Match report Max Beddow Picture Jonathan Moore

Altrincham 1 South Shields 1

It was the Robins who got off to the better start, in this National League fixture, dominating possession within the first couple of minutes.

Despite that early encouragement, it was South Shields who opened the scoring with their first attack, a well-placed first-time finish into the top corner.

The Robins went on to dominate the first half, having most of the possession and creating some big chances that Shtyhlian and Mannion were just unable to convert.

The biggest chance of the first half came after Whittle was fouled inside the box, only for the resulting penalty to be saved well by the South Shields goalkeeper.

It meant a very one-sided first half ended with Alty trailing 1-0, but, undeterred, they came out at the start of the second half and once more dominated the ball.

Yet again, the Robins had some big chances, courtesy of the wingers Chandler and Mannion, but the forwards just couldn’t seem to convert, until the visitors inadvertently showed them how.

A low driven cross was deflected into his own net by one of South Shields defenders, and Alty were back on level terms.

The Robins went all-out for a winner, continuously attacking the South Shields goal but finding their keeper in inspired form with a performance that made him, probably, their stand-out player.

After numerous Alty attacks, the game was coming to an end when the Robins won a free-kick right on the edge of the box.

Edwards made a great disguised pass to Ireland, who provided an excellent back-post cross towards an unmarked Bywater. It seemed Bywater had to score, but his header hit the post, and the chance of a dramatic last-gasp winner was gone.

The Alty lads were disappointed with the result, as they should have been out of sight with the amount of chances that were created over the 90 minutes.

Squad on the day: 

Max Beddow 
Will Knowles 
Kian Leckey
Blyth Bywater
Remi Raymond
Lucas Edwards
Kaiden Powell
Harry Watson
Max Whittle
Isaac Mannion
Jacob Ireland
Vladislav Shtyhlian
Noah Lavin
Jack Chandler