Shildon 0 Altrincham 3 (From Messenger Newspapers)

FA Cup 2nd Qualifying Round

11:48am Monday 24th September 2012 in Sport

IN his 100th game for Altrincham on Saturday, a brace from Damian Reeves took his tally to a remarkable 78 goals for the club.

And Damian even made a stake for the third goal, a free kick by James Lawrie which the marksman said had glanced off his head.

All three Altrincham goals arrived in the first 11 minutes. The opener arrived in the third minute as Reeves pounced on a poor pass intended for central defender Richard Flynn from right-back Christensen.

The Alty striker advanced on goal before slipping the ball past the advancing keeper, Finch, into the bottom corner of his net.

And Reeves should have doubled his tally, just moments later, when he raced topwards goal but his chip over keeper Finch went wide. Alty did double their lead in the seventh minute when a run up the left by Matt Doughty was halted by a foul on the left-back by Shildon's tall striker, Billy Greulich-Smith.

Lawrie's curling freekick drifted into the back corner of the net as centre-back Gianluca Havern arrived to make sure it had crossed the line. And, just four minutes later, Reeves scored Alty's third. This time it was a headed goal at the back post from a fine cross by Lawrie. The move had started with an incisive run forward from Nicky Clee.

Shildon then made an early substitution and settled into a better performance, keeping Alty out for the rest of the game. They suffered a blow midway through the second half when substitute Lee Chapman was injured in a challenge with Shaun Densmore. The Shildon man was stretchered off with an ice-pack on his knee, leaving his team-mates to complete the last quarter of the game with just 10 men on the pitch.

There were few goal chances for either side in the second half but Reeves should have converted a penalty after 78 minutes, awarded when substitute Danny Mitchley was tripped on the edge of the box. Unfortunately, Reeves's spot-kick went high into the County Durham sky to deny the striker his hat-trick.

ALTRINCHAM: Coburn; Densmore (capt), Havern, Hall, Doughty; Richman (Grimshaw), Mould (Lacey), Rodgers, Clee (Mitchley); Lawrie, Reeves.

Unused subs: Reid, Leather, Brooke, Watmore