Words Charlie Staples | Pictures Jonathan Moore

Altrincham 3 Boreham Wood 1

Alty produced one of their best performances of the season to claim a huge three points against title challengers Boreham Wood at The J.Davidson Stadium.

Alty broke the deadlock on 13 minutes, and never looked back. A sublime ball from Tom Crawford over the top of the Wood defence saw Olly Crankshaw score his second in as many games, slotting cooly under the on-rushing Ted Curd.

Abdul Abdulmalik tested Luke Hutchinson just after the opener, beating his man, cutting in and firing a curling effort, but the Alty shot stopper was fast to react and parry it away.

Liam Humbles ran the show in the first half, skipping past Boreham Wood players and helping break up play, not letting the opposition get a rhythm. Frustration showed for Luke Garrard’s men, which saw them accumulate three yellow cards.

Crankshaw kept pestering the visiting backline, running down the left and
right flanks, the only thing missing was a goal, where both Jimmy Knowles and Crawford
had good chances but hit their efforts wide.

The best chance for the opposition came after a well worked corner found its way to Regan Booty on the edge of the box, but his left-footed effort trickled wide of the goal.

The second half began much like the first, Altrincham started off fast, striking only three
minutes after the restart, with Otis Khan cutting in and fishing low and calm past Curd - his first goal for the club.

History almost repeated itself a minute later as another quick attack resulted in Crankshaw shooting just wide.

After that goal Neil Gibson’s men did well just to slow things down, controlling the game well. The only notable effort was Crawford trying his luck after seeing Curd off his line - the effort from the halfway line took a slight deflection, just inches wide of the goal.

Garrard then made two changes, which swung momentum in their favour, having their best spell of the game, but the Alty defence stood strong and kept out oncoming danger.

As reward for his fine defensive performance, Jake Cooper got himself in on the act, after Crankshaw's low driven effort was parried into danger by Curd, Alty's number five found himself in the right place at the right time and finished like a seasoned striker.

A moment of magic came when Booty struck from distance with a free-kick to reduce the deficit with nine minutes remaining.

It matter little, however, as Alty saw out the final 10 minutes of pressure to claim an important three points.

Beeline VIP Travel Man Of The Match Matty Kosylo

Altrincham Hutchinson; Cooper, Crankshaw, Marriott, Khan, Knowles (Weaver, 71'), Kosylo, Crawford (c) (Golden, 82'), Humbles (Forde, 82'), Jones, Sassi. Subs not used: Grant, Reddin, Fallon, Kirk.

Boreham Wood Curd; Bush, O'Connell, Brunt, Abdulmalik, Newton (Ilesanmi, 63'), Reynolds (c) (Coxe, 27'), Richardson (Clayden, 63'), Marshall-Miranda, Booty, Rush. Subs not used: Payne, Sousa, Robinson, Kensdale.

HT 1-0

Goals Crankshaw 13', Khan 48', Cooper 75' | Booty 81'

Yellows Crawford 42', Khan 80' | Booty 24', Rush 34', Marshall-Miranda 36'

Reds None | None

Referee Garreth Rhodes

Assistants Matthew Malton & Thomas Wall

Fourth official Harry Jones

Attendance 1,643 (91 away)

Next Up

We're off to Cumbria next Saturday to take on Carlisle United at Brunton Park - 3pm kick-off in the Enterprise National League.

Ticket and Union Golf Road travel info can be found here.