Words Henry Watts | Picture Jonathan Moore

Tranmere Rovers 5 Altrincham 2

This National Youth League fixture got off to a frantic start, with Tranmere going ahead inside the opening 20 seconds.

Tranmere’s right winger drove up the pitch and fired the ball across the Alty box, leading to a scramble at the back post that resulted in the ball being poked over the line for the opening goal.

After the restart, the young Robins found some control and calmness on the ball to set up Kian Gonzales in space in the opposition half.

With a great show of skill, Gonzales was able to beat two men and slot the ball home to level up the game.

Mounting further pressure with another good spell of possession, Alty forced a corner following a powerful shot from Martin that could only be parried away by the Rovers keeper.

Goal-scorer Gonzales sent a searching ball to the back post where centre-half Taafe arrived to send a bullet header past the keeper and give Alty the lead.

Following Alty's second goal, it was Tranmere’s turn to exert some pressure on the Robins, who had lost their composure on the ball.

As a consequence, the game became frantic, and this worked in Rovers' favour as the ball ricocheted off a couple players in the Alty box before being brought down by a Tranmere forward, who slotted home past Noble to make it 2-2.

Alty winger Martin had the best effort of the rest of the first half as he sent a deflected free-kick back towards the Tranmere goal with a powerful half volley which went narrowly wide.

Tranmere started the second half strongly, and they were back in front for the first time since the 10th minute when a free-kick was whipped into the box and flicked into the net.

Building on their pressure, they increased their advantage after a long ball, initially dealt with by defenders Taafe and Watts, was pounced on by the Rovers captain, who drove into the box to score and leave the young Robins 4-2 down.

The misery was compounded for Alty after a 10-minute period of madness as Tranmere took advantage of another error on the ball to slot past a helpless Noble and end the Robins' hopes of a revival.

Altrincham managed to regain some control over the game with improvements in how they kept the ball, leading to several chances, the best of which saw Jack Chandler and Renshaw combining in the dying minutes of the game.

With fast feet, Chandler beat his man in the box to win a penalty. The Tranmere keeper saved his defender's blushes with a great save down to his left, securing a three-goal winning margin for the visitors.