Report Will Knowles Picture Jonathan Moore

Altrincham 3 Morecambe CIS 4

The young Robins opened play and maintained good possession of the ball in this National League fixture, working chances multiple times in the early stages but unfortunately not able to create anything clear-cut.

Morecambe were a physical side and liked to play big channel balls over the left-hand side, but this was dealt with well by Hill.

Continued domination in possession led to Alty taking the lead in the 15th minute after Weston drove through Morecambe's midfield and slipped in Martin with perfect precision.

Martin found himself one-on-one with the keeper and calmly took the ball round him before slotting it into the back of the net to make it 1-0.

There was then some back and fourth battle between the two sides. A corner awarded to Morecambe was dealt with and cleared by the Robins defence, but not clinically enough.

The ball landed on the edge of the box, where one of Morcambe’s players connected with a strike which was placed neatly in the top right corner of the goal to level the scores.

Morecambe had got themselves back in the game and pressure was on, but Alty dealt with this and went on to restore their lead after a big tackle from Knowles cleared the ball towards Taylor, who played a great pass out to Ireland.

Ireland drove with confidence towards the visitors' left-back and let fly with his right foot to send the ball sailing into the top left corner to put his side 2-1 in front.

Not long after, the young Robins had some great play towards goal, and when Renshaw slipped Lavin through for another one-on-one, he kept his composure to knock it past the keeper for a 3-1 lead.

The visitors didn’t back down, though. They won a throw in our defensive third of the pitch, and when the ball was crossed into the box, their striker managed to get a head to the ball to make it 3-2 just before the half-time whistle.

At the start of the second half, despite many efforts from full-backs Hill and Knowles to join in with overloads, our luck was short in front of goal, and we found ourselves pegged back to 3-3 after Morecambe equalised from the penalty spot.

The game stayed tight, with again multiple chances at either end as both sides played good football, albeit with a few heavy challenges being made. Ireland was delivering some precise crosses into the six-yard box, but Alty were unable to make the most of them.

The visitors then caught out Alty on a counter press, with a couple of mistakes at the back allowing their player to dribble into the area and find the back of the net to put Morecambe ahead for the first time.

The young Robins were left with six minutes to preserve their unbeaten run, but time ran out and they were unable to fashion an equaliser, despite their best efforts.

Squad on the day:

Max Beddow, Harry St Romaine, Henry Watts, Charlie Hough, Jacob Hill, Joe Weston, Nathan Taylor, Jacob Ireland, Harley Renshaw, Jacob Martin, Jimmy Taafe, Noah Lavin, Ryan Knowles, Will Knowles, Chris Antoniades.