Words John Edwards | Pictures Jonathan Moore

Rochdale 2 Altrincham 0

Strains of "Que Sera Sera" rang out at the Crown Oil Arena, but they belonged to Rochdale voices rather than Altrincham ones as the Robins' hopes of a Wembley outing in the Isuzu FA Trophy ended in disappointment and frustration, with two first-half goals condemning them  to a quarter-final defeat.

Rochdale struck in the 14th and 38th minutes, when they were in the ascendancy, and that proved the difference. Alty had their spells of dominance but were unable to make it count where it mattered, on the scoresheet.

They were unlucky at times, not least when the woodwork came to Rochdale's rescue twice in the second half, but, in the end, it was home fans serenading their team with the song that's always associated with Wembley, rather than those who filled more than half of the away stand and sang their hearts out from start to finish.

Alty wasted no time fashioning the first chance of the game, going close after exactly one minute.

Justin Amaluzor fed Regan Linney down the right, and the Alty marksman cut in along the bye-line before firing a low angled drive that was deflected narrowly wide of the far post.

Sixty seconds later, Linney was left shaking his head at another one that got away after another incisive Alty move.

Latching on to an Elliot Osborne pass on the right, Amaluzor picked out Linney for what would have been a routine finish from six yards but for a defender sticking out a boot and deflecting the striker's shot behind for a corner.

Still the Robins weren't finished with threatening an opening goal, as the resulting corner from Osborne was met by a firm far-post header by Tom Crawford that was blocked by a defender near the goalline.

Aidan Barlow dragged a great chance wide in the 18th minute, but it was a rare lapse by the Rochdale forward, who was instrumental in a spell of concerted home pressure that led to a breakthrough in the 14th minute.

Alty's defence had been struggling to cope with Barlow's clever prompting, and the pressure finally told when Jay Bird turned to make room for a shot that he despatched unerringly into the bottom left corner from 15 yards.

It was no more than Dale deserved, but Alty so nearly levelled after a lightning counter-attack in the 18th minute.

From inside his own half, Alex Newby delivered a perfectly-weighted pass that sent Linney scampering down the left, with a chasing defender by his side as he sprinted into the area.

At this point, more often than not, the tendency for Alty's leading scorer is to cut inside on to his right foot, but, instead, he surged past his marker on the outside with a sudden burst of acceleration that took him through to a one-on-one with the keeper.

Unfortunately for Alty, Sam Waller was up to the task, as her spread himself and blocked Linney's close-range effort.

Alty were certainly clawing their way back into the contest, though a couple of unkind bobbles did Matty Kosylo and Amaluzor no favours when they tried their luck from distance.

An equaliser was beginning to look on the cards, and it so nearly materialised in the most spectacular fashion imaginable in the 33rd minute.

Waller dashed from his line to hack the ball clear, and as it bounced unevenly towards the halfway line, Lewis Banks met it with an audacious first-time effort that sailed through the air towards the Rochdale area.

To make any sort of clean contact on such a bobbly surface was asking a lot, getting it on target was even more of a tall order, but Banks did both with an astonishing strike that had Waller frantically backtracking before finally managing to scoop the ball out from beneath his crossbar.

What a goal that would have been, but any lift the near-miss gave Alty was soon punctured as Dale doubled their lead in the 38th minute.

A low cross from the right found its way to the far post, from where Tarryn Allarakhia could hardly miss. He didn't either, despite the best efforts of Rob Lainton, who flung himself to his right and got fingertips to the shot but couldn't keep it out.

It could have been worse for the Robins but for Lainton reacting superbly to beat away a fierce drive by Bird a couple of minutes into first-half added time.

Lainton had to be alert again in the 51st minute after a low left-wing cross from Sam Beckwith found Devante Rodney for a first-time shot that was well smothered by the Alty keeper.

Alty's cause wasn't helped when James Jones hobbled off in obvious discomfort after tangling with Allarakhia in the 64th minute, Jake Cooper replacing him.

Seconds later, Alty so nearly had the goal they so desperately needed to get back into the tie, as Amaluzor got away from his marker on the right and pulled the ball back to Linney, standing near the penalty spot.

There was nothing wrong with Linney's first-time connection, but it took the slightest of deflections off a defender that lifted it fractionally over the bar.

Equally, there was nothing wrong with Newby's connection as the Robins once more went so close to halving the deficit after 71 minutes.

The ball fairly flew off Newby's right boot from almost 25 yards and was arrowing towards the top corner until Waller took off to his right and somehow got fingertips to it. The contact was minimal but just enough to divert the ball against the angle of bar and post.

The woodwork denied Alty again in the 73rd minute when Waller spilled the ball in a congested six-yard box and Amaluzor hammered it against the post from point-blank range.

It was beginning to look like one of those days, even more so when Newby drove into the side netting in the 83rd minute and Linney saw an angled shot from the left safely fielded by Waller in the 85th.

And so it proved. Alty had given it their all and were unlucky with those two efforts against the frame of the goal, but the Wembley dream is over for another year .. in the Trophy, at least.

Rochdale Waller; Gordon (c), East (Weston, 87'), Allarakhia (Buyabu, 76'), Gilmour, Rodney (Ayinde, 76'), Adebayo-Rowling, Barlow (Henderson, 60'), Hogan, Bird (Mitchell, 54'), Beckwith. Subs not used: Ferguson, McBride.

Altrincham Lainton; Banks, Baines (c), Osborne, Linney, Newby, Amaluzor, Kosylo (Reddin, 57'), J.Jones (Cooper, 64'), Crawford, Golden. Subs not used: Griffiths, Ansen, Nuttall, Bickerstaff, Pasiek. 

HT 2-0

Goals Bird 14', Allarakhia 38' | None

Yellows Adebayo-Rowling 29', Bird 46', Mitchell 73', Gilmour 82', Beckwith 84' | Newby 29'

Reds None | None

Referee Zac Kennard-Kettle

Assistants Adam Nichol & Oliver Bickle

Fourth official Luis Griffiths

Attendance 3,029 (1,074 away)

Next Up

The first of three straight away games in the Vanarama National League - fellow promotion challengers York City await at the LNER Community Stadium on Tuesday evening (7:45pm).

For full ticket and away travel details click here.