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REPORT

Report courtesy of Phil Taylor.

A damp and drizzly February afternoon saw Altrincham Ladies return to action, after a prolonged lay off due to weather, with a Chester City side, operating in Division One, our opponents in the Quarter Final of the Challenge Cup.

The game had been reversed to Altrincham after a number of attempts to play in Chester had been thwarted by the inclement weather. A variety of reasons meant that Hannah, Rachel, Natalie, Beth, Louise, Sam Jones and Sue were unavailable.

Altrincham therefore lined up in a flexible formation, which alternated between 3-1-4-2 and 4-4-2 depending on which team had possession, with a back three of, Caroline, Tallulah and Sam Briggs in front of Lizzie in goal.

Cyprus occupied a position just in front of the three, dropping in to make it four when Alty were defending. Sarah, Aimee, Gail and Brogan made up the midfield four and Tracey was joined, up front, by Cloe. Subs were Chloe, Becci, Heather and Hayley

Alty kicked off and were immediately on the offensive. In fact, it took only a minute for a good run down the right from Cloe, followed by an accurate pass into the middle to be expertly finished by Tracey and Alty were one up.

Chester, playing with the wind at their backs, launched an attack following a defensive misjudgement but nothing came of it and the ball was cleared.

Three minutes had gone when Brogan moved purposefully down the Alty left and, from her pass, Tracey lifted a left footed shot narrowly over.

Altrincham had got off to a good start and the Chester players seemed a little unsure how to deal with this.

Whatever they tried to do to counter the Altrincham pressure was clearly not working, though, and after five minutes Aimee threaded an excellent ball through to Cloe, who was adjudged to be just offside.

Alty kept coming forward and, after seven minutes, Cloe, who was putting in an excellent performance, struck a powerful shot from outside the penalty area. Unfortunately, however, it passed just wide of the post.

Chester gained something of a foothold in the game for a few minutes but never really troubled Lizzie in the Alty goal.

The Altrincham Ladies were still pushing on though and, on nineteen minutes extended their lead. Becci, who had replaced Caroline a few minutes previously, played an excellent ball down the right to Cloe who once again delivered an accurate pass, this time into Aimee who finished clinically with her left foot.

Chester appeared to have identified the long, wind-assisted, ball over the top as their best hope of success. Lizzie, however, was taking up some excellent starting positions, which allowed her to nullify the danger of anything which bypassed the defence.

More good play down the Alty right, on twenty eight minutes, allowed Aimee to get another shot away which, once again, unfortunately passed just over the bar.

As the half had progressed Chester had come a little more into the game but had, in all honesty, rarely, if at all, posed much of a threat to the Alty goal. On the few occasions when the defence had almost been breached, some strong and effective defending had helped to see off the threat, Sam Briggs having made more than one timely intervention.

Alty, on the other hand, when moving forward, seemed to have more purpose and menace and, on forty minutes, Brogan, who, together with Sam Briggs, was causing the right hand side of the Chester defence numerous problems, struck a fine shot just wide.

Some very good individual performances, meshed into a good team performance, meant that this was a wholly deserved lead. The back line had defended stoutly despite the problems of facing such a strong wind. Gail and Aimee in central midfield had not only broken up Chester attacks but also played some excellent passes. Sarah and Brogan had troubled the full backs going forward but also tracked back to help their own defence and Tracey, Cloe and Hayley, another first half substitute, had not given the Chester defence a seconds peace. Keith expressed himself to be more than satisfied with the first half, suggesting a few small adjustments but asking for the same levels again in the second half.

Chester kicked off the second half and, not surprisingly, were soon onto the front foot.

It had been an excellent first half from the Alty ladies with a significant number of notable incidents taking place.

The second half, as is often the case, was much less so. Play moved from end to end, although much of it took place in the midfield areas.

There were some examples of excellent passing football by the Altrincham Ladies, Sam Briggs, Hayley and Brogan linking a number of times. Chester however kept pressing without really causing too many issues. Once again the central midfield and defence were industriously closing down and preventing their opponents from playing. On the occasions where the ball did get past, though, Lizzie continued to demonstrate excellent concentration and reading of the game, dealing capably with the Chester attacks.

On sixty eight minutes Alty extended their lead to 3-0 with an excellent goal, Sarah striking a shot from all of thirty yards, which cleared the Chester keeper before nestling in the net.

This goal arguably killed the game and Altrincham, once again, began to exert an increasing level of pressure. Brogan linked well down the left on a number of occasions, forcing some last ditch defending and a growing number of corners and free kicks.

On seventy-nine minutes, following some more excellent play down the left, Tracey lobbed the Chester keeper, only for the ball to strike the crossbar and rebound to safety.

On eighty-two minutes good play, this time down the Altrincham right, from Sarah, opened up an opportunity for Cloe whose shot was well saved by the keeper at her near post.

The pressure was bound to tell eventually and, on eighty-five minutes, Tracey rifled home a left footed shot from beyond the corner of the penalty area to make it 4-0'

And the icing on the cake, as it were, was provided on eighty-seven minutes when Heather picked up a loose ball before driving a shot across the keeper and into the corner of the net, again from outside the area.

The remaining time passed without significant incident and full time was reached with Altrincham having achieved a fully deserved 5-0 win and, with it, a place in the Semi-Final of the Challenge Cup.

Player of the Match and Players' Player was Gail Simpson, who was outstanding on her return from illness and who also took on the mantle of captaincy in a quiet yet inspiring manner. A significant number of other players were also worthy contenders for the honour as it had, indeed, been a fine team performance. The Ladies now progress to our first ever Semi-Final and it's a derby game with First Division opponents, (again), Urmston Meadowside at Lees Fields, Urmston on Sunday, 9th March, k.o. 2pm .

Next up for the Ladies, though, is a League fixture, this coming Sunday, 2nd March at home (Beech Avenue) v Irby LFC, kick-off 2.00pm, when it is hoped that today’s performance level can be repeated. If you are at a loose end, why not come down and support the Ladies in their quest for three more valuable points, and their push up the league? Don't worry we won't bite!

Player of the match: Gail Simpson

Goalscorers: Tracey Blanchard-Webb (x2), Aimee Gibson, Heather Scott, Sarah McManus