Report by SJG

CHESHIRE COUNTY LEAGUE

WIGAN ATHLETIC vs ALTRINCHAM

22^th April 1933

WIGAN OUTCLASS THE ‘OUT OF SORTS’ ROBINS.

The league championship may be beyond both these sides but both teams began the afternoon playing with style and purpose, Wigan with Hughes and Murphy both prominent went close but good defending from Heywood averted the initial danger. Then, following a hand ball by the Altrincham centre half, Wake fired in a vicious free kick that Whitehead held well.

Wigan dominated much of the play in the opening exchanges but the visitors defended well and chances were at a premium.  Eventually the visitors began to grow into the game and a long ball from Hughes found Jones and his cross picked out the ex- Wigan Borough man Jepson who forced a fine save from Davies. The goaler was busy again a few minutes later when he was called upon to collect a lobbed effort from Birtles. McCabe then saw his spectacular overhead kick go narrowly wide following a spell of concerted Wigan pressure, then at the other end Jepson saw his header crash against the Wigan bar. Hughes, of the Latis variety, then showed his trickery and pace to beat two men and his neat pass presented Chambers with a golden chance but he fired wildly over from close-range. Chambers did rather better when he got his head onto a Wake free kick and brought a capital save from Whitehead.

On 28 minutes the deadlock was broken when Hughes sprinted forward following a nice headed pass and then he picked out CHAMBERS who steadied himself before firing a low driven shot into the corner of the net.

Altrincham responded strongly, Davies came out to collect a cross but his judgement was poor and Jepson was able to collect the ball and fire goalwards, only for Callachan to block the ball on the line before clearing. O’Dell was busy in defence and used great skill to repel a number of advances by the visitors. Chambers missed a good opportunity as he again fired too high, then McCabe set Hughes free on the flank, but the winger fired into the side netting. On 45 minutes McCabe produced a defence splitting through ball that saw Chambers racing forward, but the strikers first touch was too heavy and Whitehead was able to race from his area to clear.

Half Time; Wigan Athletic 1-0 Altrincham.

Five minutes after the restart Wigan doubled their lead, McCabe and Hughes linked well and the wingman crossed to CHAMBERS who struck a sweet volley that the keeper could only partially parry, and as he tried to recover to stop the ball in the dusty goalmouth it rolled goalwards and the Wigan striker stuck out a long leg to prod the ball home. Wigan continued to press and after further pressure it was no surprise when MCCABE collected a long throw from Allon, before weaving past a number of defenders and firing home into the top corner.

Spencer was limping and required attention from the trainer, and Altrincham nearly took advantage of the injury when Iddon found Clacher in space, but the Altrincham man finished weakly when he only had Davies to beat. Wigan added a fourth when Allon and Spencer combined to set MCCABE free and the forward made no mistake as he fired home past a despairing keeper.

Altrincham looked a beaten side and Wigan were able to pick passes with relative ease. A nice move saw Allon in space and he swung in a good cross that struck the hand of Chesters. A penalty was the verdict and MCCABE scored with aplomb.

Hughes and Murphy continued to use their pace to torment the tired Altrincham defence, the latter outpaced Heywood and drilled a shot right across the face of the goal with no-one quite able to get a vital touch.

The rout was completed just before full-time when McCabe collected a free kick from O’Dell and when he was closed down by Harris the ball broke to CHAMBERS who drilled home.

Full Time; Wigan Athletic 6-0 Altrincham.

Attendance; 3,500

Scorers; McCabe (55), (60), (67, pen), Chambers (28), (50), (88);

Team; WIGAN---Davies; O’Dell, Callachan; Allon, Spencer, Wake; Hughes, McCabe, Chambers, Jones, Murphy;

ALTRINCHAM---Whitehead; Heywood, Harris; Chesters, Hughes, Walsh; Clacher, Iddon, Jepson, Birtles, Jones;

Referee; C. Fletcher (Northwich)

A number of notable incidents occurred during the game, firstly a horse ran onto the pitch during the first half and had to be chased from the pitch before play could be restarted.

Then at half time a number of youths entered the playing area for a kick around. This was brought to an abrupt halt with the ball being confiscated.

Wigans next game will be a home match up with Mossley in the Cheshire League and following the extended spell of dry weather the pitch really could do with a heavy watering as the dust, particularly in the goalmouths is currently becoming an issue and bare patches have begun to appear on the playing surface that are not conducive to entertaining football