COLCLOUGH KEEPS COOL AS ROBINS STORM BACK
GUTSY Altrincham battled back from 2-1 down to win with a late Ryan Colclough penalty against a decent Dover side.
This was Alty’s first home game of the season and provided great entertainment for the bumper crowd.
Assistant boss Neil Sorvel said: “It was a good game, wasn’t it? Great crowd, great support all game. I thought collectively we were great today.
“We showed good character to come back twice from behind and win it at the end. I was disappointed with how we conceded the goals, but we stayed composed and kept playing.
“It’s progress. We’re in a better position than we were this time last year, six point from three games. And six goals already, which is something we struggled with last year.”
The recently relaid pitch allowed for some scintillating football at times from both teams, starting with the visitors.
New Alty signing Brad Jackson was caught out by a perfectly weighted ball over the top on eight minutes, allowing Aaron Cosgrave in behind. He squared to Koby Arthur in the box who took a touch and slotted the ball smartly into the corner.
Jackson quickly made up for his earlier error ten minutes later to deny Cosgrave with a superb sliding block on the line to keep it one-nil. The Robins began to purr and levelled in the 21st minute through Dan Mooney. Great work by Joel Senior down the left created space before he crossed for the Alty winger to smash home.
Both sides could have been in front before the interval were it not for excellent reflex saves at either end. First, Dover keeper Josh Bexon denied new frontman Marcus Dinanga from two yards with an acrobatic parry, before Tony Thompson palmed away Ben Williamson’s point-blank header from Sam Wood’s corner.
Dover regained the lead on 57 minutes. Cosgrave pounced on a loose ball from the edge of the area and struck the sweetest strike into the top left corner.
Alty boss Phil Parkinson quickly made three subs. It proved a masterstroke as Alty levelled on 71 minutes. Colclough’s corner was cleared to Toby Mullarkey wide on the right, who crossed for substitute A-Jay LeitchSmith to swivel and tuck in from six yards.
With four minutes remaining, Colclough danced into the box, only to felled by Danny Collinge. Colclough dusted himself down and fired in from 12 yards to win it.
Dover manager Andy Hessenthaler, whose side remain on -12, said: “I’m gutted, but we have to keep showing the character we’ve been showing. There were a lot of positives to take from that game. All we can do is dust ourselves down and go again.”