2006/2007 season Match no.25 - Nationwide North
Monday, January 1st, 2007
Hucknall Town 0, ALFRETON TOWN 2

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

ALFRETON completed a fine Christmas and New Year double over high-flying local rivals Hucknall on New Year’s Day to make it 15 points out of the last 18 available.
Nathan Winder broke the deadlock against his former club 11 minutes into the second half, and Mark Rawle doubled the lead nine minutes later to complete the Alfreton’s first league double of the season.
The first half was a disappointing affair which ended goalless.
But the white-shirted visitors raised the stakes in the second half to continue what must be acknowledged as promotion form.
Manager Gary Mills was naturally delighted.
“It’s been a very good Christmas for us,” he said, “and it was a disappointment that Saturday’s game was abandoned because I felt sure we would have gone on to win that too.
“I’m pleased with every one of my players. We’ve won five of the last six games and lost one.
“We deserved to lose that one, but you tend to get what you deserve and we’ve deserved the five wins.
“Our work rate is tremendous, and when we work hard and win the ball we have a bit of quality too.
“It’s great situation to be in as we look forward to playing Droylsden, the league leaders, on Saturday.”
A bumper local derby crowd saw Hucknall have the first chance when Andy Legg’s free kick into the box reached Russell Cooke who fired over from the right of the area.
Andy Tiday responded with a promising forward run almost the length of the field for Alfreton but, lacking support, he had no option but to try a shot himself, and that also flew too high.
Alfreton came under a fair amount of pressure for a spell but, as he did throughout the match, Winder won everything that came his way and gave nothing away to his former club, while Emeka Nwadike and Mark Barnard also both made important clearances.
With that spell well ridden, Alfreton showed the type of football of which they are well capable with a fine corssfield move from Marcus Ebdon via Danny Mayman to Ryan Clarke, who could not keep his finish down.
Some fine work by Danny Williams on the left enabled Gary Ricketts to cross, and Ashley Burbeary, digging out in defence, made a sound clearing header.
The final 15 minutes of the half were rather sterile, but four minutes before the break Dale Roberts had to spread himself to block from Ricketts after Legg’s lofted ball into the box.
And the keeper starred again to deny Ricketts after the big striker had shown some fine close control to create half a yard of space, only to see Roberts brilliantly tip his shot over the bar.
As the second period got under way Lawrie Wilson’s 25-yard piledriver struck Tommy Hannigan and went to safety.
Then at the other end the referee played an excellent advantage which allowed Tiday a shot which keeper Damien Beattie spilled at the near post - unfortunately no-one was on hand for the follow-up.
As Alfreton began to get on top Barnard overlapped down the left and fed the ball to Burbeary, but Nwadike could not make a telling contact with the ensuing cross.
However, Alfreton took the lead three minutes later. Burbeary played in a delightful free kick from the right deep to Nwadike.
The home defence struggled to clear, and after Rawle’s initial effort was blocked, Winder thumped home the rebound to silence the taunts of his former supporters.
Within another three minutes another Burbeary free kick from the same position caused more problems for the home rearguard who succeeded in blocking shots from Nwadike and Rawle.
Winder showed his defensive qualities in the 62nd minute, coming to the rescue to tidy up after a ball in from the Hucknall left caused a moment of misunderstanding between Roberts and Hannigan.
But three minutes later Rawle both started and finished the move which brought about Alfreton’s second goal.
The striker picked out Burbeary on the left with an astute pass, and he sent Barnard on a strong overlapping run. Rawle meanwhile made ground to receive the cross, and although Beattie did very well to parry the striker’s first effort, Rawle made no mistake with his second bite of the cherry.
Hucknall refused to lie down, and in the 70th minute, after Barnard had headed substitute Ricky Hanson’s centre for a corner, the clearance of the flag kick only reached Paul Dempsey who forced Roberts into a fine diving save with a shot through a congested area from just outside the box.
Mayman almost became the second ex-Hucknall player to score against his old club a minute later, when he could not quite meet a probing centre from Barnard.
Then Beattie needed two attempts to hold a 25-yarder from the Northwich Victoria loanee.
Hucknall made a double substitution in the 73rd minute in a bid to rescue something from the game, but it was Rawle who went close again with a shot on the turn which just cleared the Hucknall bar.
A Hucknall corner forced Alfreton to defend in depth with bodies behind the ball for a spell, but they were in no mood to surrender their clean sheet.
And Rawle really should have put the issue well beyond doubt six minutes from time. Ebdon farmed the ball out wide right to Mayman, whose low angled cross put the striker one on one with Beattie.
But the goalkeeper covered himself in glory, spreading his body to block Rawle’s finish.
Hucknall were a beaten side, but in the last minute they had a chance of a consolation goal when Roberts made a rare error, fumbling a corner. However, Cooke lashed over the bar.
HUCKNALL: Beattie, Powell, Cowan, Cooke, Legg, Dempsey, Fox (Akers 73), Wilson, Ricketts, Hearn, Williams (Hanson 34, Briscoe 73). Subs not used: Burns, Smith.
ALFRETON: Roberts, Clarke, Barnard, Hannigan, Winder, Nwadike, Mayman, Ebdon, Tiday, Rawle (Reeves 88), Burbeary. Subs not used: Whitman, Glass, Turner, Brown.
REFEREE: Ian Smith of Rotherham.
ATTENDANCE: 739.
GOALS: Alfreton - Winder 56; Rawle 65.
CAUTIONS: Hucknall - Wilson 80 (foul on Burbeary). Alfreton - Tiday 66 (kicking ball away).
MAN OF THE MATCH: Nathan Winder.