Alfreton Town Football Club
Match reports
2004/05

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Pre-season match no. 3
Saturday, July 24th, 2004
Alfreton Town 3, Ilkeston Town 2
Report by Kev Miles. Pics by Phil Lucic.
ALFRETON Town continued their pre-season plans with a narrow 3-2 win over local derby rivals Ilkeston Town last Saturday.
Reds boss Dave Lloyd tried out several different combinations of players throughout the game but it was his starting strike pair of Mick Goddard and Peter Duffield who came up trumps with three first-half goals.
Goddard - perhaps keyed up by the arrival of Duffield - put in a busy first half display which was rewarded with a brace of well taken goals which wrested the ascendancy from a lively Robins side who had taken a 13th minute lead.
With Lee Butler still on holiday, Gavin Saxby continued in goal while Ian Robinson - also departed for sunnier climes - missed out on the chance of a clash against his former club who contained three ex Reds in goalkeeper Ross Turner, Steve Johnson and Paul Eshelby.
The Robins began well and within the first minute Mark Lever had powered a header narrowly over the top.
The first half then burst into action with the first of five goals in a 20 minute spell.
Ilkeston shook the hosts with a simple 13th minute goal. A free-kick curled in by Richard Lucas evaded goalkeeper Saxby and CHRIS FREESTONE had a relatively easy header at the far post.
Alfreton hit back well and after Goddard had an effort from out wide right drop over Turner and onto the roof of the net, he found the target twice in four minutes to turn the game around.
MICK GODDARD drilled home the equaliser on 19 minutes from 16 yards after a neat move down the left.
Three minutes later the Reds led when a combination of the impressive Mitch Ward and Duffield fed GODDARD in the inside left channel and he netted with a curling right-footed shot over Turner and in-off the far post.
The Robins returned fire and former Red PAUL ESHELBY turned past Hume on the edge of the penalty area and netted a low shot in-off Saxby’s right-hand post.
A feature of the first period for the Reds was the prompting and quality of Ward’s long range passing and it was he who began the third and final goal of the game on 32 minutes.
Another raking pass out to Goddard on the left produced a corner from which Ward’s ball in was totally missed by former Reds ‘keeper Ross Turner to leave PETER DUFFIELD with a simple task of heading home at the far post.
The attacking mode of the first half disappeared in a second period in which both sides struggled to prise a way through defences which appeared to have been verbally ightened up during the interval break.
Steve Johnson did have a goalbound header blocked on its way to the net as the Robins again opened well and Hume had to produce a superb saving tackle on Thompson on the edge of the area to prevent further progress.
Several substitutions on both sides saw the pace of the game visibly wilt in a second half which was, in contrast, as sterile as the first half had been see-saw.
Alfreton's laboured efforts only livened up after the introduction of three of their Under-19 starlets - Steve Woolley, Adam Tyler and Rob Cam who showed good tenacity down the right.
Alfreton did go closest to adding to the scoreline in the last minute when Mick Godber flashed a header narrowly wide.
In the end, despite defeat, Ilkeston could perhaps be more satisfied with their overall performance - one which suggests Phil Stant's side will make a strong showing in UniBond Division One.
For an experimenting Lloyd, two more goals conceded for a third game in a row might have him looking at other options along his back line which, at times, looked pedestrian, and which will face bigger tests than this come August.
ALFRETON: Saxby, Bradshaw, Blount (Tyler 83), Hume, Brown, Knapper (Fisher 63), Ward, Nwadike (Woolley 75), Goddard (Godber 72), Duffield (Sale 72), Bettney (Rob Cam 82).
ILKESTON TOWN: Turner, Knowles, Jervis, Chettle, Lever (Swinscoe 63), Lucas (Hather 80), Smith, Johnson, Freestone, Thompson, Eshelby. Subs not used:
REFEREE: M T Jones.
GOALS: Alfreton Town - Mick Goddard (19 & 22), Peter Duffield (32). Ilkeston Town: Chris Freestone (13), Paul Eshelby (26).
ATTENDANCE: 199.