Accrington Stanley 2, Altrincham 1

STANLEY made it two wins out of two on their return to the UniBond Premier Division in front of a bumper 1,006 crowd at the Crown ground.

The Reds had a tremendous start, scoring twice in the opening seven minutes against an Altrincham side relegated from the Nationwide Conference last season.

In the third minute skipper Jay Flannery began the move that led to the first goal. He found Liam Watson, who laid the ball off to Mark Ceraolo who turned smartly and unleashed a fierce shot into the net from ten yards. Three minutes later and Stanley fans were celebrating again when Watson had a shot blocked by Altrincham goalkeeper, Stuart Coburn, who then blocked Watson's follow up shot but the rebound fell to Mark Shirley who slotted the ball home.

The breathtaking action continued as Altrincham got back into the game with a goal on 14 minutes. Mark Quayle played a good ball to the highly rated Kevin Ellison who sped past Jonathan Smith and blasted the ball into the net.

After this exciting opening quarter the rest of the half was much quieter and it wasn't until seven minutes after the break that either side had another clear cut scoring chance.

A high ball into the Stanley penalty area was missed by Jamie Speare and fell to Ellison who could only fire wide.

On the hour mark Stanley introduced their record new signing, Paul Mullin from Radcliffe Borough.

Speare was in the action pulling off a collection of stunning saves in the second half but it was Stanley who came the closest to scoring, Steve Carragher hitting the post.

Stanley: Speare, Burns (Tasdemir 41), Bell, Maddock, Smith, Baxter, Carragher, Flannery, Ceraolo (Mullin 60), Watson, Shirley. Sub not used: Payne.