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REPORT

Alty followed on from their impressive performance at Harrogate Town with another outstanding display at home to an experienced Chesterfield team full of full-time scholars.

Alty were dominant from the start, playing some high tempo flowing football, creating chance after chance. Chesterfield looked comfy on the ball but with Alty playing an aggressive pressing game, their only option was the long ball, which the Alty defence dealt with, marshalled by the ever reliant Tom Clarke.

Dan Jones, Aaron Longley and Jimi Folageade bossed the midfield, unsettling Chesterfield, pressing and winning the ball back on a regular basis then feeding Louis Potts, Adam Bond and Tom Westall, who were a constant threat offensively.

On 35 minutes Chesterfield took the lead, totally against the run of play. A long clearance out of defence split the centre backs and the centre forward clipped the ball past the on-coming goalkeeper.

The second half followed the same pattern as the first with Alty having the majority of possession and it came as no surprise when Alty equalized. Following a mazy run from Louis Potts, the ball was fed to Tom Westall, whose first touch took him through, one on one with the Chesterfield GK. As the players collided, the ball fell to Westall, who slotted the ball home past the covering defender.

It wasn’t long before Westall doubled his tally to give Alty a 2-1 lead. The ball was played in to Ben Reid’s feet, whose first touch took him away from his marker. In one movement he found Westall’s penetrating run from deep and Westall made no mistake guiding the ball into the bottom corner.

Alty were now in full attack mode and when Ben Reid, on as a second half substitute for Adam Bond, was taken over in the area the ref had no option but to award a spot kick. Captain Dan Jones unselfishly threw the ball to Westall to complete his hat-trick but the Chesterfield GK guessed rightly and made a great save low to his left.

Ben Reid looked sharp upfront and, after a nervous couple of touches, settled down and linked play well feeding Potts and Westall on several occasions then spinning off. Finally Reid’s movement created a chance. Jimi Folageade fed Reid, who rolled the defender and, in one movement, unleashed an unstoppable shot from 25 yards, heading for the top corner. The goalkeeper did well to get his fingers to it but the ball flew in off the inside of the post. 3-1 to Alty.

Chesterfield had all but given up by now; they had no answer to Alty’s dominance and, following a great run by Westall, a free kick was awarded wide on the left. Westall called Matt Graetzer over and told him to make a near post run. The delivery was perfectly executed and met the run of Graetzer, who powerfully headed the ball past the stranded keeper into the bottom corner. A very well taken set piece. 4-1 to Alty.

A fantastic team performance, which moves Alty up to third in the league.