Altrincham v Stafford Rangers

A trip into the "Land of Smiffy Past" last night - and a rare trip into the Conference National - only a tenner mind in the segregated "Away Fans" end - and met two guys I was at school with 30+ years ago - Hi to Andy and Phil !!

Last night was also a baptism of fire for the new camera - yes Mossley might be close to relegation, but Smiffy has had a severe promotion in the photgraphic league - all I've gotta do now is learn to use it - and a night match was probably not the best start !! Over 150 pictures taken - I should probably "bin" about 140 of them, keeping the three best, three "middlest" and three worst (together with copious notes on focal length, aperture, speed, ISO distance of subject from camera etc etc etc).

Will look to upload some pix tonight - it's certainly a whole new world looking through the viewfinder - just got to attempt to transfer "what I see" onto the memory card !!

Oh and the game - Stafford won 1-0 which does wonders for their "staying up" aspirations, and puts a severe dent in Altrincham's - despite the Robins having won their last 5 games. A Guy Madjo goal just before half-time was enough to separate the sides. There was plenty of effort from Altrincham before and after the goal - but I don't recall any clear-cut chances falling their way. Any way back for them was severely hampered by the sending-off of Rose for a very ugly tackle indeed after about 65 minutes. There were a couple of similarly bad challenges later on as Altrincham got more and more frustrated with their inability to create. Right at the death Madjo was stretchered off as he went for an impossible ball, completely lost his balance (no fouls here !) and clattered head-first into Coburn the Alty 'keeper. I'm guessing neck injury - although he was moving whilst on the floor. Hopefully it wasn't too serious.

Next stop for the camera is Belper v Rossendale United on Saturday - when it can say "Hi !!" to its previous owner (aka "Snapper" the Belper Town Photographer). Hopefully the sun will be shining !