Statement win for rockin’ Robins
PLAY-OFF chasing Altrincham returned to winning ways with a vital win over fellow high-flyers Barnet, ending the Bees’ three-game winning run.
Goals from Alex Newby and Lewis Baines in the first half were added to by an own-goal just after the break, before late goals from Harry Pritchard and Idris Kanu then set up a tense finale.
But the comeback proved too little, too late as Alty held on for a first win in four, much to the delight of assistant boss Neil Sorvel.
“I’m really pleased with the victory and the three points,” Sorvel said. “It got a bit hairy but we got the result in the end.
“We have a special player in Chris Conn-Clarke, he looked head and shoulders above everyone else out there – almost unplayable for a 20-minute spell.
“It’s been a tough run of game against teams in and around us in the play-offs and that only continues this month, so it’s vital to take these points. They were better than us at their place, so it just shows how far we’ve come.”
The hosts were in front inside 60 seconds thanks to the quick thinking of Conn-Clarke, who played in Newby with a quickly-taken free-kick on the left to fire into the bottom corner.
Conn-Clarke was pulling all the strings for Alty and beat his man to race clear down the right but his square pass was tamely struck by Newby and new Spurs loanee Josh Keeley was able to make the save.
At the other end, Kanu went close, when an attempted clearance fell fortuitously at his feet inside the box, but he couldn’t keep his effort down.
Altrincham eventually doubled their lead deep into first-half stoppage time, when Newby’s corner was flicked on at the near post and Baines smashed home into the roof of the net.
Barnet looked rattled and were three down shortly after the restart when Newby returned the favour to Conn-Clarke, who fired in with a deflected lobbed effort over Keeley.
Frontman Regan Linney missed two glorious chances midway to add a fourth and out of nowhere the Bees pulled one back when Pritchard smashed in a half-volley from the edge of the area with 15 minutes to go.
Barnet’s tails were now up and they laid siege to the home goal. And their second goal came in stoppage time when Kanu rose highest to head in Jordan Maguire-Drew’s cross.
Frustrated Bees boss Dean Brennan said: “It was a tough game, Altrincham are a good side, with a good manager. We can’t expect to just come here and walk to three points. We rallied at the end but just left ourselves too much to do.
“You’re never going to win football matches the way we gave goals away; I thought our back three were shocking today. Although it wasn’t helped by the officials, who I thought were shambolic.” STAR MAN: Chris Conn-Clarke (Altrincham) ATT: 2,379 ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: James Durkin