2006/2007 Season. Match no.26 - Nationwide North
Saturday, January 6th, 2007
ALFRETON TOWN 1, Droylsden 3

Report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.

LEAGUE leaders Droylsden left the Impact Arena on Saturday having stretched their 100 per cent run to seven matches.
But Alfreton, who played the entire second half with 10 men, were left wondering how they finished with nothing from a match which they dominated for long spells.
Skipper Marcus Ebdon received his marching orders three minutes before the break, but it was a somewhat harsh decision and seemed to have much to do with the reaction of the Bloods players and bench.
The visitors were leading by a single Steve Halford goal at the time, but far from being fazed by the size of the task facing them, the Reds threw themselves into attack on the restart.
However, after missing a couple of gilt-edged chances, Alfreton were caught on the counter-attack when Terry Fearns claimed his 22^nd goal of the season.
Mark Rawle pulled one back almost immediately, but Fearns had the last word with a late strike to seal his side’s victory.
The result did not tell the story, as manager Gary Mills emphasised after the match.“The referee got a crucial decision wrong with the sending off – he’d had a fair game up to that point but then lost his way and got a few more wrong after that,” said Mills.
“Marcus is devastated. We all know he is not the type of player to go in two-footed, but the incident occurred right in front of the Droylsden bench and referee reacted to them.
“He was not big enough or strong enough to deal with their attempts to influence him.
“But I don’t want to dwell on the referee. I’d rather praise my players. They certainly didn’t deserve that result, in fact we could have been 3-1 up 10 minutes into the second half.
“On the end of a defeat we’ve taken a lot of positives. I think, and we have to make sure, that it was just a blip.“We’ve answered a lot of questions lately and we answered another today.

When the going got tough we got going.“Obviously at 2-1 down towards the end we gambled and they got the third which settled it, but until then they never looked comfortable, so all credit to our players.
”In fact the Reds should have been a goal to the good inside the first two minutes when Emeka Nwadike head-flicked Ryan Clarke’s forward ball on to Andy Tiday whose weak finish gave Paul Phillips an easy save.
Alfreton had the better of the opening 10 minutes, and it was not until the eighth that Fearns brought the first save out of Dale Roberts.But in the 12^th minute Clarke was penalised for a foul on Jody Banim on the Droylsden left, Gareth Morris curled his free kick towards the far post, and Halford ran in to head home
Danny Mayman momentarily looked likely to provide an immediate equaliser but was closed down before he could get his shot away.
The game became more even after that, but when Nathan Winder’s headed clearance fell to Steve Jagielka midway through the half his shot flashed just wide.Mayman’s flicked header met the same fate at the end of a strong run and pass by Ashley Burbeary, while an awkward free kick by Mark Barnard had Phillips stretching up and arching backwards to hold.But the game turned in the 42^nd minute. Ebdon won the ball but showed Garry Burke too much of it.
Both players lunged for the ball, but Burke ended up injured and several Droylsden players immediately went in on the Reds’ skipper, with Alfreton players also getting involved to protect their team mate.
However, at the end of it Ebdon was shown the red card, with no action taken against any other player for the ensuing melee.
Far from being downhearted, Alfreton began the second half positively, and after Tiday’s persistence won a corner the flag kick fell to Rawle who hit the foot of a post from close range when it seemed easier to put it in the net.
Five minutes later Rawle sent Tiday on a run along the left to cut in along the by-line past James Vaughan and pull back a low cross, only for Mayman to screw a glorious chance wide.

It was all Alfreton until the 64^th minute when Winder was penalised for hands some 25 yards out and Morris lashed his free kick against a post with Roberts beaten.But nine minutes later Banim broke clear on a swift counter-raid along the right and crossed for the unmarked Fearns to give Roberts no chance.
The two-goal cushion lasted only two minutes, when Burbeary won a corner off Phillips, took it, and Rawle rose highest at the far post to head home.
However, the game was put beyond the Reds in the 88^th minute. Chris Denham’s cross shot from the right was brilliantly pushed away by the diving Roberts, but only to Fearns who, from the opposite side, drove the ball home before the keeper could recover.In stoppage time Roberts made two excellent saves to deny Banim and Tandy and prevent an utterly perverse scoreline.
ALFRETON: Roberts, Clarke, Barnard, Hannigan, Winder, Nwadike, Mayman (Reeves 78), Ebdon, Tiday, Rawle, Burbeary (Glass 87). Subs not used: Whitman, Turner, Brown.
DROYLSDEN: Phillips, Vaughan, Halford, Robinson (Ruffer 90+1), Burke, Morris (Lynch 78), Tandy, Kelly, Fearns, Banim, Jagielka (Denham 70). Subs not used: Daly, Williams.
REFEREE: Andrew Madley of Ossett.
ATTENDANCE: 314.GOALS: Alfreton – Rawle 75. Droylsden – Halford 12; Fearns 73, 88.
CAUTION: Alfreton – Nwadike 13 (foul on Banim).
DISMISSAL: Alfreton – Ebdon 42 (dangerous challenge).

REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Andy Tiday.