Altrincham FC assistant manager Neil Sorvel with this week’s column…
We continued our great run of form last Saturday with a deserved victory over Telford United, who changed their normal 3-5-2 formation to 3-4-2-1 to try to stop our skipper, Jake Moult, getting out and influencing the game.
We had 53% possession, more completed passes and more goal attempts and at 1-1 in the second half, it was us who were creating chances, with Jordan Hulme’s header from a great move and cross from John Johnston and Kallum Mantack’s one-on-one chance with the keeper, before Connor Hampson scored a terrific free kick to put us back in front.
Watch highlights from last Saturday:
Ashley Hemmings, on loan from AFC Fylde, made a big impact on his debut, after coming on as a substitute and showed great composure to set up Josh Hancock for his second and our third goal, to really round the day off nicely and move us up to third in the league.
It was also good to see Shaun Densmore slot in so well, after an early injury to Andy White. Shaun has had to be very patient in recent weeks, due to Andy’s top class form at right back, but he is a model professional and took his opportunity very well, winning the free kick that led to that vital second goal.
We are in action today in the Buildbase FA Trophy 1st Round with a home tie against Stockport County, who we will also be playing twice in the league on Boxing Day and New Year’s Day.
Jim Gannon’s side knocked us out of the Emirates FA Cup in October and they are a very strong team that are particularly dangerous from set pieces. We played some great stuff in that F.A. Cup tie during the 1st half but once Stockport scored just before half time, the dynamic of the game changed and they sat back and kept us at arms length in the 2nd half, hitting us on the break effectively and going on to win the game 2-0.
Andy White (knee injury) will be missing today but Sean Williams will be involved for the first time since breaking a metatarsal in that FA Cup game at Edgeley Park eight weeks ago.
I think that the first goal will be very important today and having won the Trophy with Macclesfield as a player in 1996 and got to the semi-final as a coach with Nantwich Town in 2016, I’d love the opportunity to stand on the touchline at Wembley and this group of players are a match for anyone on their day, so we can go into today’s game very confidently.
Photos: Jonathan Moore
