Altrincham 2 Hyde United 2

Match report by Alty player Kyran Webster

Altrincham began their most recent fixture in the National Youth League very positively. The home side were confident in possession, retaining the ball well across the pitch.

The young Robins were putting Hyde United under substantial pressure in the opening 20 minutes, and a close effort from Alfred Igbinake almost gave them an early lead.

The following corner was floated into the middle by Afernee Denise, but his cross was headed away by a Hyde centre-back, kick-starting a counter-attack by the visitors.

The ball was launched into their number nine, and he played a clever one-two with a midfielder behind him. The midfielder chipped a pass in behind the Alty defence, and the Hyde striker rounded off the move by slotting the ball home.

Altrincham continued to play good football, despite conceding a goal against the run of play, but there seemed to be no cutting edge, and they struggled to find an equaliser.

To make matters worse, Hyde doubled their lead shortly before half-time. The visitors' right-sided midfielder burst into the Altrincham penalty area and curled the ball into the far corner, leaving the Robins with a two-goal deficit to overturn in the second half.

Once again, Altrincham began the half well, dominating possession and creating chances. The young Robins were struggling to convert those chances initially, but their breakthrough came just after the hour-mark.

Kyran Webster picked the ball up in midfield and drove through the centre of the pitch before playing it to Ryan Knowles out wide. The ball was fed through to Igbinake in the Hyde penalty area, and when he was fouled, the referee awarded a penalty.

After winning the penalty, Igbinake took responsibility for taking the kick himself, and he was rewarded with a goal after sending the goalkeeper the wrong way.

Halving Hyde’s lead ignited Altrincham as they kept pushing forward in their search for an equaliser.

The leveller finally came in the 80th minute, as Denise found Webster with some space. The midfielder played a perfectly-weighted through ball to the scorer of Alty’s first goal, Igbinake, and with an impressive show of composure, he took the ball round the goalkeeper and shot into an empty net.

Alty looked to go one step further and win all three points, but Hyde held out and the game finished 2-2.

Squad on the day:

Tyler Heyes

Oscar Cooper

Mo Suwareh

Ben Taylor

Kyran Webster

Jacob Hill

Sammy BP

Alfred Igbinake

Byron Haughton

Ryan Knowles

William Knowles

Nathan Taylor

Ethan Cosgrove

Afernee Denise