2004/05 - Match No. 24
Nationwide North
Saturday, November 20th, 2004
Altrincham 1, Alfreton Town 2
Report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD).
Peter Duffield’s last gasp winner ensured that justice was done at Moss Lane on Saturday, despite Alfreton Town having to fight a rearguard action for long spells of the match.
Wakefield official Ian Knee must have been a very relieved man when the winner went in, after his howler gifted the incredulous home side and their fans a 79th-minute equaliser to cancel out Duffield’s 44th-minute strike.
The blue-shirted Reds defence had performed heroically as the Robins gave them a thorough examination.
But then, with 11 minutes remaining, Gary Talbot fired wide, the ball rebounded off the advertising hoardings back onto the field of play, and Eddie Hussin hit it into the net, really just for the hell of it as players sometimes do.
No-one celebrated because everyone apart from the officials knew what had happened.
But unbelievably, a goal was signalled, and the Alfreton players, to a man, stormed at the referee to protest.
Mr Knee consulted with his linesman for what seemed an age before allowing the goal, and as far as Altrincham were concerned, he might as well have donned a red coat, grown a long white beard and carried a sackful of toys on his back.
But in the fourth minute of stoppage time Mick Godber laid the ball off for Duffield, whose shot from the edge of the area looked to have taken a deflection which carried out of the reach of home keeper Stuart Coburn on its way into the net.
Although that goal served the interests of justice, Altrincham might well have felt aggrieved to lose a match, most of which they had dominated.
“Overall we didn’t play well, and Altrincham did,” said manager Dave Lloyd afterwards. “But we defended superbly, the quality of our finishing was the difference, and to go away from Altrincham with three points is a great result for us.
“Conceding a goal in that manner could have cost us the match, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and even their manager said straight away that it wasn’t a goal - but Duffield popped up with a great winner for us.”
The win put Alfreton five points clear at the top of the division, but it was far from their best all-round performance as the Robins won the midfield tussle hands down.
But, in the manner in which Miners’ Welfare teams used to get bodies behind the ball to frustrate the Reds in their old NCEL days, so they did to the Robins.
And when Alfreton did hit on the counter-attack, Duffield and Godber always looked sharp. In particular Godber’s pace has never been his strong point, but on two or three occasions on Saturday he outstripped the home defence.
However, it was Alfreton’s back line who were the real heroes of the afternoon, and it was a slide-rule decision in choosing a man of the match from the back four.
Even when Altrincham did find a way through, they still had to beat Lee Butler, who was in no mood to be beaten.
As the first half went on, the home side applied increasing pressure, and Butler had to claw the ball off the feet of Colin Little following a probing low cross by the troublesome Colin Potts.
It was not quite all one way, though, and Duffield chopped an 18-yard shot wide after Godber, under pressure, had headed down Carl Bradshaw’s free kick.
Altrincham appealed for a penalty in the 22nd minute when Potts’ ball in the box struck Bradshaw on the hand, but the referee, who to be fair had a good game apart from that one blunder, ruled ball to hand.
Blount managed the final clearance after a goalmouth scramble saw several shots charged down, and then got in the way of Val Owen’s follow-up shot following a great one-on-one save by Butler to deny Little.
After sustaining such pressure, it was Duffield who applied the sucker punch to give Alfreton the lead in the 44th minute. Matt Fisher received a half-clearance out of the home box, slipped it left to Duffield, and the striker lost his marker before drilling just inside the post.
Even then Altrincham should have equalised before half time, as Emeka Nwadike’s clearance rebounded off Owen to Little who put a glorious chance wide.
Alfreton’s lead might have doubled two minutes into the second half, but Coburn flung himself across his goal to divert Mitch Ward’s 35-yard free kick from under the angle.
Then a peach of a through ball by Ben Chapman put Godber through, and when he was closed down he picked out the in-running Duffield on the right, however the finish hit the side netting.
This was Alfreton’s best spell of the match, and a mazy run in from the left by Godber ended with Coburn smothering the shot.
But from the hour mark onwards the game resumed its first half pattern, with all hands on the defensive deck.
Try as they might, though, Altrincham could not find a way through until that 79th-minute ‘goal that never was’.
Having come under such pressure and finally conceded in that manner, many teams may have wilted, but Alfreton are made of sterner stuff these days, and were determined not to be robbed in such a way.
And Godber went close in the 88th minute, before Duffield completed his double in the fourth minute of added time.
ALTRINCHAM: Coburn, Aspinall, Adams, Band, Talbot, Owen, Potts, Hussin, Hallows (Thornley 78), Little, Scott. Subs not used: Maddox, Lugsden, Torpey, Smith.
ALFRETON: Butler, Bradshaw (Bettney 65), Blount, Chapman, Brown, Ward (Knapper 87), Robinson, Fisher, Godber, Duffield, Nwadike (Holmes 62). Subs not used: Sale, Goddard.
REFEREE: Ian Knee of Wakefield.
ATTENDANCE: 683.
SCORERS: Altrincham – Hussin 79. Alfreton – Duffield 44, 90 + 4.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Mark Blount.