Altrincham 2-1 Cheltenham Town
Cheltenham Town's unbeaten start to the season came to an end away at Altrincham after Sam Heathcote's 95th minute winner for Altrincham settled a game that looked destined for a draw.
Captain Aaron Downes' 82nd minute header had earlier cancelled out Ryan Crowther's opener but Cheltenham will feel hard done by in a game that could have gone either way.
After a very slow start to the game, the first piece of interesting action didn't come until the eighth minute. Jack Munns drove forward after a long ball from Dickie had found him down the right channel, his drilled low cross almost reaching Amari Morgan-Smith who was denied by a last ditch challenge from Jake Moult inside the six yard box.Â
Munns was again involved minutes later, with a driving run through the middle past several weak tackles, but his left footed shot flashed wide from 20 yards.Â
Harry Pell possibly could have done better after 22 minutes when failed to hit the target from inside the box, his rasping shot flying just over the bar.
The hosts' first chance came in the 31st minute, and was one they really should of scored. After a floated through ball from Jake Moult, George Bowerman did well to hook back a cross for James Lawrie, but his scuffed volley from eight yards was saved by Dillon Phillips moving to his right.Â
Altrincham grew in confidence as the half went on and thought they should have had a penalty when Ryan Crowther, on for the injured Josh O'Keefe, fired a shot inside the box which appeared to hit the arm of Jack Barthram. However neither the Referee or linesman seemed to think so and waived play on, much to the dismay of the home players and fans.
Munns, the best player of the first half, did excellently to slide a through ball in to Danny Wright, but the strikers' shot was well saved by the Altrincham keeper.Â
Morgan-Smith thought he was through on goal early in the second half after a skied clearance, but Parry did well to get back and deny him.
Minutes later, Munns again put a great through ball in to Wright, who shrugged off his marker but couldn't beat the keeper with his shot.
Dillon Phillips, man-of-the-match against Wrexham, showed his quality on 56 minutes, flinging himself full stretch to his right to push a long range shot round the post.
After creating several more half chances, the hosts did take the lead after 58 minutes when James Lawrie did well inside the box to tee up the on-rushing Ryan Crowther, who swept the ball home into the far corner to put Altrincham 1-0 up.
Following the goal, Cheltenham struggled to get a foothold back in the game with Altrincham piling on the pressure. Downes did well to deny Lawrie inside the six yard box and then almost scored at the other end from a Munns' corner.
Gary Johnson changed things up after 72 minutes, bringing on Billy Waters for Asa Hall.
Eventually the visitors managed to assert some pressure of their own, putting several dangerous crosses in but were rebuffed by some brave Altrincham defending.
Finally though the goal did come for Cheltenham, with skipper Aaron Downes, still up in the box following a corner, rising highest to meet a whipped Jack Barthram cross to head home and level the scores.
Just when it looked destined to be a draw, Sam Heathcote popped up at the back post to smash home the winner following a cross from the right in the 95th minute to win the game 2-1 and end Cheltenham's unbeaten start to the season.
Teams:
Altrincham:
Tim Deasy
Shaun Densmore (c), Scott Leather, Andy Parry, Adam Griffin
James Lawrie, Jake Moult, Josh O'Keefe (Ryan Crowther, 29) (Sam Heathcote, 90)), Jordan Sinnott
Michael Rankine, George Bowerman
Subs:
Damian Reeves, Sam Heathcote, Joel Swift, Ryan Crowther, Rhian Davis
Cheltenham Town:
Dillon Phillips,
Rob Dickie (Lee Vaughan,83), Aaron Downes (c), Daniel Parslow, Jack Barthram
Harry Pell (Josh Cooke,83), Kyle Storer, Asa Hall (Billy Waters, 73), Jack Munns
Amari Morgan-Smith, Danny Wright
Subs:
Calum Kitscha, James Rowe, Josh Cooke, Lee Vaughan Billy Waters
Attendance: 1,206