Poole 3, Alton 2

ALTON came agonisingly close to picking up some important points on the road on Saturday, only to be narrowly edged out by third-placed Poole.

The visitors arrived in Dorset still looking for their first win of 2019, and they began well.

Alton’s forward line of Sam Steel, Tom Singleton and Sam Juncker had several good runs into the Poole defensive zone with the home goalkeeper called into action several times to keep Alton out.

But despite Alton feeling confident and having the bulk of possession, it was Poole who struck first with a quick counter attack which left Alton outnumbered at the back.

Despite the setback Alton didn’t back down and they continued to put pressure on Poole at every opportunity, with the home goalkeeper again denying the visitors on several occasions as they sought an equaliser.

And Alton found themselves 2-0 down just before half time when Poole had a penalty corner saved by Lawrence Jones in the Alton net, only to see the rebound fall kindly to a Poole striker who beat Pete Harvey on the post to double his side’s lead.

Undeterred, Alton showed great character as they started the second half with the same determination to get something from the game and made Poole work hard to keep their lead intact.

And battling Alton finally broke through after a string of penalty corners, with Steel cutting the deficit to 2-1.

Alton could now sense an opportunity and again poured forward looking for the all-important second goal, but the home side showed why they are currently third in the league as they defended well and had several counter attacks that Alton’s back line had to be alert to.

But Alton were presented with a golden opportunity to equalise from a counter attack when Tom Green’s shot on goal was stopped by the outstretched hand of the Poole captain. Steel calmly stepped up to convert the penalty flick, draw Alton level at 2-2 and set up a tense final 15 minutes.

Sadly it was not to be for gutsy Alton as a Poole striker squeezed the ball between goalkeeper Jones and Liam Cave on the post to score what turned out to be the winner.

Although a disappointing result, Alton can take a lot of positives from a game that they could so easily have won as they focus on Saturday’s challenge of a league game at home to Chichester in Hampshire 2.