2005/06 season match No.6
Nationwide North
Saturday, September 3rd
Alfreton Town 0, Lancaster City 2
Match report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.

ONCE again Alfreton Town failed to turn it on in front of their own fans, as Saturday’s defeat by Lancaster City left them still without a home point after three matches at the Impact Arena.
But what must have been more worrying was the performance level of the Reds who, with one or two honorable exceptions, did not appear to realize that the game had kicked off two hours earlier than normal.
Chairman Wayne Bradley is on record as saying that he believes the side will finish at around the same point in the league table as they will in the ‘Attendances League’ – but displays of this character will certainly not see the fans returning to the ground to get behind the new look side.
Even at this early stage there have been rumblings from the dwindling numbers of supporters about well-paid players happily picking up their pay cheques without having done much to earn them.
I do not go as far as to go along that line myself, but Saturday’s lack lustre show served only to add grist to the mill for those who do venture to voice such opinions.
Oh for 11 Matt Fishers! The midfield general took the Reds’ man of the match purely for his energetic example to his team mates. Not everything he tried came off, but when it did not he rolled his sleeves up and got on with the job.
Sadly the same could not be said of too many others – especially after Alfreton had fallen behind just before the midway point of the second half, ironically only seconds after Mills had withdrawn his two strikers.
Peter Duffield in particular reacted angrily and stormed straight into the dressing room, which, whether or not it was the right thing to do, at least showed that he cared. He, too, was one of the few who to a large extent were exempt from criticism.
Assistant manager Darron Gee admitted afterwards that it was a worrying performance, and that he found no plusses at all to take from the game.
Gee added: “After playing really well at Hyde on Monday we should have been really buzzing, but for whatever reason it did not happen and the team have let everyone down today.
“It’s hard to put the finger on why it’s happening, because the spirit in the dressing room is good, and the players themselves are bitterly disappointed for the fans, and they want to show them what they can do at home as well as away.
“They know they have let themselves and everyone else down, and they’ve got to lift themselves for the Reddtich game next week.”
The match itself contained few highlights, and Alfreton’s best of the first half saw Chris White drive a 35-yard free kick from the left narrowly past the near post after he was brought down in the 14th minute, while later in the half Duffield first set up Neil Ross, whose finish Tony McMillan needed two attempts to save.
And then, after Fisher’s visionary ball out wide, Duffield put over a dangerous centre which Mike Eckersley turned behind for a a corner at full stretch, with White set to pounce at the far post.
But it was Lancaster who were nearest a goal on 23 when the always dangerous Nick Rogan was upended by Dave Robinson as he ran along the 18-yard line – Rogan’s vicious free kick was tipped onto the bar by upward-stretching keeper Greg Smith.
With no sign of a goal from either side after the break, Mills gambled and made his double substitution on 62 in a bid to break the deadlock.
And a few seconds later it was broken – but at the wrong end - when, despite being surrounded by a posse of red shirts in the box, Rogan managed to turn and steer home Eckersley’s low cross from the right.
That was the sign for too many of the home players to almost visibly lose six inches in height, as Lancaster increasingly played the ball around to good effect.
Even so, a 78th-minute equalizer looked certain when Kevin Donovan appeared to have the goal at his mercy from Chris Bettney’s driven cross, but before he could put the ball away he was robbed by the outstretched leg of Eckersley digging out at the back.
White saw McMillan acrobatically tip his tight angled and wickedly curling free kick beyond the far post.
But five minutes from time it was all over, as more great play by Rogan in the centre circle released Alex Taylor, who timed his run to perfection to beat the offside and slip the ball past the advancing but exposed Smith.
ALFRETON: G. Smith, Clarke, Turner, Robinson, Blount, Donovan, Blunt, Fisher, Ross (Bettney 62), Duffield (Stevenson 62), White. Subs not used: Nwadike, S. Smith, Bodkin.
LANCASTER: McMillan, Uberschar, Scott, McMahon, Swan, Howson, Eckersley, Taylor, Jones, Rogan, Elderton. Subs not used: Sullivan, Skinner, Black, Bauress.
REFEREE: Andrew Morbin of Sheffield.
ATTENDANCE: 279.
SCORERS: Lancaster – Rogan 63, Taylor 85.
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Matt Fisher.