GOLDEN BOY CHRIS BAGS A DOUBLE FOR ROBINS
HIGH-FLYING Altrincham continued their remarkable season with a battling victory over relegation threatened AFC Fylde, that consolidates the Robins in the play-off spots.
Two second-half wonder goals from talisman Chris Conn-Clarke overturned Connor Barrett’s first half effort and left the struggling Coasters winless in five, and still propping up the division.
“Chris [Conn-Clarke] is a magic moment type of player”, said assistant Alty boss Neil Sorvel. “Some of the moments he has on a football pitch, you can’t teach that!
“There was a lot of expectations on that game, with them being bottom of the league, so it was nice for us to get it done and over the line.”
“I thought we looked comfortable until they scored, and then it turned a bit end to end. I don’t know how they’re bottom of the league; they came really close to getting something here. Ethan [Ross] has pulled off some good stops, and we’ve cleared one off the line near the end.”
“It’s only halfway through the season, but if we continue playing as we are, we’ll be right up there.”
Conn-Clarke should’ve put the hosts in front inside six minutes when he played a neat one-two with Alex Newby, but the Northern Irishman could only smash into the side netting from close range.
And it was the Coasters who then took a surprise lead on 27 minutes when Barrett cut in from the right and skipped past two Robins players before toe poking the ball into the far corner from 10 yards.
The hosts were still creating openings, led by towering front man Marcus Dackers, but it was the Salford loanee that squandered their best opportunity just before the break. His closerange volley was parried back to him by Theo Richardson, but he somehow managed to side foot over from six yards.
It was all about ConnClarke after the interval, and he equalised for the Robins just before the hour mark. Eddie Jones was tripped on the edge of the area, and Alty’s top scorer stepped up to hit the free kick into the top left corner.
Fylde almost added a second immediately through Nick Haughton but his effort was cleared off the line by Lewis Baines. At the other end, Conn-Clarke played Justin Amaluzor clean through, but his effort struck the outside of the post.
But the best was saved until last when, with ten minutes to go, Conn-Clarke picked up the ball 20 yards out, and hit a curling, dipping effort in off the bar to send the Robins faithful into raptures.
Interim Fylde boss Chris Beech said: “They’re one of the best teams in the division and you couldn’t have complained if we had won, but we didn’t.”
“When you’re playing as well as we do, you’ve got to make sure you win games. We should have a lot more points than we do.” ★★★★★