I'D like to start out by offering an apology to all the fans who travelled to watch us in our FA UmBro Trophy clash at North Ferriby last weekend.

Sadly, what we were all hoping would be another step along the road to Villa Park turned out to be a massive disappointment for everyone connected with the club as we slipped to a 3-2 defeat.

I can't remember when I last felt so down after a march and spent all the following day feeling as though the world had collapsed around my shoulders.

Quite what went wrong is hard to say, but, although we did miss a bucketful of chances, I was left with the distinct impression that North Ferriby wanted to win that little bit more than we did.

It was their cup final, I suppose, as it often is for teams playing against us, while people must remember, too, that the tie came after a long spell of inactivity for us.

But that's not to say I don’t accept we let ourselves down and I let the lads know my feelings when I had a little chat with them before they went out to face Macclesfield in Tuesday's UniBond Cheshire Senior Cup semi-final.

To their credit, they responded magnificently and produced an excellent performance to defeat a Macc side containing a number of players with first-team experience.

Macclesfield manager Dave Moss paid us the compliment of attending the Match and I think he'll agree that we finished worthy winners.

Now, we can look forward to meeting either Stalybridge or Crewe in the final, while we'll also be seeking to make progress in another cup competition when we entertain Gainsborough in the quarter-finals of the UniBond President's Cup next Saturday.

Some people will say that, considering the fixture backlog we're facing in the league, the last thing we want is to be bogged down with cups, but I'm afraid I'll never subscribe to that view.

As far as I'm concerned, I want to see us winning things and, the more competitions we're involved in, the better our chances of finishing with at least one trophy on the sideboard.

People keep telling me we're not having a bad season, but my answer is we haven't won anything yet.

And, while nothing we achieve in cups will make up for the disappointment we'll feel if we miss out on the championship and promotion back to the Conference, sometimes you can't pick and choose what honours come your way.

Looking at the league, with my hand on my heart, I have to say it's now going to take a monumental effort if we're to somehow overhaul leaders Burton Albion and the clutch of teams trailing in their wake.

But that doesn't mean we're going to stop trying and I can assure our supporters we won't give up the ghost unless or until it becomes impossible for us to take the title.

With only a relatively small squad of players with which to operate and a stream of injuries to contend with, it would have been nice had the board by now been able to allocate just a little of the money we made from the FA Cup for squad strengthening.

But I fully understand their reasons for first wanting to ensure that all our debts are paid off and move forward with the slate wiped clean.

Once that's done, who knows, there might be something left to put into he team. But that's not on he agenda at the moment.

LAST year was something of a momentous year for Altrincham Football Club, throwing up many talking points for the Moss Lane faithful to chew over.

A change in leadership both on and off the field, following a winding up order which was only hours from being enforced made sure the Robins started the year with a bang.

Player manager Mark Ward was sacked after laying the foundations for the present side, which -brimming with talent - is one of the most exciting seen at Moss Lane in recent years, with former coaching duo Bernard Taylor and Graham Heathcote taking up the reins.

Prior to this, Gerry Berman stepped down as chairman, and a rescue package for the ailing club was implemented within hours. This move saw long time board member Mark Harris assume the position of acting chairman - the acting part of which he was later asked to drop by the new-look eight man board.

A top-to-bottom re-think of the club's finances was in order, and both avenues of a reduction in outgoings and an increase in incomings were explored.

The club's fund-raising activities, already heroic at the best of times, were more than doubled, and the club found itself on a more even keel.

More good news was to come in the early part of the 2001-2002 season, as a solid start to the league campaign saw Altrincham keep pace with the top boys in the UniBond Premier Division - the league the club have been trying to escape for five years, not counting 1999-2000's brief flirtation with the Nationwide Conference.

And then came the FA Cup.

Altrincham's favourite knock-out competition saw them paired with fellow UniBond team Frickley Athletic, and top of the team's wish list that Saturday afternoon in late September was to successfully navigate the first hurdle - something the Robins had not achieved in four years.

A 4-1 win sent Witton Albion to Moss Lane for the third qualifying round tie a fortnight later, and they were dispatched by the same 4-1 scoreline.

Alty gave away a league to their next opponents - the Conference's Nuneaton Borough - but inspired by a Herculean effort between the sticks from man of the match Stuart Coburn, the visitors were dumped out of the cup by way of a 3-0 scoreline.

The rampant Robins were on a roll and rightly, they feared no-one in the cup.

