ON A glorious Saturday afternoon (July 16), the big personality of former Rhyl FC centre half Danny Jarrett brought a youthful Altrincham XI to Belle Vue for an eagerly-anticipated pre-season friendly.

Following on from last weekend’s credible 2-2 draw against Cymru North side Colwyn Bay, Altrincham offered yet another test for the Lilywhites with their youthful energetic line-up.

The Lilywhites were first to find the back of the net, when returning forward Kieran Ellis slotted home calmly after just 12 minutes.

Following a family holiday in America, this was Ellis’ first taste of pre-season and he certainly made his mark.

Altrincham began the second half with a fresh impetus looking, like a completely different team buoyed by a Jarrett team talk.

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Just 15 minutes into the second half, Altrincham found an equaliser following on from some great pressure from their enthusiastic forward line.

With 65 minutes played, it was recent recruit Jonny Taylor who found the net for his first Lilywhites goal.

After some great build-up play with Leon Atkins and Tom Cain, Taylor fired a low drive into the bottom left corner making it 2-1 to the home side.

It then became a tail of two 25-yard free kicks: the first player to find the back of the net was Cain, who curled a low effort around the wall finding the bottom left-hand corner to make it 3-1.

Atkins then found the back of net with a similar effort, curling the ball around the right-hand side of the wall also finding the bottom left-hand corner

The Lilywhites finished the game with an excellent 4-1 victory, with two pre-season fixtures left to play.

Manager Gareth Thomas added after the match: “Happy to secure our first pre-season victory, also really pleased for Jonny Taylor to secure his first goal for the club, and happy for the Kieran Ellis to get on the score sheet in his first pre-season game.”

Next up, the Lilywhites travel to St Asaph on Tuesday, July 19 (kick-off 7.15pm).