Off-day for Academy boys as ruthless Boston punish lapses
Altrincham 0 Boston United 5
National League Under-19 North Division
Match report by Harry Douglas
Picture by Luke Reynolds Photography
The Altrincham Academy were looking to bounce back from back-to-back defeats against Chester and Fylde by picking up three points against Boston United.
It was an underwhelming start from the young Robins, as they fell behind very early into the game. Only three minutes in, Alfie Curwen gave away a free-kick in a dangerous area on the edge of the box, and Boston United made the most of it to open the scoring.
It quickly got worse for the hosts, as some poor defending from a corner allowed Boston to double their lead, as the delivery was met by an oncoming attacker.
Around the 30-minute mark, Alty began creating chances, getting a lot of joy down the right-hand side through Afernee Denise.
He caused a lot of problems for the Boston backline, but the strike force couldn’t find the end product to spark a comeback for Altrincham.
With a positive end to the first 45 minutes, and some attacking substitutions, the
momentum seemed to be in the young Robins’ favour.
However, a moment of complacency allowed Boston to relieve the tension. A poor corner was cleared, igniting a counter-attack which was converted by Boston, giving them a three-goal lead.
Seconds later, a terrible tackle brought Edson Cata down in the box for an Altrincham penalty. Alty looked to capitalise and begin clawing back the Boston lead, but a great save was made by the Boston goalkeeper and their clean sheet remained intact.
From this point onwards, Alty’s heads dropped. On the 80-minute mark, another set-piece created a shot-taking opportunity. Despite Dane Byron making a wonderful save to deny the initial chance, a Boston player followed up to score, seeing the youngsters go four down.
It was a slow end to the second half, but in the last few minutes of the game, Boston jumped on an Alty mistake and scored their fifth goal of the game, finishing the clash 5-0 in front.
Alty will look to move on from this in two weeks' time and put an end to their losing streak.
Squad on the day:
Dane Byron
Sam Bonney Phillips
Joel Bailey
Kaiden Powell
Ian Jose
Harry Douglas
Max Whittle
Alfie Curwen
Kyran Webster
Afernee Denise
Harrison Howells
Alfred Igbinake
Jack Chandler
Edson Cata