Gainsborough Trinity 2 Altrincham 4 (From Messenger Newspapers)

Gainsborough Trinity 2 Altrincham 4

9:25am Wednesday 5th September 2012 in Sport

WHEN this match finally got started, more than an hour late due to a floodlight failure, Altrincham stormed into a four-goal lead inside 37 minutes.

Quite remarkably it was Damian Reeves who netted all four goals.

He opened the scoring in the third minute when he converted James Lawrie's pass and squeezed the ball home despite keeper Budtz getting a hand to the ball.

Twenty minutes later following a rehearsed corner routine, Reeves made it 2-0, again from a Lawrie pass. Reeves's hat trick arrived after 33 minutes when he passed the ball into the net from another feed by Lawrie.

And in the 37th minute, Carl Rodgers's goalbound shot struck a Gainsborough hand and a penalty was awarded. Reeves hit the spot kick too straight and Budtz saved it. But Reeves reacted quickly to poke home his fourth goal of the game.

Gainsborough made two changes at the interval and gave a much improved performance in the second half. They scored on the hour mark when substitute Darryn Stamp headed in at the back post. And it became 2-4 after 74 minutes when a thunderbolt from Clarke hit the back of the net from 25 yards.

Despite plenty of pressure, Alty's defence held firm to record the team's second away win of the season. One disappointment was the loss of captain Shaun Densmore to a second half injury.

ALTRINCHAM: Coburn, Densmore, Havern, Hall, Doughty, Watmore, Moult, Rodgers, Clee, Reeves, Lawrie. Subs: Leather, Lacey, Midgley, Brooke, Reid