THE bad winter weather had left bottom-of-the-table Workington without a game for five weeks before this match. But they made Altrincham work hard for the three points in this clash.

Altrincham were unchanged from the team which had beaten Colwyn Bay the previous week but the Cumbrians were without the suspended Gavin Skelton and included three new signings in their squad.

Three times in the opening stages, Workington right-back Valter Fernandes got in crosses from the right. From one of these, Jackson should have seriously tested Alty goalkeeper, Stuart Coburn, but he failed to make contact.

But it was Altrincham who took a 29th-minute lead. The opportunity came when Simon Richman was brought down as he approached the Workington box.

Skipper Shaun Densmore shaped to take astrike at goal but, instead, slipped the ball to his left to the advancing Nicky Clee. The wingman drove an ustoppable left-footed shot past Jamieson into the Workington net.

However, Workington continued to enjoy plenty of the ball and, after 37 minutes, were unlucky to see a firm header come back off the crossbar, following a corner.

The second half was fewer than ten minutes old when Altrincham lost Nicky Clee to injury.

His replacement, Joe Mwasile, a loanee from Morecambe, was to get the important second goal. The omens were not good when Simon Richman's cross came to Mwasile in the 73rd minute. Moments earlier he had lashed a shot more than forty feet over the bar from a similar position. But, this time, he met the cross brilliantly, with a firm shot into the net from outside the box.

Altrincham: Coburn, Densmore (capt), Griffin, Moult, Havern, Leather, Lawrie, Richman, Walshaw, Reeves, Clee. Subs: Doughty, Marshall, Rodgers, Perry, Mwasile one shows James Lawrie (no7) going for an aerial ball - the other shows Jake Moult (4), Damian Reeves (10) and Simon Richman (8) in the Alty midfield.