Altrincham

E-mail Article Print this story

Related Links

• Teams
• Altrincham
• Forest Green Rovers

Forest Green 4-3 Altrincham

Forest Green Rovers boosted their chances of beating the drop after coming out on top against Altrincham in a seven-goal thriller at the New Lawn on Saturday.

The Robins got off to flying start as Chris Senior sprung the offside trap in the 12th minute to fire past goalkeeper Stuart Coburn.

Forest Green responded well and drew level seven minutes later when Jonathan Smith latched onto a pass from Conal Platt in the area before firing into the back of the net from inside the six-yard box.

Altrincham reclaimed the lead in the 38th minute when Rob Williams rose well at the far post to head home Chris Denham's cross with a looping effort.

The home support was left cursing the referee in first-half stoppage time when Jared Hodgkiss was adjudged to have handled John McAliskey's headed effort in the area.

Densmore stepped up to take the resulting penalty kick and made no mistake, driving the ball into the back of the net to make 3-2.

The Rovers didn't give up fighting after the break and finally managed to reduce the deficit in the 69th minute when Reece Styche tapped home from close range after collecting a neat pass from Smith.

Altrincham were still reeling from the goal when Forest Green Rovers were awarded a penalty five minutes later.

Mark Preece was brought down in the box by Greg Young and David Brown calmly converted the resulting penalty kick to make it 3-3.

Sensing the game was there for the taking, the Rovers continued to push forward and claimed the lead in the 77th minute when Smith scored at the back post from Tomi Ameobi's pass.

Forest Green were reduced to ten men in the 88th minute David Brown was shown his second yellow card of the afternoon for time wasting.

And Altrincham appeared to have equalised deep in injury time through Colin Little but the striker was flagged offside.

Forest Green bookings: Hodgkiss, Brown.

Sent Off: Brown (88).

Altrincham bookings: Senior.

Ref: Richard Martin (Somerset).

Att: 1,043.