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Spelthorne Sports 1 - 3 Alton

04 Sep 2024

Match report by Dave Hawtin

A really positive win on the road on Tuesday night.

Spelthorne is not the easiest place to go at the best of times. They are normally a young, very mobile, committed team who are very capable and make you earn everything you get.

On the night the pitch was particularly difficult. Said pitch undulates somewhat and given that the surface was rock hard both teams understandably could not read the bounce, so playing good football was a real challenge.

Playing down the slope in the first half it was Alton who created the best of very few real chances.

Adam Poynter had the best chance midway through the half, slipping a shot wide of the far post when well positioned.

Alton were not to be denied and when Poynter delivered a lovely pass into the path of Angel Zapata on the half hour he stepped back inside the recovering full back and shot at goal. The deflection off of the defender wrong footed the keeper and the ball looped into the net.

Six minutes later and the lead was increased. Liam Marshall was causing problems with his quick feet and he was hauled back when he looked to enter the penalty area from the left hand side. Perry Coles delivered the free kick into a nice area and Darnell McDonald arrived at pace, flicked a nice header into the far corner of the net. Breathing space.

As we approached half time the home side were presented with a lifeline. Hesitation at the back to a bouncing ball allowed a striker a free run at goal to reduce the deficit.

The visitors started the second half strongly. Poynter was prominent down the left combining well with Bowerman and Marshall was sharp down the right flank.

The third goal arrived on 52 minutes. Marshall picked the ball up wide and drove towards the box. He left a couple of defenders in his wake and another was happy to take a yellow card, unceremoniously dumping him on the floor a fraction outside the area. No need to worry as Poynter drove the free kick home delightfully past the despairing dive of the home keeper.

Any suggestion that the home side would now roll over were unfounded. Whilst they were unable to create a goal scoring chance in the last half hour they certainly held a territorial advantage as they probed to find space.

Kev Adair used his entire bench to freshen up the side in that last half hour and the effort, commitment and work rate saw them through without major incident. Impressive.

Alton return home this Saturday, when Abbey Rangers will be the visitors to The Exclusive Networks Stadium. 3pm kick off.

Match Highlights from Academy TV