CHORLEY 2 ALTRINCHAM 0

ALTRINCHAM suffered their 11th defeat in their last dozen National League North matches on a difficult surface at Chorley's Victory Park, going down 2-0.

The Robins went into the match with Jake Moult suspended and leading scorer Sean Miller just one of four other senior players who were sidelined by injury.

After an uninspiring opening to the game, Chorley took a 12th-minute lead.

Having conceded a corner, when a shot deflected off Sam Heathcote, Alty failed to defend it and Chorley debutant Jack Sampson was allowed to power a free header past goalkeeper Tim Deasy.

Altrincham were creating little at the other end and their deficit doubled on 26 minutes when another header found the back of their net.

Following a clearance by Altrincham, a routine ball was played back into the visitors' defence and Jake Cottrell made it 2-0.

After the break, loanee Elliot Newby came on for Altrincham and the change of formation saw the Robins make a much better fist of the second half, with Nicky Clee prominent going forward and Tom Hannigan earning the man-of-the-match accolade at the back.

But Matt Doughty's men created no clearcut openings and were wasteful with the few hard-won corners they had, twice putting them behind the near-post bye-line.

Despite plenty of Altrincham possession, Chorley kept a clean sheet to leave the visitors 18 points and an inferior goal difference away from safety in the league table going into last Tuesday's trip to Brackley.

There is another tough away day up next on Saturday, when the Robins visit table-topping AFC Fylde.

ALTRINCHAM: Deasy, Cyrus, Hannigan, Heathcote, Patterson (Adeloye), Clee, Taylor (Newby), Jones, Richman, Lawrie, Owens. Unused subs: Brownhill, McWilliams, Reeves.