Alton Town 1, East Cowes Victoria 3

Alton put in their worst performance of the season on Saturday as they lost to East Cowes Vics.

In the process, the islanders recorded their first win of the season by taking advantage of Alton’s poor run of form which has seen them lose their last three games and slide down the Division One table from third to seventh.

Once again, poor finishing didn’t help Alton’s cause.

Manager Kevin Adair made five changes to the side that lost 3-2 at home to Andover New Street last time out.

The Brewers started brightly as Scott Sanderson and George Bowerman combined, but Karl Steinborn-Busse in the Vics goal was alert to thwart the danger.

Matt Benham then saw a cross comfortably collected by the Vics keeper before Sanderson and Bowerman combined to set up Jack Fowler, but he scuffed his shot.

At the other end, Vics had a goal disallowed for offside before the visitors scored somewhat against the run of play as winger Dominic Kirby got down to the byline and his pull back was thumped home by Jordan Chapman.

Worse was to follow for Alton as they immediately conceded a second, this time Chapman was the provider and his driven cross was tapped home by Joe-Tyla Butcher, who stole in front of Jamie Phillips three yards out.

Desperate to get back into the game, Sanderson had a header saved before Vics’ Gregory was sent to the sinbin, but although they huffed and puffed Alton were unable to take advantage of the numerical advantage.

To sum it up, Fowler saw a shot bounce back off the post and Phil Moore put a free header wide from a corner at the end of the first half.

With manager Adair’s half time team talk ringing in their ears, the last thing Alton wanted to do was concede again – but concede they did almost immediately as an attack was broken up and with the defence all over the place Butcher was left to race through to give Brewers goalkeeper Justin Courtnage no chance and Vics a 3-0 lead.

With the visiting Vics happy with their lot, they were content to sit back and get men behind the ball and invite Alton to try to break them down, but all too often the final ball was not good enough or too many touches were taken and the chance was lost.

And Alton had Courtnage to thank as Butcher had a chance to complete his hat-trick as once again he broke through a static defence, but this time the goalkeeper stayed big and made the save.

With 15 minutes left Alton finally got a goal back as substitute Matt Grindel shot across Steinborn-Busse into the far corner.

It was a goal that gave Alton hope. They laid seige to the Vics goal, but try as they might they couldn’t find a way past the visiting goalkeeper.

This is a game that Alton will look back on and think they could and should have done better. So often they were their own worst enemy, moving the ball too slowly and delivering either poor crosses, or crosses that veered far too close to the keeper.

The Brewers now turn their attentions to a visit to Romsey Town on Saturday as they look to arrest their recent slide.

Alton Town: Courtnage, M Graham, Moore, Evans, Phillips, Green, Sanderson, Channon, Benham, Fowler, Bowerman.