2005/06 season match No.34
Nationwide North
Saturday, February 4th, 2006
Alfreton Town 1, Droylsden 3
Match report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.


TIME goes faster when one is advancing in years. So it seems like only yesterday that Alfreton fans were looking forward with relish to returning to the UniBond League.
Now here we are again, with the same prospect looking increasingly large, but this time there is not much relish to be found among the faithful, only doom and dread.
The hope on Saturday was that the Reds would build on two brave, battling performances at promotion chasers Northwich and Nuneaton. All season, and for much of last season for that matter, they have saved their better displays for better opposition, when even then hard luck and credit rather than victory has been the reward.
If only some of those gutsy displays had been reserved for the Vauxhalls of this world!
Nevertheless, when another club with promotion aspirations arrived at the Impact Arena, history indicated that the side would be up for it, and maybe that fortune would at last favour the brave.
There was one unforeseen sticking point to this prophecy – there was no bravery, and so nothing for fortune to favour.
And at the end, even the most positive of supporters went away believing that their optimism may after all have been misplaced.
True, Droylsden were probably the best side to have visited Alfreton this season. True, too, that they hold something of an Indian sign over the Reds – this was the second league double they had completed over Alfreton in successive seasons.
But that was hardly a reason to go out with the body language which seemed to indicate that they had already lost before the first whistle sounded.
Manager Gary Mills could not hide his agony.
“It was disappointing at Nuneaton on Tuesday because of the way we were robbed right at the death,” he said.
“The disappointment today was for an entirely different reason – we just did not play. We looked a tired outfit from start to finish and hardly got the ball off them for the whole 90 minutes.”
With five at the back and the midfield correspondingly a man light, the Reds seemed to invite the Bloods to come at them in the first half,
And to be fair, they did defend well until the 40th minute, before Robbie Talbot scored twice either side of half time.
Terry Fearns’ 69th-minute goal effectively ended the match, and although Lee Featherstone scored a beauty eight minutes later, it had only consolation value.
It also made some recompense for his dreadful error which gifted the visitors the second goal and which cost him another man of the match nomination – that instead went to Dave Robinson, who never stopped working hard and gave nothing away.
There appeared little to choose between the sides in the early stages, but as Droylsden took a grip on the game Simon Rayner’s mis-hit clearance struck Mark Turner and fell kindly to Talbot one-on-one with the keeper. However, Rayner redeemed himself with a superb tip around the post from the striker’s shot.
A period of intense Droylsden pressure followed, ending when Robinson got the ball away, although the breathing space was small, and it took a well-timed challenge by Mark Hume on Fearns to deny the ex-Southport striker a goal chance.
Home hopes were raised just after the half-hour when Michael Rankine’s well-weighted pass found Chris Bettney out on the right, and he laid off to Ryan Clarke who, from a similar position to his goal at Northwich a week earlier, this time pulled his shot beyond the far post.
It would have been against the run of play, but just when it seemed Alfreton would at least hold out to half time and regroup, Northwich took a 40th minute lead.
Chris Denham, the architect of and inspiration behind much of the Bloods’ good work, received a deep cross from the left which Hume was unable to get away. Denham played it back into the six yard box, from where Talbot bulged the roof of the net at the far post.
Droylsden skipper Steve Brodie should have doubled the lead two minutes into stoppage time. Played in by Carl Ruffer, his finish from the right of the area was straight at Rayner.
Mills went for the skill of Jon Stevenson rather than the bustle of Rankine for the second half, but before he had the chance to make any impact, Droylsden went two up just 80 seconds into the restart.
Featherstone’s back pass fell woefully short, forcing Rayner to dash off his line, but the alert Talbot nipped in first and toe-poked it over the advancing keeper and into the empty net.
Talbot should have had his hat-trick in the 64th minute. Denham beat Turner and crossed, but the striker’s flicked header went beyond the far post.
There was no denying Droylsden their third goal, though, and it came five minutes later. Once again Denham was in the middle of the build-up, working well with Kevin Lynch before setting up a simple chance for Fearns.
Talbot saw another shot blocked by Rayner, and then Hume got in the way of Fearns’ follow-up as Droylsden went looking for more goals.
But it was Alfreton who got one when, out of nothing, Featherstone curled a beautiful shot from the right touchline inside the far post.
Thereafter Alfreton rallied a little, and substitute Peter Duffield was a whisker away from connecting with Featherstone’s free kick in front of goal while Hume’s header from almost under the bar somehow stayed out following Bettney’s corner kick.
But it was all too late, and Alfreton know that they will very soon be running out of games to get themselves out of trouble.
ALFRETON: Rayner, Clarke, Featherstone, D. Robinson, Hume, Turner, Bettney, Fisher, Godber (Duffield 61), Rankine (Stevenson ht), Mills (Blunt 52). Subs not used: Nwadike, Powell.
DROYLSDEN: Phillips, Williams, Warmer, Halford, Ruffer, Brodie (Morris 73), Tandy (Fitzpatrick 82), Lynch, Fearns, Talbot (Cameron 77), Denham. Subs not used: C. Robinson, Rapley.
REFEREE: Richard Wigglesworth of Rawmarsh.
ATTENDANCE: 271.
SCORERS: Alfreton – Featherstone 77. Droylsden – Talbot 40, 47; Fearns 69.
CAUTION: Droylsden – Cameron 84 (kicking ball away).
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Dave Robinson.