Words Brian Flynn | Pictures Jonathan Moore

Altrincham 1 Macclesfield 3

Altrincham bowed out of The Adobe Women’s FA Cup at The J.Davidson Stadium on Sunday, as a strong Macclesfield side deservedly progressed to a Second Round Qualifying home tie with Blackpool.

Despite dominating the tie from the early minutes, Macclesfield were thwarted by a disciplined defensive performance from the Robins, led by Charlotte Bromley and Brianna Morrison, before two goals in three minutes around the half hour mark, from Katie Locke and Ebony Stewart, put Mark Alderson’s team firmly in the driving seat.

The Robins responded positively to this double setback, finishing the half strongly.
The early stages of the second half were dominated by the visitors who created several good opportunities, however Phoebe Davidson, who was the best player on the pitch, was thwarted by outstanding goalkeeping from Ariella Shapiro, the woodwork and a magnificent goal line clearance by Rhianna Pickering.

Despite being outplayed, Altrincham kept plugging away and were rewarded midway through the second period, with a wonderful move, involving four of Alty’s most influential players, producing the finest goal of the game to halve the deficit.

Grace McArdle intercepted to feed Holly Lloyd, who turned elegantly, chipped a delightful ball to Katie Robins, who slipped the ball through the legs of a Macc defender to Nat Lowe.

Altrincham’s Captain relayed the ball to Kira Saycell, who side stepped her marker beautifully, before clipping a shot over keeper Olivia Kaleta. The ball bounced down off the underside of the crossbar and was clearly well over the line, before bouncing back into play.

To the astonishment of the crowd, there was no flag to signal a goal but after consultation between the referee and his assistant, the goal was eventually given.

Alty were now well in the game and Macc looked slightly vulnerable for the first time, but the visitors regained their composure to complete the scoring and restore the two-goal advantage that their overall performance merited.

Shapiro performed heroics to deny Tamia Forrester’s close range shot but the Assistant Referee flagged that the Macclesfield substitute’s second attempt had crossed the line, despite a valiant effort from the Alty goalkeeper.

Alex Hilton-Slee reflected on his first game in charge.

“In the first half we struggled to retain the ball in attacking areas and failed to create real chances so at half-time we switched formation and brought Katie Robins into the game along with Rhianna Pickering.

“Both players made a real difference, and we managed to get a goal back through Kira Saycell.

“I couldn’t be prouder of the girls’ efforts. At 2-1 I had a real feeling we were going to score again. I felt we deserved more but we will stick together and prepare for Sunday’s first league game of the season against AFC Crewe”