An FA Trophy replay win over Spalding United came and went before Alty faced UniBond opposition on the road to Cardiff again.

Lancaster City, however, were a tougher nut to crack than the two previous Northern Premier counterparts, the tie requiring a Giant Axe replay, which the Robins won in a dramatic extra-time,

thanks to a hat-trick from substitute Lee Poland.

Never ones to have less than four irons in the fire at any one time, Alty then pounded out a strength-sapping Trophy victory over Accrington Stanley, which required a replay, extra-time and penalties before you could squeeze even a cigarette paper between the evenly match sides.

Not the best preparation for a second round tie against Darlington, but in hindsight a vital win for the silverware hungry Robins.

3,302 fans were on their way to Moss Lane, the flags were out and those with red white and black blood could almost smell the faint whiff of another giant-killing among the fried onions and hot-dogs.

The Robins gave as good a they got for 20 minutes before Carl Chillingsworth put the North-Easterners ahead, and even though they were on the bad end of a 1-0 scoreline a half-time, you thought t yourself, an early goal an who knows . . . ?

Sure enough, Mark Maddox leveled the tie with a bullet header on 67 minutes to send the home fans into raptures

This is what supporting Altrincham is all about! However, they could not hold on to the 1-1 scoreline for as long as everyone wanted them to, and Neil Wainwright latched on to an in swinging cross to score what became the tie's deciding goal. Maddox has been criticized

for missing the clearing header which would have averted said disaster, but that evening's Match of the Day confirmed that although he is a fairly tall lad and gets up well when required, Bernard Taylor had not issued the centre-half with a stepladder that day.

Almost grudgingly, normality was restored at Moss Lane, and all the club have to show for their cup shenanigans is more than £120,000 in gate receipts, prize money, television rights and programme sales; and a new set of memories to sit next to those of Everton, Spurs and Birmingham. More humble this new set may be, they sit well with is the triumphs and tragedies of yesteryear. Take a deep breath, folks, we've got another four months at to go!

ALTRINCHAM'S quest for silverware takes them to North Ferriby United on Saturday, and Bernard Taylor knows exactly what to expect.

The Robins boss has had the UniBond first division side watched, and has warned of the dangers they pose.

He said, "We had them watched recently and the report came back that they are a good side. The FA trophy is a great competition to be in, and we may have a job on our hands on Saturday if we are to progress.

"At the end of the day, we have not won anything this season, and we would like to have some silverware under our belts before we start calling this a great season.

North Ferriby are making only their second appearance in the competition, having featured in the FA Vase final in 1997.

This season, United have seen off Shepshed Dynamo and Spennymoor United in the Trophy, scoring eight and conceding only two, and Saturday's tie is their third consecutive home draw in the competition.

Following that, The Robin face old-time rivals Macclesfield Town in a Cheshire Senior Cup semi-final at Moss Lane on Tuesday (7.45pm).

Meanwhile, there is light at the end of the tunnel for two of Alty's long-term injured.

Both Carl Furlong and Jason Gallagher are nearing the stage where they can resume training, and may return to the first team in two to three weeks time.

STAND by for drama when the FA Umbro Trophy gets really serious next Saturday.

Round three is the stage when the 22 Nationwide Conference clubs join the 42 "lesser" survivors to battle it out in non-League football's equivalent of this weekend's FA Cup third round.

And, for seven local hopefuls, that will bring the chance to bank a grand in prizemoney and, more importantly, to take their first major step on the road to the final, which again this season is to be played at Villa Park.

UniBond premier stablemates Altrincham and Runcorn Halton, who have each already earned £1,600 from the Trophy's £200,000 prize-fund courtesy of their wins in the opening two rounds, both face tricky away ties.

Alty, Trophy winners in both 1978 and '86 - when their final victims were none other than Runcorn -must journey across the Pennines to tackle UniBond first division minnows North Ferriby.

The Robins have so far needed replays to oust first Spalding and then Accrington, but, if they can provide star striker Rod Thornley with sufficient ammunition, they'd hope to get through at the first time of asking on this occasion.

Runcorn, three times beaten finalists, travel to Solihull, of the Dr Marten's League.

Stalybridge, who, despite having been Conference members for seven of the last ten seasons, have never progressed beyond the last-16 in the Trophy, stage one of the ties of the round.

Their Bower Fold opponents are Nuneaton, managed by ex-Macclesfield star Steve Burr, who triumphed 3-1 when the teams met in the league at Borough's Manor Park ground in October.

