Saturday 27th September | Enterprise National League | Huish Park

Interim manager Richard Dryden named an unchanged team from the side that were 4-1 winners away at Aldershot Town on Wednesday night, looking to win two games in a row for the first time since March.

That quest looked to be a difficult one early on as Altrincham were the better team out of the starting blocks, but a strong end to the first half was enough to secure all three points.

Altrincham caused problems with their high press to start the game, winning the ball in favourable positions and creating a number of chances in the opening 10 minutes from set pieces.

The closest the visitors came to breaking the deadlock was in the third minute, when Jed Ward was required to make two saves in quick succession to keep the score level.

Town failed to deal with a looped corner that was sent to the far post, with Ward scrambling back to his line to make a fingertip save to deny a dipped effort, after the ball was won in the air and knocked down by the visitors.

Ward wasn’t able to put the ball out of play though, and did well to get down to his left to parry away a strike from Keaton Ward.

After an early threatening spell by the visitors, the Glovers grew into the game and finished the half strongly, and with the lead after Williams headed in a fast-paced Andrew Oluwabori cross.

Oluwabori impressed in his return to Huish Park after joining on loan from Exeter City last week. The winger nearly opened the scoring in the 16th minute, but saw a dipping strike from the left-hand side deflect off the crossbar.

Town went close again after 23 minutes, after some smart play from Tahvon Campbell, who came short to a lofted ball and drew a defender with him, creating a space for a ball through to Junior Morias.

Morias was brought down on the edge of the area, setting up a free-kick for Luke McCormick, whose attempt hit the Altrincham wall.

The strike appeared to hit a hand of one of the visitors’ players, but referee Wayne Cartmel waved away the appeals for a spot kick by several Town players.

Three minutes later, Morias had the ball in a promising position once more, receiving a low cross into the box and looked destined to hit the back of the net, but was denied by a last-ditch block by Dan Sassi.

Williams headed in Oluwabori’s cross after 32 minutes to give Town a 1-0 lead, which was nearly doubled by the winger with three minutes to go.

Oluwabori travelled into the area untouched and tried to fire a strike into the bottom corner, but Luke Hutchinson got across to push the effort wide, and keep the visitors’ deficit to just the one goal at the break.

Half Time: Yeovil Town 1-0 Altrincham

Town started the second half just as they ended the first set of 45 minutes, with Morias and Oluwabori’s ability to drive the ball forward with speed causing problems for the Altrincham defence.

Yeovil were unlucky not to double their lead after 49 minutes, with the pair of wide players running at the Altrincham defence in unison down the left wing, and finding a way into the area for Morias to fire a strike at goal.

Hutchinson did well to deny him from close range, but could only parry the strike away as far as Josh Sims. The goalkeeper looked to be beaten by Sims’ rebound, but at the last moment, the ball was headed off the line.

Williams came close again shortly after, but saw his header inside the penalty area cleared off the line, just two minutes after Sims was denied.

Fresh legs were introduced by Dryden in the 66th minute, with Aaron Jarvis replacing Tahvon Campbell up front, whilst Jake Wannell made way for Alex Whittle in defence.

Altrincham went close shortly after when Charlie Kirk spotted Lewis Banks unmarked at the far post, who made contact with the ball but couldn’t beat Ward, who made a terrific save from close range.

Town changed shape with twenty minutes to go to try and see out the victory, with Brett McGavin being introduced in place of Morias.

Within 60 seconds, the midfielder went close, trying his luck from distance but not quite getting enough dip on the ball after an opportunity opened up.

As the final whistle drew closer, the visitors began to pile players forward, but the Town defence held strong, preventing the visitors from creating many opportunities.

Jimmy Knowles came the closest, firing inches wide after 72 minutes, whilst Tom Crawford couldn’t quite time a run right to tap in after 84 minutes, with the Glovers holding on to secure all three points.

Full-Time: Yeovil Town 1-0 Altrincham
Scorers:
Yeovil Town – Morgan Williams (32′)
Altrincham –