With several players absent for whatever reason, Steve Richards had little choice in which team to select and only had one fully fit player on the subs bench. With Dean Jones missing through his injury sustained against Emley, Steve Price was forced to drop into the centre of defence with Luke Smith replacing him in midfield. Despite this, Frickley took a surprise early lead when Gary Duffty and Graham Lewis exchanged passes for DUFFTY to break clear of the home defence and slot the ball past the advancing keeper after only four minutes. However, from then onwards the home side pushed Frickley back into their own half more and more. Altrincham went close with a header bouncing over the bar on ten minutes and four minutes later Phil Brown almost put the ball in his own net with a wayward clearing header from outside the box. Shortly afterwards a mass scramble ensued in the Frickley box which eventually finished with a shot being deflected over the bar with Altrincham looking particularly effective down their left. On 20 minutes Brendan West brought down an Altrincham forward some 20 yards or so from goal and Ellison stepped up to curl the free-kick round the wall and just inside Andy Carney's right hand post to level the scores. Altrincham continued to push forward and Carney pulled off a brilliant double save to block a long range effort and then the follow-up.

After the break Altrincham almost snatched the lead when Carney did well to catch a goalbound header from a corner from under the bar and he then saved another close range header on 63 minutes but at least this half the Blues were not content to sit back and forced more pressure themselves. However, on 71 minutes, Altrincham got away down their left again, sending over a low cross which took out the defence for the unmarked Murphy to tap in at the far post. At the other end Brown let fly from 25 yards and the home keeper could only stand and watch as it grazed the outside of the left hand post and then on 76 minutes the Altrincham keeper had another let-off. Not for the first time in the game he failed to control a back-pass and under pressure from Lewis, sliced the ball just outside the box but unfortunately it fell just out of the reach of Duffty and Altrincham were able to clear. On 80minutes the ineffective Ian Edge made his first attacking contribution of the game when he seized on a half hit clearance to shoot only inches wide from the edge of the box but three minutes later the home side put the result beyond doubt. A quick break down the right saw Gallagher go past Edge before firing past Carney.

The result was tough luck on a makeshift Blues side who looked to have weathered the storm after getting to half time on level terms but as well as Price and Matthew Wilkinson played at the back, Price was missed in the midfield although Rob Hanby did well. The biggest letdown was Edge's lack of contribution down the right, on numerous occasions he was in 'no mans land' when he was wanted either in attack or in defence but the biggest plus factor must surely be the performance of Andy Carney who had his best game in a Blues' shirt, pulling off several important saves.

Frickley Athletic : Carney, Hilton, West, Brown, Matt. Wilkinson, Hanby, Lewis, Price, Duffty, Smith (McAreavey 77), Edge. Unused subs. Mark Wilkinson, Jones.