Altrincham FC manager Lee Sinnott will be giving us the inside track on the Robins’ return to the Conference. Here’s his latest column for Altrincham Today.
In Saturday’s game at home to Woking, you could have flipped a coin in the first half. They could have scored, but then again, so could we.
They are a dangerous animal, let’s face it, very sharp and strong up front. The first half was even, but then the second half, it was like a thread was picked and the stitching slowly came away. I’m talking about the goal on 52 minutes, the sending-off on 55 and then a second goal, followed by having to take Ryan Crowther off, leaving us with nine men.
I’ve a little gripe over the third goal. Sometimes, you have to give credit to the opposition – and they are a very good side, especially going forward – but a couple of times, players went past us too easily, either with the ball or without it, and I don’t like to see that. It can happen with 11 players, never mind nine, so it’s about good habits.
You could not call the first half, but it did unravel a bit in the second half, and the game went away from us and we eventually lost 3-0.
I always encourage the players to shoot, and Jake Moult certainly took that on board with a great strike. It was instant control and a fabulous volley, and it was great to see. I’ve often said it’s fine lines, and the way the ball dipped over the keeper but came back off the bar certainly illustrated the point.
On the Damian Reeves incident, where he was fouled on the edge of the box, I’ve no problem with the card being yellow, rather than red, because the covering defender would have been round in time to prevent Damian having a goalscoring opportunity. I’ve no qualms about that.
I hope our supporters understand it is a big ask when you are up against full-time teams who are often big and strong physically
When Adam Griffin got his red card, I was actually writing something in my book about how we might switch things round later, but I asked Griff about it. He is a quiet lad, and he just said his studs slipped, and that’s why he went into their lad. It’s just unfortunate. He hasn’t got a bad bone in his body, and is honest as the day is long, but it’s how things work sometimes.
Maybe the referee could have made allowances for that, but he doesn’t know Griff like we do and can only make a decision on what he sees. I wouldn’t go down the road of questioning the ref. If your foot slips, and you go careering into someone, it is judged on that.
You still try and get something out of the game if you can, when things go wrong, and that’s why I made the substitutions I did. Even at 2-0 down, we still had half a sniff. The supporters would not want us to shut up shop at that stage, because a bit of class or brilliance could have put the jitters in the opposition and given us a chance. It was worth a go.
It was good that the players were applauded off at the end and equally good to see such a great turnout. There must have been over 1,100 locals in the crowd. It was a shame we couldn’t give them a victory, but the lads are trying. You will see that energy levels are higher in certain games than in others.
It’s not down to how the players prepare, so much as the schedule, both football-wise and work-wise. There will be games where it catches you out a bit. There’s a bit less spring in the foot, and that was possibly the case against Woking. There has been a bug in the camp, and we were unable to train on Thursday because of it, and that may have had an effect.
I hope our supporters understand it is a big ask when you are up against full-time teams who are often big and strong physically.
It is a big ask for these boys to be at their peak every time, but thankfully we’ve got a free week, ahead of another home game against Braintree, and hopefully that should give us the chance to recharge the batteries a bit.