Bridge boss Paul Futcher is no stranger to Trophy success, having steered Southport to the final four years ago, so the Celts will be hoping he can again work his magic!

Leigh, who last made an impact in the Trophy 11 years ago, when, as Horwich RMI, they lost in the quarterfinals, open up with a home date with their former UniBond foes Emley.

On paper, it's a tie they should win, but the Railwaymen will need no reminding that Emley have a proud cup-fighting tradition and that it was another UniBond side, Worksop, who stunned them by knocking them out of the FA Cup earlier this term.

Northwich, who lifted the Trophy back in 1984 and were beaten finalists as recently as six years ago, face a gripping Drill Field duel with Boston United.

The Lincolnshire big guns beat Vics 2-1 in the league there in September and are now, of course, locked in a head-to-head battle with Dagenham in what appears to be a two-horse race for the Conference title and promotion to Division Three.

Chester, who lost to eventual winners Canvey Island in last season's semi-finals, will expect to overcome visiting Stourport Swifts.

Southport, too, entertain Dr Marten's League opponents in the shape of Gresley Rovers and, if status is anything to go by, ought to progress.

That prompted a wistful Heathcote to tell him: "Having refereed all those years, this won't be the first time you've had my name in your book!"

• ROSSENDALE have pepped their squad in preparation for a second successive promotion assault by making Ricky Harris's loan move from Leigh RMI permanent.

LOCAL clubs are paying the price for the big festive-season freeze - some more worryingly than others.

Virtually all were hit in the pocket by the postponement of Boxing Day and New Year's Day games which, traditionally, attract the biggest crowds of the season.

But for Stalybridge Celtic and Altrincham, in particular, the unexpected mid-season break could prove far more costly as 'it is threatening their hopes and aims for the rest of the season.

Stalybridge were looking a good bet to survive their first term back in the Nationwide Conference until being hit by a combination of postponements and unwanted blank dates.

The net result was that they played only twice in December after their 2-0 home victory over Stevenage on the opening day of the month.

And, with a fortnight's gap between each of the games, it was perhaps hardly surprising Bridge produced a below-par performance in losing 1-0 at Morecambe and an inept one in last weekend's 3-0 defeat at Hereford.

The outcome was for the Celts to be pitched back into the bottom three before yesterday's scheduled Bower Fold relegation battle with Scarborough, leaving boss Paul Futcher to hope his ring-rusty players won't take too long to regain their earlier momentum once they start playing regularly again.

Said Futch: "Without wishing to sound like I'm making excuses, the disruption we've suffered certainly hasn't helped us.

"We'd been doing pretty well until then and, while we've been doing plenty of extra training these past three or four weeks, there's no substitute for playing.

"The lads knew they'd let themselves down against Hereford and so it was a major disappointment to them to see our New Year's Day home game with Leigh postponed, just as our Boxing Day fixture at their place had been."

He added: "Although we're now left with games in hand on virtually all the teams around us, I'd still far rather us have the points in the bag.

"The last thing we want is to be playing catch-up again near the end of the season, when, if the bad weather persists, we could be faced with a fixture glut.

"That's why it's vital that, when we do play, we start picking up some points pretty quickly."

One Bridge player who has benefited from the break is Kevin Parr, who has now shaken off the ankle injury he suffered at Morecambe, having missed only one game in the meantime.

Futcher has signed `keeper Lee Walker from Emley as a replacement for Jason Batty, who rocked Bridge just before Christmas by announcing he was returning to his native New Zealand.

The Celts have lost defender Dominic Crookes, who has struggled to hold down a shirt this term, and opted for the chance of regular football at Hyde.

Altrincham have been similarly hit hard by the enforced lay-off, which might have all but killed off their already slim hopes of catching runaway UniBond premier division leaders Burton.

The Robins, who lost all three of their holiday fixtures to the weather, prepared for yesterday's planned home date with Emley knowing that victory in all seven games in hand on Nigel Clough's table-toppers, would still take them soaring above them.

But, with 27 league fixtures to fit in and also still in three cups, Alty will now need to produce a near super-human effort to take the title, particularly considering how small their squad is.

Manager Bernard Taylor admitted: "This break has done us no good at all and it's particularly disappointing in view of how hard we'd worked at keeping in touch with the likes of Burton and Lancaster during our FA Cup run.

"It was always going to be difficult for us to catch them, but now it's going to be harder than ever."