Altrincham Reserves have had a busy start to the new campaign, with games coming thick and fast. Here, Reserves boss Ross Speight provides an update on how they have fared so far. As the season unfolds, we hope to bring you regular reports on their progress.

Reserves Review - August 

Looking back over a hectic month for the young Reserves, there have been many positives - more than enough, in fact, to comfortably outweigh the few negatives.

The main challenge for the squad in pre-season was dealing with so many changes, with no fewer than 14 players moving on and more Academy and youth players stepping up to Reserves level.

There was little sign of it having a detrimental effect, though, as the young Robins started the season in fine form, going unbeaten in their first four games, with two wins and two draws. The wins over Crewe and Winnington were not only entertaining and well-deserved, they showed the league that we have the capability to score goals, with 10 coming in those two games.

A disappointing performance brought our first defeat of the season, away to Garswood United, but the lads learnt their lessons quickly from that setback and followed up with a dominant display against Poynton that yielded a 4-1 victory.

The following week, we had two difficult games against experienced sides in Whaley Bridge and Lostock Gralam, and while we acquitted ourselves well to draw 2-2 at Whaley Bridge, we were on the wrong end of a 5-2 scoreline at Lostock.

However, I’m pleased to report that this resilient young Reserves side worked hard in training and finished the month off with their best performance so far to chalk up a 5-2 win over a very good Knowsley side.

One of the highlights of the month has been seeing several young players invited to train with the first team, along with Sharif Islam showing glimpses of his potential with six goals in nine games and Dion Bohe also starting the season in great form.

Academy players Owen German, who captained the side at 17 years old against Knowsley, Liam Evans and Loui Williams have stood out this month and demonstrated they have the quality to step up to senior football.

First team squad members Ross Barrows, Alex Sami, Harlan Rodgers-Morris, Joe Cooney and Amaar Hussain have all joined the Reserves at different times to acquire game time and have been a credit to the senior players with their attitude around the younger lads.