Words Savior Abanwa

Radcliffe 4 Altrincham 3 

Radcliffe made the most of a strong start by pressing high, leading to their centre-forward nicking the ball high up the pitch and slotting it past Charlie Noble for the opening goal.

After their slow start, the young Robins then built themselves into the game and began to dominate and apply pressure high up the pitch, causing their opponents to go long rather than playing out.

After Alty played through some Radcliffe pressure, centre-half Raffi Fereday sent a great ball to right-winger Savior Johnson Abanwa, who was able to cut inside past his marker and slot the ball top left to make it 1-1. 

Back in the game, this boost of confidence led to a high press from midfielders Josh Herreaman and Will Sneyd, who won the ball back in the Radcliffe half and created an opening Alty capitalised on in style.

Johnson Abanwa found the ball at his feet and drove inside to find opposite winger Josh Obamwanyi, who cut in and scored an astonishing goal from outside the box to give his side a 2-1 lead.

Shortly after, in a great sequence of passes from the Robins, midfielder Sneyd pushed the ball to his left foot and curled it into the bottom corner from the edge of the box to extend Alty's advantage.

In the second half, full-back Callum Dakin dropped to the bench after a strong 45 minutes, and Savior Johnson Abanwa dropped in to play a deeper role, with John Gbolagun into the right wing position.

Radcliffe started strongly, as they did in the first half, and were able to send a great ball to their winger who found the number nine in the box for a goal that made it 3-2.

Around the 75th minute, Savior Johnson Abanwa and Josh Herreaman came off for Connor Summerfield and midfielder Will Molloy.

With just a few minutes left, the ball was again at the feet of the Radcliffe striker, who held it well and found a brilliant run from deep from his midfielder to draw the game level at 3-3. 

At this point, both teams were battling back and forth to find a winner in what has been an excellent game for anyone watching. Each side could say they deserved to win, however it was Radcliffe who found the decisive breakthrough with a corner to the near post that somehow threaded its way through a crowd of bodies and into the far left corner to make it 4-3.

With just minutes left on the clock, Radcliffe were able to see it out and deny Alty a late equaliser.

Squad on the day:

Charlie Noble, Archie Rowlands, Ben McNamara, Raffi Fereday, Harry Cain, Callum Dakin,
Connor Summerfield, Amara Diomande, Josh Herreman, Will Sneyd, Will Molloy, Henry Shaw, Josh Obamwanyi, Savior Abanwa, Ben Mensah, John Gbolagun.