A different kind of warm-up! How Altrincham FC’s picture of the defrosting cars went viral

Altrincham went out of the FA Trophy this week – but not before a classic photograph on its official Twitter account had gone viral.

The Robins, fresh from winning their first-round tie with Leamington at the eighth time of asking, embarked on the 500-mile round trip to Bognor for a second-round clash on Tuesday.

There had been no concerns about the Nyewood Lane pitch until temperatures plummeted in the afternoon.

The match referee arrived at the ground at 6pm and had concerns about part of the pitch in front of one of the stands that had frozen.

Bognor took the decision to drive six vehicles onto the pitch and leave them running to try to warm up the affected areas.

Brian Flynn, the Robins’ media officer, arrived around 6.30pm and tweeted a picture of the cars on the pitch.

The tweet so far been re-tweeted almost 2000 times and was picked up by the likes of Radio 5 live, Daily Mail Online, ITV, BBC South Today and Match of The Day.

Thankfully the game went ahead – meaning Alty were spared a second trip to Sussex on Tuesday – but they lost the match 2-1.