Report Harry Watson Pictures Jonathan Moore

AFC Fylde 0 Altrincham 0

The young Robins travelled to play a strong AFC Fylde squad, hoping for a positive result from their latest National League fixture.

For the first 20 minutes, the game was fairly equal, with both sides playing great one and two touch football.

Alty looked to play out from the back, with centre-backs Blyth Bywater and Kaiden Powell trying to progress the ball into the midfield while facing Fylde's high press.

Fylde were also looking to play out from the back, meaning the Alty players had to be touch-tight at all times and win the ball high up the pitch.

With Alty progressing up the pitch, the ball found the feet of Raymond, who was looking to find opportunities to play it to the feet of Mannion and Denise for one-on-ones with the Fylde full-backs.

Alty were finding chances in the final thirds of the pitch, and Denise and Mannion both had long-range efforts.

Fylde also created chances but couldn’t find the back of the Alty net, leading to a scoreline of 0-0 going into half-time.

Alty came out for the second half looking for an early lead to settle any nerves.

For the first 15 minutes, Alty adapted to the change of build-up play by Fylde, who looked for a clip in behind the Robins' midfield to find the striker's feet, meaning the visitors' defence had to be aware and try to win first and second balls.

As the game passed the hour-mark, the Alty full-backs Cooper and Edwards were consistently defending and stopping crosses entering the box, which occasionally led to Alty breaking on the counter attack through Webster and Shtyhlian.

Fylde then began to apply more pressure, but Alty were focused and disciplined with some great defending in the box blocking shots and winning the ball back.

In the 75th minute, fresh legs entered the pitch, with Wood going on for Denise, Gonzales for Webster, Suwareh for Watson and Whyte for Cooper.

However, after a tough second half, the full-time whistle sounded with the game still scoreless, and the Robins headed back down the M6 with a point in their pockets.

Squad on the day:

Charlie Noble, Tom Whyte, Lucas Edwards, Kian Gonzalez, Kaiden Powell, Blyth Bywater, Kyran Webster, Remi Raymond, Muhammad Suwareh, Harry Watson, Oscar Cooper, Nathan Wood, Isaac Mannion, Vladislav Shtyhlian, Afernee Denise.