Blyth Spartans 1 Altrincham 1

Match Report by Remi Raymond

Picture by Jonathan Moore  

Altrincham's Academy team were eager to win and motivated by a meeting time of 6am for the long journey up to the North-East.

The young Robins flew out of the traps and piled the pressure on Blyth in the early stages.

Following a sloppy pass out from the Spartans keeper, Alty were rewarded for their aggressive high press.

They capitalised courtesy of an impressive, controlled finish into the bottom right corner from Jacob Ireland that put them 1-0 ahead.

Alty were dominating and making it difficult for the hosts to get a foothold in the game, but they were unable to convert any of the many chances they created.

Unsurprisingly, Blyth grew into the game, with a couple of close calls threatening Alty's lead, though the home side's creativity was combatted by good defensive work and composure in our defensive third.  

A great move almost doubled Alty's lead as Remi Raymond received a pass from Thomas Whyte and played it on to Ireland, who slid it to Harrison Howells.

An inviting ball across the face of goal from Howells only needed a final touch, but there was no-one on hand to finish it off.

Great work on the left side from Edwards and a fantastic save from Noble persevered the Robins' lead and ensured they ended the first half still in the lead.

On to the second half, where the young Robins started less composed as Blyth came out of the traps, though Alty still looked comfortable.

The momentum of the game switched into the hosts' favour, and Alty were rattled as the hosts created chances and looked threatening.

After a sloppy pass out of play, Blyth were able to go direct in behind the Alty defence, and after a miscommunication at the back, the ball rolled into the striker, who tapped the ball into an empty net to make it 1-1.

A couple of chances were created by Alty after that, with Raymond being unlucky with an effort that was blocked.

With 15 minutes to go, Alty were reduced to 10 men when Wood went down injured, with no substitutes left to replace him.

The Robins had to dig in for the last quarter of the game, and they did it with some outstanding team-work and defensive structure to make sure they had a point to take with them on the long journey home,

Squad on the day:
Charlie Noble
Tom Whyte
Lucas Edwards
Kian Leckey
Remi Raymond
Harry Watson
Jacob Ireland
Vlad Shtyhlian 
Harrison Howells 
Joe Weston 
Nathan Wood
Blyth Bywater
Isaac Mannion
Kaiden Powell
Afernee Denise