottom!

Altrincham came within three minutes of recording their first win in eleven matches but a late own goal by Ian Craney ensured that Bamber Bridge retained the mathematical possibility of avoiding relegation. In a game whose start was delayed for 16 minutes by the late arrival of the Altrincham team's kit, Bamber Bridge started well but the Robins then improved and had the better chances. The visitors took the lead four minutes after the break with a superb strike from 25 yards or more by Steve Hawes. Brig barely had a shot in the second period until the closing stages when a cross from the left was knocked past his own keeper by Ian Craney from six yards (87 mins). This was a much improved performance from Altrincham despite losing both Hulme and Poland before the half-hour mark.

Captain Mark Sertori back was back after missing the game at Bradford but Neil Ryan was missing, having been ill earlier this week. Ryan was replaced at right-back by Vernum Rowland, who started in his more accustomed defensive role for the first time since he got into the first team recently. Lee Poland got a rare start alongside Rod Thornley up front with loan player Marc Whiteman sitting on the bench with Keith Mairs and Lee Thompson. There were two familiar faces in the Brig ranks. Terry Bowker, the Brig captain, and Anthony Hargreaves were both still Altrincham players earlier this season. Hargreaves's loan period has now turned into a permanent move to the Lancashire club. Bamber Bridge's Robinson wore a number seventeen shirt throughout as the number seven shirt had been ripped.

The lights at the Irongate were not the brightest. Even staining the resources of the camera to its limit the shortest exposure time was 1/30sec. It was not possible to take a satisfactory shot if there was any movement by the players which caused blurring - that makes good action pictures very difficult to achieve. Just before it became really dark this shot was possible with Ian Craney having a fall

The referee has strong words to say to Gareth Strange and Terry Bowker, Bamber Bridge's captain and ex Altrincham player. Marc Whiteman shows interest

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