The youth team faced Wythenshawe Amateurs on Sunday afternoon in the League Cup, with a mixture of under-16s, 17s and 18s in the squad.

Altrincham started positively, maintaining possession in the early stages of the game and finding joy in wide areas through Edson Cata and George Raftery.

After 10 minutes, the Robins opened the scoring, as Cata got in behind to square to Charlie Behan, who was there to fire it in.

The midfield of Mike Comber, Sam Chambers and Sheriff Nije linked up well and gave Alty freedom to attack.

Five minutes later, Cata drove at the defence again, beating several defenders and slotting in the second goal of the game.

With Chambers forced off due to injury, Sekouba Camera came on to play as a holding midfielder.

Despite the change, Altrincham continued to work the ball well in wide areas, never more so than when Nije picked the ball up on the left hand side and drove inside to shoot from 20 yards to give the Robins a 3-0 half-time lead.

Having established such a commanding lead, the boys needed to work to keep a clean sheet and add to their tally, with Harrison Howells coming on to replace Charlie Behan in the second half.

The back four of Ewan McGeady, Joel Bailey, Mike Smith and Matthew Macfarlane remained firm, with Dane Byron giving nothing away in net.

Further forward, Alty kept the pressure on, as Tom Higgins was introduced to the midfield in place of Comber, who had been carrying a knock.

Fifteen minutes into the second half, Howells was played in behind the Wythenshawe defence to make it 4-0 to the Robins.

Altrincham won themselves a corner after 75 minutes, and Howells headed home to make it a brace for himself and 5-0 lead for the team.

Wythenshawe began to pile on the pressure late on, which saw Kareem Majzoub introduced to the defence for fresh legs in place of Bailey.

Late on in the game, Howells was determined to chase down a ball between the Wythenshawe defender and keeper, and he was rewarded for his persistence as he slotted in his third goal of the game to finish with a hat trick.

Matchday Squad:

1. Dane Byron

2. Ewan McGeady

3. Matthew Macfarlane

4. Joel Bailey

5. Mike Smith

6. Sam Chambers  

7. George Raftery

8. Mike Comber (C)

9. Charlie Behan

10. Sheriff Nije

11. Edson Cata