Altrincham 2 Bolton 1

Match report by Alty player Harry St Romaine

This week, Altrincham’s youngsters hosted Bolton in the National Youth League on a sunny mid-morning and made it two wins out of two in what has been a great start to the season.

The Robins created some good chances but fell behind midway through the first half when the Bolton keeper's long ball over the top caught out the back line and led to the opening goal.

After a shaky start, Altrincham began to make their mark in the attacking third.

Nathan Taylor played a precise pass into the path of Nathan Wood, who took the ball down well and had a promising strike which looked to be going in, only for Bolton's keeper to pull off an amazing save.

Bolton continued to create chances, but Charlie Noble was equal to them with some great saves.

Jacob Martin's relentless press caused the Bolton keeper to make a mistake, allowing him to nick the ball and slot it home, leaving the game all-square at half-time.

After a strong start in the second half, the Robins found themselves in control of the game, leading to countless opportunities to take the lead.

After a quick break into the box, Wood won a penalty for the home team which was converted by Kian Gonzales to make it 2-1 to the Robins.

Both teams were still playing good football, but Bolton were down to 10 men when a foul on Gonzales resulted in a second yellow card for the Bolton right-back.

Alty continued to apply pressure but just couldn’t find the back of the net. Bolton created a few more chances down the wings, but they were cut out by Altrincham’s full-backs or wingers, who were performing their defensive duties strongly.

A promising Alty attack was defended well by Bolton, who clipped the ball up the pitch into the path of the visitors' striker who had space to run into.

Fortunately, Alty right-back Harry St.Romaine was able to sprint back and make a last-ditch tackle that took the ball away from the striker, stopping a very promising attack.

Alty then kept possession of the ball and saw the game out to secure the three points.

Squad on the day:

Charlie Noble, Harry St.Romaine, Chris Antoniades, Nathan Taylor, Jacob Hill, Jacob Martin, Nathan Wood, Ryan Knowles, Fin Coburn, Kian Gonzales, Nathaniel Moses, Noah Lavin, Harley Renshaw, Harry Watson, Henry Watts, Jimmy Taffe.