2004/05 - Match No. 51
Nationwide North
Friday, March 25th, 2005
Hinckley United 1, Alfreton Town 0
Report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD)
WHEN Craig Woodley emerged from the Hinckley bench to score the winning goal within two minutes of his appearance on Good Friday it just about summed up the second half of Alfreton’s season.
The white-shirted visitors had done an effective defensive job in the first half, and were carrying the game to their hosts in the impressive new Marston Stadium after the break, so that Woodley’s 76th-minute goal came very much against the run of play.
And, as against Gainsborough the previous Friday evening, the goal arrived very soon after the opposing keeper had pulled off an outstanding save to deny Dave Lloyd’s men the lead.
Overall, though, there was not a great amount of goalmouth action for the four-figure crowd to savour.
Alfreton began with just one change to the starting line-up from the previous Friday, Lee Featherstone taking the number 11 shirt from Emeka Nwadike.
The match was slow to get going, although United’s right wing back Neil Cartwright was prominent in the early stages.
One early run saw Cartwright flick the ball cleverly over two defenders in quick succession before Richard Cooper headed away the ensuing cross for a corner.
It was Cartwright, too, who sent Matt Lewis on a run through the inside right path in the 10th minute to force a near post diving save out of Lee Butler.
The pattern of the first half was already emerging with Town having to defend and hit on the break. And they almost did so to good effect from their first threat on 15 minutes, home keeper Tommy Whittle having to charge out of his area to head clear as Mick Godber looked to fasten onto Nick Heinemann’s long forward ball.
Five minutes later Godber’s excellent crossfield pass found Chris Bettney, but when the striker ran in to meet the return cross he could not keep his header on target.
Hinckley were seeing more of the ball than Alfreton, but the visitors were defending well, with central midfielders Matt Fisher and Ian Robinson also digging out solidly at the back to offer good support.
But there was a moment of danger just after the half-hour. Paul Barnes received a ball in from the left, but dallied too long and was forced wide as Luke Foster closed in on him. However, Foster fouled the striker on the right edge of the area, but Cooper – maybe the pick of the defence in the first half – again headed the free kick to safety.
By the end of the first half Alfreton had conceded six corners and won just one, which indicated the balance of play.
But that changed after the break as the Reds took up the running, thanks to some determined midfield play with Fisher impressing in particular.
Even so, it was nine minutes into the half when the first chance arrived, and it fell to the Knitters.
Lewis escaped on a counter-attack along the left with Foster in hot pursuit, but the defender missed his challenge in the box. Lewis looked certain to score, but pulled his shot past the far post.
Alfreton were playing some nice passing football though, and when Bettney’s free kick from the right on the hour was punched away by Whittle, it fell to Godber, whose shot on goal struck an outstretched leg of a defender.
Fisher launched another fluent move via Bettney to Godber, and Jamie Lenton was relieved to concede a corner to avert the danger.
Godber was denied again in the 72nd minute. Picked out by Bettney’s accurate cross following a lovely pass by Lee Featherstone, Godber’s header was goalbound until Adam Willis managed to get a head to the ball and deflect it for a corner.
And, from the resulting deep flag kick, Mark Blount – on for Cooper – rose to power a header goalwards, only for Whittle to turn it aside for another corner in acrobatic style.
Hinckley sent on Woodley a minute later, and within two minutes he had scored what was to be the winner. Barnes was at the heart of some neat play on the right, and when the ball came into the area the substitute was not picked up and rammed it home from 10 yards.
After that, the closest Alfreton came to an equaliser was in stoppage time when Blount’s high cross was punched away by Whittle off the head of Mark Sale.
And once again Alfreton were left to wonder how they had managed to lose a match from which they deserved at least a point.
HINCKLEY: Whittle, Cartwright (Dyer 81), Lenton, Lavery, Stone, Willis, Storer, Burns, Lewis (Smith 60), Barnes, Piercewright (Woodley 74). Subs not used: Jackson, Pitham.
ALFRETON: Butler, Cooper (Blount 57), Heinemann, Foster, Brown, Fisher, Bettney, Robinson, Godber, Duffield, Featherstone (Sale 81). Subs not used: Nwadike, Chapman, Holmes.
REFEREE: A. J. Martin of Penkridge.
ATTENDANCE: 1,057.
SCORER: Hinckley – Woodley 76.
CAUTIONS: Hinckley – Storer 39 (foul on Featherstone). Alfreton – Fisher 32 (foul on Storer).
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Matt Fisher.