Words Alex Birch | Pictures Jonathan Moore

Telford 4 Altrincham 3

Alty let a two-goal half-time lead slip as they bowed out of the Isuzu FA Trophy in a remarkable third round tie at AFC Telford United.

Alty settled the quickest and hit the front within six minutes. Lucas Weaver, making his first start since returning from a loan spell at Chorley, picked out Jimmy Knowles with a low cross and the forward did the rest, claiming his 10th of the season.

Weaver almost doubled the visitors' advantage on 13 minutes, only to be denied by a superb stop from Josh Gracey in the Telford goal.

The Wolves loanee made another smart stop, this time from a high Knowles drive, as the Robins continued on the front foot, before an inevitable second arrived.

On 36 minutes, Tylor Golden was played in by Tom Crawford and saw his volley well saved by Gracey. However, Weaver responded quickest to the loose ball, teeing up Knowles to hammer high past the helpless home goalie.

The hosts ditched the passive first half performance and went on the front foot to start the second half, reducing the arrears on 53 minutes.

Substitute Adan George was sent clean through on Luke Hutchinson and produced a great dinked finish to bring the Bucks within one goal. 

The pressure was building, and after Golden had deflected a Matt Stenson shot for a corner, all hell broke loose in the box as shots, blocks and saves aplenty eventually led to a Telford effort clearing the crossbar.

The home crowd were up, but with one swift break, the quietness descended on the New Bucks Head again. Knowles fed Olly Crankshaw down the left, and the winger beat his man before firing a deflected effort beyond Gracey with just over 20 minutes remaining.

That looked to be that, but Telford had other ideas. Jimmy Armson headed home a corner with 10 minutes remaining to light the home fans once more. Then, less than a minute later, Matt Stenson created space to slam an effort beyond Hutchinson to bring the scores level.

Telford's top scorer wasn't done there. As the clock ticked into the third minute of stoppage time Stenson brought the house down finding the top corner from just inside the box, sealing an extraordinary fightback and his side's place in round four.

Telford Gracey; Piggott, Fletcher (c), Stenson, Meddows, Allen-Hadley (George, 37'), Cawthorne, Hilton (Cranston, 46'), Leshabela (Williams, 90'+1), Walker (Armson, 72'), Dyer. Subs not used: Harper, Ikpakwu, Lawal.

Altrincham Hutchinson; Baines (c), Cooper, Crankshaw, Marriott (Osborne, 69'), Ward (Jones, 74'), Knowles, Weaver (Kirk, 74'), Crawford, Golden, Sassi. Subs not used: Gale, Kosylo, Stone, Beddow.

HT 0-2

Goals George 53', Armson 80', Stenson 81', 90'+3 | Knowles 6', 36', Crankshaw 68'

Yellows Leshabela 88', Fletcher 90'+7 | Cooper 67', Crankshaw 75', Golden 90'+7

Reds None | Neil Gibson (Bench, 90'+3)

Referee Matthew McQuillan

Assistants Scott Chalkley & Thomas Wall

Fourth Official Brandon Scaife

Attendance 1,167

Next Up

A pre-Christmas cracker at The J.Davidson Stadium against Enterprise National League pacesetters Rochdale on Friday evening (7:45pm).

General admission tickets are available here, but hospitality is completely SOLD OUT.