A battling performance saw the whites come away from high flying Longhey with a creditable draw. After soaking up some early pressure, good work from Neil Clamp down the right wing resulted in Liam Paterson ghosting past two Longhey defenders before setting up Josh Davies to tap in his 7^th goal of the season.  The first of many contentious refereeing decisions came soon after as the ref gave a straight red card to a Longhey defender for a dangerous tackle on Cam laws. Some poor defending led to a Longhey equaliser from outside the box before Alty raced into a 3-1 lead. First, Tom Wain went clear down the right hand side to chip the keeper before a great ball  from mom Hesham Abushena sent Liam Paterson through down the left, Paterson finishing neatly by megging the keeper for his 1^st Alty goal. Alty seemed to be coasting until a minute before halftime when the referee awarded a penalty against keeper Edd Madeley for seemingly bringing down a Longhey player in the box. Despite there being a covering defender, and the Longhey player being clearly offside, the ref decided to send off the Alty keeper. Striker Steve Boland unluckily had to go in net, but could do nothing as the penalty was converted. In the 2^nd half, Longhey bombarded the Alty box with high balls to try and catch out the stand in Alty keeper, but some top draw defending and a couple of great reflex saves from Boland kept the score at 3-2  until 15 minutes from time when Longhey scored a scrappy equaliser from a set piece. Alty still looked dangerous on the counter attack, but chances were at a premium, Warburton almost getting on the end of a cross and a blocked Davies effort being the pickoff the chances. Alty were hanging on in the end, and never really got into 2^nd gear throughout the game, but nevertheless will be pleased to take a point considering the circumstances.

 

Alty Hale: Madeley, Cafferty, Aston, Bannister, Abushena, Clamp, Laws, Warburton, Wain, Davies, Paterson. Subs: Boland, Gibbons.