By Alan Johnson
FA Trophy 2nd Round Replay Tuesday 6 December 2000 7.45
Altrincham were unceremoniously tossed out of the FA Trophy by Bishop Auckland. Gone was the evenly matched hard fought contest of Saturday's 2-2 draw as the Bishops were totally in control, particularly in the second half. They wanted to win this match more than Alty. Indeed the result could have been much worse. Home keeper Steve Jones had little to do with only two on-goal shots to stop, one a good one a low drive from Leroy Chambers and one too his embarrassment he did not. At the other end Stuart Coburn could do little to stop the three goals one of which included a penalty on 9 minutes. He was kept very busy and, particularly in the second half made a number of splendid saves which did save some of Alty's face.
I am writing this report as John Laidlar, like many others was unable to make this long trip. The short notice, early start, distance and midnight return time meant that the Alty away support was at a low ebb, only 15 traveled on the supporters coach (wrong it was a mini-bus capably driven by SAFE's Alan Brotherton) and the number of independent travelers was down. I guess another reason was a feeling that Bishop Auckland were our bogie team and it was not a match we were going to win. Our team certainly gave that impression
Like our Saturday visit of a couple of weeks ago Bishop Auckland made us very welcome. How do they keep their bar prices so low? They underestimated the size of the crowd (guessing 300 and more than our last visit) as the ran out of programs having only ordered 70 and pies. There was no segregation but two police and a contingent of large Darlington stewards were present. However there was no suggestion of any crowd problem, indeed at the end of the game I saw two protagonists from Alty and Bishops who verbally sparred at the November 18th game chatting amicably at the end of the game and ending by saying see you next year! One minor victory for web site diplomacy John Covey Bishop Auckland web master had pointed out that they they did not take exception to the Alty chants referring to them as "cheating bastards" but not "cheating Geordie bastards" as they were not Geordies, a word in the right ear and the term Geordie was not in any of the Alty chants. I still want to know what to call them?
Altrincham started badly when Gary Talbot was lucky not to have conceded a penalty in the first minute. On 9 minutes much to the obvious disgust of Stuart Coburn, striker David Mellanby, who was creating all sorts of problems for Alty, was brought down by Steve Hawes in the box and an uncontested penalty was awarded. The keeper dived the right way for Andrew Shaw's well taken shot but could not prevent the goal.
Through out the first half Alty tried to mount attacks but far to frequently passes went astray, our players were robbed of the ball, often an attack faltered because there was no one in the oppositions box and shots were not on target.
On 25 minutes Gary Talbot limped off injured to be replaced by Mark Maddox As the players left the field at half time with the score 0-1 you sensed that Alty would be very fortunate to score.
On 55 minutes a defensive error by James Glendenning gifted Bishop Auckland's 2nd goal scored by David Mellanby (0-2)
Alty were giving away more passes and Bishop Auckland's attack becoming more effective. On 58 minutes Alex Hay came off to be replaced by Mario Danielle. On 60 minutes Mark Ward was replaced by Richard Landon. None of the substitutions made any difference to the control held by Bishop. On 65 minutes there was Alty's first decent shot when Leroy Chambers sent a low drive towards the corner of the goal but it was well saved by "out of work" Steve Jones
On 70 minutes Stuart Coburn made a good save but this was followed by a corner out of which Bishop's Jonathon Milroyd scored (0-3). It really was one way traffic down the hill towards Alty's goal. On 73 minutes Alty's luck seemed to change a free kick from Steve Hawes was picked up by Mark Maddox who somehow managed to send the ball goalwards. Steve Jones caught the ball, dropped it and it went straight through his legs for an Alty goal. It was worth coming a long way to see the look of embarrassment on his face and the delight on that of Mark Maddox. Naively you would have thought that this lucky gift goal would inspire Alty to greater efforts to try to achieve a draw and extra time. But no they did not respond and in fact Bishop Auckland seemed to treat it as an insult and increased the pressure on the Alty to restore a more respectable score. It was only the efforts of Stuart Coburn who made some very good saves that kept the score at (1-3)
Congratulations to Bishop Auckland they deserved their victory and wishing them all the best when they meet Burton Albion in the 3rd round - keep the UniBond flag flying
If Altrincham are going to finish the season with nothing to show for their efforts Mark Ward has a major task ahead of him to motivate the players back into a winning frame of mind. Although we are no longer favorites for promotion that is still an achievable aim and there are still the UniBond league Cups to play for. It can be done and will be assisted by more supporters coming though the turnstiles. This will also assist Altrincham's major battle, that of financial survival until the next season
Robins: Stuart Coburn, Gary Scott, Steve Morgan, Gary Talbot (25min Mark Maddox), James Glendenning, Stuart Scheuber, Steve Hawes, Mark Ward (60 min Richard Landon), Alex Hay ( 58min Mario Danielle) , Leroy Chambers, Danny Murphy, Subs Not used Barry Crowe, Otis Thomas,