2004/05 - Match No. 56
Nationwide North
Saturday, April 16th, 2005
Alfreton Town 1, Redditch United 2
IIT ALL went wrong for Alfreton in the last 10 minutes of Saturday’s mid-table end-of-season match against Redditch United.
A rather harsh sending off of Mark Sale for two bookings in as many minutes seven from time, and a bizarre own goal a minute later, robbed the Reds of some reward for a much more committed performance.
Matt Fisher had heartened the home fans with a 10th-minute goal from an acute angle, which was cancelled out by Simon Hollis’ 33rd-minute equaliser, and a draw looked the likely outcome until those last 10 unfortunate minutes.
The side had taken criticism for their inept showing at Vauxhall, and as assistant manager Charlie Williamson pointed out afterwards, he and manager Dave Lloyd were looking for, and got, a far better performance in this match. But, as Williamson reflected, you don’t always get what you deserve in football.
“A bit of ill-discipline cost us some sort of result,” he said. “By no stretch of the imagination did we deserve to lose that.
“But Mark Sale was one who had come back and defended free kicks, and when we’d lost that we gave a goal away.
“Yes, it was an unlucky goal, and this is what’s been happening to us, although you can’t blame luck alone for our results since Christmas.”
With Mick Godber suspended, and Chris Bettney and Mark Blunt injured, Williamson had a word of praise for the players who came in and replaced them – especially and deservedly for Richard Cooper.
“He’s done very well along with Fisher in central midfield, they’ve been right on the opposition’s shoulders, never given them a minute, battled hard, and created some chances, and on another day Peter Duffield might have got us a couple more goals,” he added.
In fact one felt for Duffield who got into some great positions, only to see his finishing luck desert him. For, while Redditch won several more corners than Alfreton, it was the home side who really created the better goalscoring chances.
They were on the back foot for the opening spell though, and the match was less than a minute old when Lee Butler spilled Scott Rickards’ low cross in front of Dave Doyle, and Cooper got the ball away to safety before the Redditch man could capitalise.
But it was Alfreton who drew first blood in the 10th minute. Carl Bradshaw fed Ian Robinson in the inside right position just inside the area, and he slid it forward for Fisher to drill home from the tightest of angles, the ball possibly taking a deflection on its way into the net.
Duffield’s clever overhead shot from Bradshaw’s long throw in five minutes later was not far over the angle, but when Nicky Heinemann’s great tackle on Rory May conceded a corner which was only half cleared by Sale’s head, Doyle’s 20-yard return was a foot too high.
Alfreton, with the ball-winning Cooper on top of his game, were taking the midfield contest, but when Bradshaw combined well with Ian Robinson and got in a cross on the overlap, Sale flicked it beyond the far post.
Redditch were nothing if not competitive though, and equalised in the 33rd minute when May’s astute through ball found Hollis in space to beat Butler from inside the area.
As at the start of the first half, Cooper was in rescuing action when the second period got under way, dashing in to concede a corner after May had put Rickards through.
But the Reds fans were ready to acclaim Alfreton’s second on 51 minutes, however Duffield, put in on goal by Sale, somehow contrived to miss the target from close range when it seemed easier to score.
Robinson then needed too much time six minutes later after pouncing on Asa Charlton’s slip in the area, but delaying his shot too long and enabling Gary Knight to charge it down, while Duffield’s free header onto another Robinson cross was disappointingly straight at Richard Anstiss.
Both keepers were in spectacular saving action midway through the half, Butler throwing himself to his right to turn away Mark Taylor’s fierce drive through a packed defence from a half-cleared corner, and Anstiss doing likewise to his left to keep out Lee Featherstone’s wickedly curling effort after a neat lay-off from Duffield.
Then came those match-turning last 10 minutes. Referee Eddie Mitchell who, it must be said, appeared far from even-handed – it was 28 minutes before he awarded Alfreton their first free kick – decided to brandish a yellow card at Sale for retaliation in the 81st minute.
And two minutes later Sale was on the ‘walk of shame’ following a foul on ex-Derby man Sean Flynn which Mr Mitchell rather harshly decided was also bookable. It is questionable whether a card would have been shown had he not just been cautioned, but the second yellow sent the unlucky striker on the long and lonely walk.
And just a minute after that Cooper conceded a free kick which Grant Brown tried to head away, only to see it rebound off the unfortunate Luke Foster into the net to send Redditch home with the points and effectively deliver the home side a kick in the teeth.
ALFRETON: Butler, Bradshaw, Heinemann, Foster, Brown, Fisher, Robinson, Cooper, Sale, Duffield, Featherstone. Subs not used: M. Ward, Nwadike, Chapman, Teather, Woolley.
REDDITCH: Anstiss, Clarke, Charlton, Flynn, Knight, Softley, Hollis, Taylor, Rickards, May (Briggs 81), Doyle (Aubrey 66). Subs not used: Scheppel, N. Ward.
REFEREE: Eddie Mitchell of Loughborough.
ATTENDANCE: 290.
SCORERS: Alfreton – Fisher 10. Redditch – Hollis 33; Foster og 84.
CAUTION: Alfreton – Sale 81 (retaliation).
DISMISSAL: Alfreton – Sale 83 (second cautionable, foul on Flynn).
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Richard Cooper.