ROBINS TURN ON THE STYLE
PLAY-OFF chasing Altrincham continued their remarkable season with an emphatic victory over mid-table Eastleigh.
First-half goals from Lewis Banks and Regan Linney were added to by Alex Newby and Chris Conn-Clarke, to complete a very one-sided affair for the Robins that leaves the Spitfires five without a win.
“We’re a joy to watch”, said a beaming assistant Alty boss Neil Sorvel. “We’ve had some good performances this season, but that was probably the best. It was total control.”
“It was a great performance all round from our front line, with three out of four on the scoresheet.
“We still have a lot of games to play, but we’re in a great position in the league. And that was a great start to what is a very important run of games coming up.”
Alty dominated from the start with Linney and ConnClarke both going close inside 20 minutes thanks to some error-prone defending from the visitors.
And the Robins broke the deadlock just after the half hour when Newby played Linney through on the left, and with Joe McDonnell rushing off his line, Linney squared to Banks to tap into an empty net.
The Spitfires were struggling to cope with Altrincham and fell two behind in first-half stoppage time. Linney held the ball up well on the left, before hitting a snapshot from a narrow angle that beat McDonnell at his near post.
Conn-Clarke nearly made it three straight from kickoff, forcing McDonnell to tip over, and from the resulting corner, he parried Linney’s effort straight to Justin Amaluzor in space, but the winger somehow side-footed wide.
It didn’t take long for a third goal to arrive, however. On 52 minutes, ConnClarke brilliantly turned George Langston and sprinted clear down the left, and his effort was parried by McDonnell straight to Newby to smash home.
At the other end, National League top scorer Paul McCallum forced Matt Gould to tip over with an acrobatic effort at goal, but Alty wrapped it up with a fourth three minutes from time – Linney threading the ball through to Conn-Clarke and the Northern Irishman kept his composure to slot in his 15th of the season.
“I’ve got to give a lot of credit and congratulations to Altrincham,” said Spitfires boss Richard Hill. “We knew it would be tough, but not that tough!
“We didn’t lay a glove on them, we were poor from start to finish. That performance was not acceptable on any level.”
STAR MAN: Regan Linney (Altrincham) ATT: 2,166
ENTERTAINMENT: ★★★★★ REFEREE: John Mulligan