Morpeth Town 3 Altrincham 0

National Youth League Cup

Match report by Caden Gibson

Craik Park was the venue for this Cup fixture between the Academy sides of Altrincham and Morpeth Town.

Despite a long journey for the young Robins, they felt prepared and were determined to produce a performance that would send them into the next round.

Alty started the sharper of the two sides, maintaining possession efficiently and progressing into attacking areas, looking to hurt Morpeth.

However, they were unable to make their superiority count, and the game remained level.

As the tie developed, Morpeth began to grow into the game, as they created a number of threatening opportunities in the Alty defensive third.

The pressure was too much for Alty to withstand, and they soon found themselves 1-0 behind. It came through a long ball over the top of Altrincham’s defence, finding Morpeth’s striker. He managed to latch on to the ball and tuck away his one-on-one against the goalkeeper.

Despite falling behind, the young Robins regained control of the game and began creating more menacing chances. Nathan Wood burst down the left-hand side and delivered a low, powerful cross into the Morpeth penalty area.

It was a promising cross, but it was cut out well by the Morpeth centre-half.

Altrincham’s domination of the game proved to be ineffective as Morpeth extended their lead. A through ball was whipped down the left-hand side to the Morpeth winger. He managed to cut inside and find some space, and his shot found the bottom left corner.

Once again, Alty hit back at Morpeth with a flurry of chances. Vlad Shtyhlian and Henry Shaw used some clever link-up play in the centre of the park to set Ollie Dixon on his way down the left flank. Dixon fired a well-struck shot and forced the keeper to parry the ball out for a corner.

After the half-time break, Morpeth saw themselves go 3-0 up. Alty were undone by a long-range effort which found it’s way into the top left corner of the goal, stunning the young Robins.

Altrincham were persistent and resilient through to the final whistle, managing to create consecutive efforts on the Morpeth goal late in the game. After some well-worked possession, Alty managed to prize open the Morpeth defence but were unable to beat the goalkeeper in the opposition net as the game finished 3-0.

Squad on the day:

Tyler Heyes

Will Knowles

Caden Gibson

Ethan Cosgrove

Jacob Hill

AJ

Mo Suwareh

Remi Raymond

Kian Gonzalez

Henry Shaw

Ollie Dixon

Vlad Shtyhlian

Ryan Knowles

Nathan Wood

Charley Jarrald