Hucknall Town 4 Altrincham 1
UniBond Premier league
24 August 2002
Summary, photographs and other details by John Laidlar. His full report is in the Official Site by John Laidlar.
BACKGROUNDAfter two 4-0 defeats, Altrincham were looking to start a climb up the table from bottom position. Hucknall had drawn their opening two fixtures. The Watnall Road pitch looked in much better condition than last season and a new sloped terrace had been added behind one of the goals as Alty fans received their customary friendly welcome to Hucknall.
| Hucknall's Mark Nangle will probably never score a simpler hat-trick as Altrincham conceded four soft goals to his side this afternoon. Alty keeper Stephens missed a corner ball after just three minutes to set Nangle on his way and then a huge gap in the Alty defence allowed in Scott Huckerby for the second (21 mins). As at Vauxhall on Tuesday, Alty improved and dominated the first half-hour of the second half, grabbing their first goal of the season through Gary Talbot after 61 minutes to make it 2-1. Alty looked like getting an equaliser but an overhit back-pass by Neil Murphy caused problems for Stephens and ended up with a tap-in for Nangle (81 mins) to put the match out of reach. Then, a minute from the end, a huge "up and under" was dropped by the keeper to allow Nangle to complete his hat-trick. |
There were two changes in the Alty starting line-up from that defeated 4-0 at Vauxhall Motors last Tuesday. Ryan Hevicon has apparently been released from the club, whilst Chris Adams was also out, presumably injured. Into the team came midfielders Ian Craney, who had missed the last game through injury, and Neil Ryan, back from his summer break for his first game of the season. On the bench, there was no place for striker Mike Turner and into his place came Sean Smith, from Cheadle Town, who had previously appeared as a full-back substitute in pre-season.
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| Hucknall took the lead in the third minute |
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| Mark Maddox, competing with Mark Nangle |
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| A shot by Neil Murphy |