ALTRINCHAM FC
Review of Season 2001-02

2001-02 STATISTICS

Season 2001-02 saw Alty finish ninth, their lowest finish in the Non-League system since 1971-72, when they finished 10th in the Northern Premier League.

However, the strong first half of this season and the fact that the second half was blown of course by major financial problems, as well as injuries, make this comparison with the past seem relatively unimportant. Below is the record for each half of this season showing how twice as many points were gained in the first half of the campaign as in the second. Had we amassed 44 points in the second half of the season as we did in the first, we would have finished third; had we gleaned just 22 from the first half of the season as we did in the second half, we would have been vying with Bishop Auckland for the relegation play-off place!

 
P
W
D
L
F
A
GD
PTS
Games 1-22
22
13
5
4
39
23
17
44
Games 23-44
22
6
4
12
27
35
-9
22
Below is Alty's league record since 1998-99. For Alty's complete league record, click here
SEASON LEAGUE P W D L F A PTS POS
1998-99 UNIP 42 23 11 8 67 33 80 1
1999-00 CONF 42 9 19 14 51 60 46 21
2000-01 UNIP 44 20 10 14 80 58 70 7
2001-02 UNIP 44 19 9 16 66 58 66 9

Here are some statistics from 2001-02. For more see the Statistics Page:

  • PLAYERS

    • 30 players played in league games (36 were used last season) and four more (Finney, Hargreaves, Newbrook and Wilkinson) just appeared in cup matches.

  • DOUBLES

    • Alty did the league double over Worksop, Colwyn Bay, Gateshead and Blyth. The following did the double over Alty: Emley, Frickley, Hyde and Vauxhall Motors.

  • APPEARANCES

    • Alty played 65 competitive games this season. Ian Craney played all 44 league games, whilst Stuart Coburn and Mark Sertori each played 43. The next best were Mark Maddox (39), then Lee Poland, Kevin Hulme and Rod Thornley who all appeared 38 times in the league, though Lee only started 10 of those matches. Next came Dave Swanick and Danny Murphy who appeared in 29 league matches. In all games, Ian Craney played the most matches 63(+1), with Stuart Coburn and Mark Sertori playing 62 each. Lee Poland was used as a sub on 35 occasions in cup and league.

  • ONE-GAME ONLY

    • The following started just one league or cup game this season: Anthony Hargreaves, Lee Thompson, Andrew Tunnicliffe, Barry Guildford, Keith Mairs and Dale Newbrook. James Wilkinson made three sub appearances, Leon Smith made two and Steve Finney made one, but none of them ever started a game. Pat Claffey was the only player named in the first team squad (twice) who did not get onto the pitch.

  • YOUNG PLAYERS

    • The youngest first-team player this season was 16 year-old Vernum Rowland. Other Youth Team players who reached the first team were Mario Daniel and Lee Thompson.

  • GOALSCORERS

    • Alty scored 14 fewer league goals than last season and were the 11th highest scorers in their division. 15 players scored goals in the league this season, (19 did so last season). A further 4 did so only in the cup matches (Finney, Hargreaves, Illingworth, Maddox). Chris Adams (27 games), Vernum Rowland (11+5) and Dave Swanick (26+21) were the only outfield players who played 15 or more matches but did not score. Leading scorers in all competitions were:

    • Rod Thornley 31 (inc 10 penalties) goals in 56(+1) games; (17 of these goals inc 5 pens were in the league). Rod was Alty's highest scorer since Ken McKenna got 33 in 1990-91.
    • Lee Poland 15 (inc 2 penalties) in 22(+35) games, (3 goals in the league).
    • Kevin Hulme (pictured right) 15 in 50(+1) games, (13 in the league- Kevin was the leading league scorer if penalties were discounted).
    • Ian Craney 12 in 63(+1), (9 in the league).


    Lee Poland was the only player to hit four in a match (at Woodley Sports), but both he and Rod Thornley also got hat-tricks at Lancaster City and Colwyn Bay respectively, though each included a penalty. Alty's highest score was five at Colwyn Bay.

  • DEFENCE AND PENALTIES

    • Alty had the seventh best defence in the League; they conceded 58 goals which was the same as last year. Twelve clean sheets were kept in league games but three goals or more were conceded in 7 league games. 4 was the highest number of goals conceded, at Bradford PA. Alty netted 12 penalties this season, excluding penalty shoot-outs.

  • CAUTIONS


    • Alty picked up 72 yellow and 7 red cards in their 65 games compared with 75 yellow and 2 reds last season in 54 games. In the league 50 yellow and 6 red were amassed this year compared with 64 yellow and 1 red last season. The highest number of cautions were for Steve Hawes (10 yellow and 1 red) and Carl Furlong (7 yellow and 3 red). Those sent off were Chris Adams, Carl Furlong (3 times), Steve Hawes, Dave Swanick and coach Graham Heathcote. Strangely, despite his red card Chris Adams also had the distinction of not otherwise being booked in any of his 27 league or cup games.

  • RUNS

    • Alty's longest run without defeat in the league was six games. They then immediately went on their worst run of 10 games without a win in the league.

  • GATES

    • Highest home: 1018 v Burton Albion. Highest away: 1712 v Burton Albion. Lowest home: 438 v Lancaster City. Lowest away: 180 v Bishop Auckland. Alty's average gate in the league in 2001-02 was 638 compared with 597 last season.
    Link to ARCHIVE INDEX