HANCOCK COMPLETES ROBINS JOB ON WHITES
PHIL Parkinson hailed the focus of his Altrincham side as they condemned Dover Athletic to a 33rd league defeat of the season, while picking up their first win in five games on the road.
A dominant performance from the Robins deserved more than a solitary Josh Hancock goal, but Parkinson was pleased at the maturity shown by his players as they emerged with a single-goal success at the Crabble for the second successive season.
“I felt we deserved more than just a goal, it should have been comfortable,” he said.
“But to travel five hours, keep a clean sheet and dominate the game, you’ve got to be happy. Bigger teams have struggled against Dover this season, but we kept focused and got the result.”
Altrincham nearly had the perfect start against their depleted hosts as Ryan Colclough’s first minute free-kick forced Dover keeper Alexis Andre to parry into a goalmouth scramble which was eventually cleared by teenage centre-back Will Moses.
The young defender was called upon again just past the half hour as Hancock played a clever headed pass to Dan Mooney who had a clear sight of goal before Moses made an excellent last-ditch challenge.
There was nothing the Whites’ defence could do soon after, however, as Mooney fed Colclough with a precise pass down the right before the winger squared it to Hancock who tapped in for his ninth goal of the season.
A frantic start to the second half saw Hancock have an effort blocked just inside the area before Kosylo forced a save from Andre with the follow-up and Colclough rounded off the hat-trick of missed opportunities by blazing his shot over the bar.
Soon after, the French goalkeeper was called upon again to superbly save James Jones’s strike from 25 yards before former Stockport County midfielder Elliot Osborne sent a thunderous header on to the post just past the hour mark.
It took Dover 84 minutes to have their first effort on goal, with Michael Gyasi- on loan from similarly relegated Kings Lynn Town – having a speculative effort graze the crossbar. With this the 11th time his side have lost 1-0 this season, Hessenthaler is beginning to look to the future.
“Quality was the big difference today, it wasn’t for the lack of effort,” he said. “There’s an illness going round the squad as well and I think the average age of our starting eleven was 19 today so we must praise all the boys for having a go.
“The fans have been great, all season. It’s been really tough, and I think we’ll all be glad when this campaign is over, but then we need to get to work to find solutions and a way to bounce back.”