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.
Saturday’s FA Cup 4th qualifying round victory over Barwell was very pleasing.
After a pretty even first half, when we had competed well but lacked a bit of quality on the ball, James Lawrie put us ahead on the stroke of half-time. I was right in line with James’s pinpoint left foot shot which was a clinical piece of finishing and in the second half we moved the ball around better and added further goals from Kyle Perry and Damian Reeves to give us a 3-0 win.
What you see is what you get with Kyle and it was a fantastic strike from all of 30 yards. The third goal was very well constructed and I was pleased that we finished with 11 men, as Barwell had two players sent off in the second half in a game that had a number of flashpoints.
The support received was fantastic, both in terms of numbers and vocal encouragement. I know that we have quite a lot of fans who don’t live locally but who have Altrincham in their blood and there were plenty of them there on Saturday, as well as an excellent turnout from our locally based supporters. I speak to the players a lot about our fans and the effort and expense that they go to to get to matches and it is really appreciated by everyone… we must have had 200-250 in Leicestershire on Saturday.
We have just found out that our game is one of eight games that will be played at 2pm on Sunday November 9th
The victory meant that we could all look forward to the excitement of Monday night’s televised first round draw. This is my fourth season here and it’s over three years since we had a home FA Cup draw, but for the eighth time in succession, we have to travel again.
Having said that, Blyth Spartans versus Altrincham is a tie that has captured the interest of the media and we have just found out that our game is one of eight games that will be played at 2pm on Sunday November 9th, so that the goals and key moments can be shown on the BBC’s Final Score programme that afternoon.
Before all that though, we have two very important league games to focus on. Alfreton Town visit the J Davidson Stadium on Saturday at 3pm in a game that is very important for both clubs.
It won’t have done us any harm at all that Nicky Law had to take his side to Lincoln on Tuesday night for an FA Cup replay and we know that they have some injury and suspension problems, but Neil and I will be focusing on what we can do to take the three points on offer on Saturday, before we head off to Lincoln on Tuesday night.
