Words John Edwards | Pictures Jonathan Moore

Altrincham 1 Radcliffe 2

James Gale was on target again, but Altrincham missed out on a place in the final of the Isle of Man's Summer Festival of Football after letting an early lead slip in Douglas this afternoon.

Close-season signing Gale could hardly have made a more favourable early impression in Alty colours after scoring on his debut away to Warrington Town last Saturday and following up with another assured finish here at The Bowl in only the second minute.

Radcliffe's defending may have left a bit to be desired, as an attempted clearance cannoned into an Alty player and bounced along the edge of the area, where advancing keeper Mark Halstead and one of his team-mates contrived to leave it to each other.

That was the only invitation Gale needed to nip in and finish with an impressive flourish, measuring a lob over the stranded keeper and into the back of the Radcliffe net.

There was a moment of danger for the Robins in the 12th minute when a cross from the right reached Jon Taylor only a few yards out at the far post. Taylor connected well enough with his shot, but Lucas Weaver was ideally placed to block the effort and clear his lines.

On-loan keeper Luke Hutchinson was not exactly overworked on his Alty debut, but there was a reassuring air of confidence about everything he did, not least when he left his line three times when Radcliffe looked to pose a threat in the first half and caught the ball cleanly on each occasion.

There was nothing he could have done to prevent Radcliffe fashioning an equaliser out of nothing after 24 minutes, however.

Cutting in from the left and rolling the ball towards a team-mate on the edge of the area, Taylor met the return pass with an unstoppable first-time side-foot shot that flew with pace and curl into the top right corner of Alty's net.

If that was pretty much unavoidable, from an Alty perspective, the same couldn't be said about the goal that ultimately separated the sides on the stroke of half-time.

There were two opportunities for Alty's defence to cut short a Radcliffe raid, and when both were spurned, the ball eventually fell for Anthony Dudley to set his sights 10 yards out and rifle a low drive into the bottom corner.

It could have got worse for the Robins early in the second half when, after a foul on the left edge of the area, Danny Greenfield stepped up to hammer the resulting free-kick against the left upright, with half-time substitute keeper Louie Fallon going full length in an attempt to reach it.

Neither goal came under much threat after that, though the usual wholesale changes meant a welcome opportunity for youngsters Joel Bailey, Owen German, Lucas Edwards and Remi Raymond to join Fallon in the middle, and there were some nice touches throughout from left-back Sam Reed.

So, the Robins missed out on Sunday afternoon's final and will, instead, have a third-fourth place play-off at 11am that morning, though, as ever with pre-season games, there were positives to be taken in the form of more valuable match action for so many of the players and another sharp finish from Gale.

Altrincham Hutchinson; Reed (Reddin, 61'), Cooper (Bailey, 61'), Osborne (c) (Kosylo, 61'), Weaver, Crawford (Raymond, 61'), Gale (Knowles, 61'), Ward (Marriott, 61'), Kirk, Golden (Edwards, 61'), Banks (German, 61').

Radcliffe Halstead (Hewelt, 46'); Jackson (Modi, 61'), McFadzean (Partington, 61'), Thornley (Roscoe, 46'), Maynard, (Glendon, 46'), Hulme (Afuye, 46'), Dudley (Roscoe, 46'), Taylor (Clegg, 46'), Gardner (Greenfield, 46'), Ball (Riley, 46'), Sargent (Trialist, 46'). Subs not used: None

Goals Gale 1' | Taylor 24', Dudley 45'

Next Up

Our second game in the Isle of Man on Sunday at 11am - the Robins taking part in a third-place play-off at The Bowl in Douglas - part of the island's Summer Festival of Football.