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ALTRINCHAM (Red & white striped shirts, red shorts, red socks): 1. Stephen BULLEN, 2. Callum HARKIN, 4. David BROWN, 5. Alex WEATHERBY, 3. Thomas LYONS; 7. Spencer CUNLIFFE, 6. Callum MOONEY, 8. Oliver RILEY (capt), 11. Jordan HAMES; 10. Derryn OFORI, 9. Adam BEZZINA. Subs: 12. Robert GILROY, 14. Joseph HAND, 15. Michael KING, 16. Jamie McLELLAN.

CHESTER FC (Pale blue shirts, dark blue shorts and socks): 1. Oliver Foster, 2.Owen Crawford, 3. Corey Mason, 4. Lewis Connerly, 5. James Ramsey (capt), 6. Jack Roberts, 7. Carl Pleavin, 8. Ryan Barry, 9. Michael Schofield, 10. Joe Ormrod, 11. Sean Miller. Subs: 12. Callum Bratley, 14. Conner Kendrick.

REPORT

Right: Derryn Ofori, pictured after his fist goal today.

Three of Altrincham's players (Alex Weatherby, Ollie Riley and Derryn Ofori) had played in a tough Cheshire County FA match 24 hours earlier and it looked as if another difficult game lay ahead when Chester took the lead after barely of a minute of play. The goal came from a low corner from the right, which a static Altrincham side allowed to go across the box to Pleavin, who netted comfortably from close range in front of goal (2 mins).

Chester continued to have the better of the opening stages, winning another corner after ten minutes. Altrincham had to make an early change when captain, Oliver Riley, who was carrying a knock from the previous day's County game, was unable to continue and was replaced by Jamie McLellan in midfield, with Derryn Ofori taking the captain's armband (13 mins). Another Chester corner soon arrived and the visitors almost doubled their lead in the 25th minute. Pleavin fed Ormrod who got the ball past the advancing keeper, Stephen Bullen, but the ball also went past the post.

But then Altrincham equalised when Harkin’s fine ball forward reached Ofori, who gathered the ball well and turned past an opponent before planting the ball past keeper Foster (27 mins). But moments later, Bullen had to be alert to tip a fine long range effort from Pleavin over the cross bar for a corner (28 mins). Soon, Bullen was in action again, saving well from a Chester shot.

As the game approached and passed the half-hour mark, Chester were committing a number of midfield fouls which were punished by freekicks but without any cautions; the hardworking Mooney was a repeated victim. An Altrincham attack ended with Cunliffe doing well but as his effort cleared the bar he was penalised for handball (40 mins). Four minutes before the break, Ofori fired his side ahead when he received a ball up the inside right channel and got past the Chester number 4 before striding on to drive the ball into the net from outside the box (41 mins).

As half time approached a feed from Ofori to Cunliffe led to the latter's well hit shot which Foster beat out for an Alty corner. From this, Weatherby's header was cleared off the line by former Alty midfielder Ryan Barry (45 mins).

Soon after the break, Harkin cut in from the right and his excellent shot was well tipped over the bar for a corner by Foster (47 mins). Soon, good harrying by Hames, inside his own half allowed Weatherby to play a fine long ball forward to Bezzina, who got the better of his marker to score, the shot deflecting off an opponent into the net (50 mins).

But Chester were soon back in the game when Pleavin won the ball and his excellent lob from 30 yards sailed into the net to make it 3-2 (52 mins). But another Alty goal soon arrived as keeper Foster tried to dribble the ball clear from a back pass, only for the alert Bezzina to tackle him, win the ball and slot it into the unguarded net to restore Alty's two-goal lead and record his ninth goal in five league matches (57 mins).

At the other end, Barry's shot just cleared the Alty bar and soon afterwards, Bullen made an excellent point-blank save from Miller inside the Alty box (62 mins).

Both sides made a change after 70 minutes, with Alty bringing on King for Lyons and Chester's Miller giving way to Kendrick (70 mins). Ofori almost completed his hat trick with a fine curling shot following good work by Mooney and King (73 mins).

At the back Weatherby and Brown had been impressing but Alty now lost Brown to injury, with Gilroy replacing him; King moved to the back four as Gilroy slotted in on the right flank (76 mins). Altrincham won three corners in the final ten minutes but the game ended without further scoring. It was Altrincham's fifth successive league win, a sequence in which 17 goals have been scored by the Robins, lifting them into second place in the league table.