ALTRINCHAM 5 ACCRINGTON STANLEY 2

A DREADFUL first half performance saw Stanley concede three goals to leave them with an uphill second half struggle at Moss Lane in the UniBond Premier Division yesterday.

Accrington got off to the worst possible start conceding a goal after only 46 seconds when a misplaced pass by Steve Hollis fell into the path of Rod Thornley and he rounded goalkeeper Jamie Speare to score.

Five minutes later a good ball by Thornley to Danny Murphy saw him cross from the right to the unmarked Steve Finney who blasted over the crossbar from 15 yards.

Finney made amends on 13 minutes when he got on the end of a Thornley cross to score Altrincham's second goal.

Worse was to follow a minute into first half stoppage time when Stanley's Paul Burns lost the ball on the edge of the penalty area and Thornley went through to fire home his second goal.

Stanley's first real scoring effort came six minutes into the second half as Mark Ceraolo latched onto a long clearance, but his shot was saved by Stuart Coburn in the home goal.

A minute later Altrincham won a free kick 25 yards out and Steve Hawes curled the ball round the Stanley wall but Speare made an excellent diving save.

Accrington began to look more threatening and on 63 minutes a long clearance by Speare was flicked on by Paul Mullin to Steve Carragher but his shot was blocked by Coburn.

But six minutes later and the Reds were awarded a penalty when Mullin was brought down from behind by Paul Edwards and Simon Carden stepped up to blast the spot kick past Coburn -- his sixth goal since his move from Radcliffe Borough.

Accrington pulled a second goal back on 82 minutes direct from a free kick.

Manager John Coleman, on as a substitute, was fouled just outside the penalty area and he got up to brilliantly fire the free kick past the Altrincham wall and into the net with Coburn well beaten.

Stanley's hopes of grabbing a point were dashed in stoppage time as Altrincham scored twice firstly when defender Adam Farley went on a superb solo run from the halfway line and eventually fired the ball past Speare.

Then a minute later the recently signed Thornley completed his hat trick from the penalty spot to finish the scoring for the managerless side.