ALTRINCHAM FC LADIES 1 ELLESMERE PORT TOWN LADIES 1
Reporter Paul Hatton writes...Lady Robins sign off 2016 with a hard fought draw.
Altrincham FC women’s team finished the calendar year on an unbeaten note with a 1-1 draw against Ellesmere Port at Mersey Valley.#
Manager Keith Edleston who has described this season as a “work in progress”, saw Alty take a first half lead, however, Ellesmere Port’s second half equaliser was a tad questionable.
Memories were cast back to the reverse fixture earlier on in the season in a match that Alty dominated throughout but lost 2-1. However, on this occasion, it was the visitors who had more of the possession and, on the passage of play throughout the 90 minutes, a draw was a fair result.
With Alty winning their two previous fixtures, it was the visitors who looked the more settled outfit, the Robins had to be thankful to their goalkeeper Lizzie Brereton for pulling off two class saves. The visitors’ goalkeeper was
However when Alty were presented with a corner on 28 minutes, they took the lead. Laura Dodds’s corner was half-cleared to Heather Scott, she pushed to pass to Jess Hartopp, her cross picked out Laura Kelly unmarked at the near post, who turned to smash home from close range as the hosts entered the interval with a goal lead.
Ellesmere Port’s equaliser on 49 minutes saw a throw-in launched into the box, a lay-off to a player was clearly offside. Some Alty players stopped, expecting the referee to blow his whistle, but play was allowed to go on, the resulting cross picked out Hannah Perry to dispatch from close range.
Although Altrincham had promising passages of play, the nearest they came to scoring was when Wright was denied by a superb reflex save as they retained their sixth position within the North West Regional League Division One South, once the final whistle had blown.
There were also debuts for Tish Collins and Marcia Sacharewicz, two players who have recently signed for the club".