A summary of yesterday's AFCL fixture
Altrincham welcomed Curzon Ashton to a cold and crisp Mersey Valley for their final home fixture of 2017
Curzon had convincingly beaten the Ladies earlier in the season and arrived in confident mood
Kick off was heralded by flurries of snow which would become more intense as the afternoon progressed
Curzon started more brightly and took the leaad from the penalty spot after five minutes following a mistimed challenge by Bliss Molyneaux.
Slowly and steadily though Alty got back into the game, sticking by their footballing principles despite the challenging conditions. This bore fruit just after the half hour when some impressive build up play allowed Laura Dodds to deliver a cross from the Alty right. In an attempt to thwart Megan Rowley at the fron post an unfortunate Curzon defender succedded only in putting the ball past her own keeper and over the line.
The snow continued to fall increasingly heavily yet both teams made light of it continuing to provide an open and entertaining contest.
After some wise words at half time Alty resumed very much on the gfront foot and took the lead through an excellent twent yard shot by Laura Dodds on fifty two minutes.
Five minutes later the lead was doubled, Megan Rowley cutting in from the left to place an unstoppable strike into the top far corner of the net.
Curzon stepped up the pressure once again hitting the Alty crossbar on sixty seven minutes before forcing a fine point blank save from Esther Hernandez.
Three became four on seventy six minutes . A rasping drive by Hannah Shufflebotham was excellently saved but Kye Brown was alert, following up to tuck away the rebound.
Three minutes after this however Curzon struck to reduce the deficit. Esther Hernandez got down well to push away a fierce shot but unfortunately the ball fell into the path of the advancing Curzon striker who converted the chance with ease.
Another five minutes had elapsed when what seemed to be an extremely harsh penalty was awrded, giving Curzon the opportunity to further reduce the difference between the sides. This was excellently despatched, bringing the score to 4-3 and increasing the pressure on the home side.
A combination of resolute defending and intelligent game management allowed Altrincham to see the game out and secure all the points.
Credit is due to both teams for producing an exciting and thoroughly entertaing game in what were at times extremely challenging conditions.
Every Altrincham player contributed handsomely to the performance and result but the Management Player of the Match was deservedly awarded to Gail Simpson for an outstanding performance, covering every blade of grass and seemingly every flake of snow in the middle of the field.