Words Harry Watson | Picture Jonathan Moore

Altrincham 1 Gateshead 3

The young Robins faced Gateshead in hope of grabbing three National League points on home turf, but it was not to be, despite a second-half fightback.

For the first 15 minutes of the match, Gateshead looked very lively as Alty struggled to find a foothold in the game.

However, Alty were not far from taking the lead when the ball was won high up the pitch and sent through to Martin, whose strike from range narrowly missed the target.

Despite the Robins' efforts to find an early goal, it was Gateshead who took the lead in the 25th minute, when a back post header fired across the six-yard box led to a scramble that ended with the ball being smashed into the roof of the net.

Alty went further behind in the 35th minute after a deep ball from another dangerous set-piece on the edge of the box found a late Gateshead runner for a composed finish to give his side a two-goal cushion.

Alty found more rhythm towards the end of the first half but couldn't convert any of the dangerous chances they created,

After a disappointing initial 45 minutes, Alty were determined to bounce back, and they started the second half strongly, moving the ball and quickly creating more openings.

It came as no surprise, then, when they  reduced the arrears in the 65th minute. Defender Watts picked out a long ball into the path of Watson, whose flick-on enabled Martin to calmly take the ball round the keeper.

The Alty forward was about to apply a routine finish when he was fouled, but there was no denying him as he shouldered the responsibility from the penalty spot and coolly slotted the ball into the bottom right corner to make it 2-1.

Alty continued to create more chances, as they grafted to try and find a way of getting back on level terms, but the all-important finishing touch eluded them, despite the many chances that came their way.

Worse followed in the last minute, when Gateshead had a shot from range that deflected off defender Mattison and flew into the top corner of Alty's net

Squad on the day:

Charlie Noble
Archie Rowlands
Henry Watts
Ben McNamara
Charlie Hough
Harry St Romaine
Kian Mattison
Joe Weston
Harry Watson
Ryan Knowles
Isaac Mannion
Noah Lavin
Jacob Martin
Josh Obamwanyi
Ben Mensah