THE East Coast of Yorkshire may be a bitterly cold place to be in January, but Alfreton Town warmed the hearts of their away fans on Saturday with three points from former Football League outfit Scarborough.
This was the first meeting of the two clubs since 1967 when both were in the old Midland League, but in the 40 years since then the Seadogs had risen to the heights of Football League fare before, like the Grand Old Duke of that city some 40 miles distant, being marched back down again.
And the continuing troubles at the McCain Stadium, once better known as Seamer Road, have not gone away.
Administration meant the loss of 10 points at the start of the season plus a transfer embargo which has left the club with a wafer-thin squad – indeed they were able to name only three substitutes against the Reds, who themselves had two players in their 16 – Tristram Whitman and David Reeves - who had previously worn Scarborough colours.
The game was settled by the only goal of the match in the 48th minute, when home keeper Mark Wilberforce allowed Ashley Burbeary’s free kick from just outside the area slip through his hands and into the net – and really that served to epitomise the whole match.
However, it brought a wry smile to the face of manager Gary Mills afterwards.
“We’ve been asking why we never seem to get any scruffy goals,” he said, “but we got one today and it won us the match.
“Essentially it was a sound team performance that won it, rather than any individual standing out, although I was pleased with our clean sheet – the back five deserved that.”
Mills added: “Scarborough are in a false position. Before this match they would have been only a point behind us but for their 10 points deduction, so we knew it was going to be tough.
“They don’t concede many results and have been on a good run lately, whereas we needed to bounce back from a couple of bad results.”
A swirling wind certainly made conditions difficult, and although it favoured Alfreton in the first half the Reds never really capitalised.
The match was not helped by the fact that both sides were without key midfielders, in Alfreton’s case skipper Marcus Ebdon and Emeka Nwadike were both suspended – and this plus the conditions made good football a rarity.
Nevertheless Town were well served by Ashley Burbeary and Danny Mayman in that area, and of the two it was acting skipper Mayman who edged the man of the match for an inspirational display on the right, but there was not much in it.
Chris Thompson headed over from an eighth minute corner for Borough, and within a minute Burbeary’s clever 25-yard lob over the defence looked like dropping under the opposite crossbar until Wilberforce stretched up and back to tip it over.
Jimmy Beadle’s free header from another home corner flew just over the angle, Tommy Hannigan managed just enough of a header back to Dale Roberts to prevent Ged Dalton from going in on a one-on-one with the keeper, and Dalton finished weakly wide after good control by Tony Hackworth set up the chance.
All that was inside a four-minute spell, but it was far from all one way traffic, and after former Scarborough player Tris Whitman – who received a hot reception rather than a warm welcome from sections of his old crowd – worked hard to keep the ball in play on the by-line, his cross was met by Mark Rawle’s towering header which was just too high.
Ryan Clarke was beaten by a cruel bobble after his strong run along the right left two defenders for dead, and another awkward bobble almost left Wilberforce with a red face when he completely missed his clearance from a back pass, but he managed to recover and slice the ball into touch.
Rawle’s overhead effort had the keeper stretching to save, but the deadlock remained unbroken to half time.
That changed within three minutes of the restart though. Beadle was penalised for hands just out side the area, and Burbeary’s free kick went over the wall, through Wilberforce’s hands, and into the net.
Whitman had two shots in quick succession blocked in the 58th minute, and Mayman’s scorching follow-up from the right of the box looked destined for the top right corner until the wind took hold and carried it wide.
Scarborough strove for an equaliser, but play generally was scrappy, and Alfreton were competently on top of the job, dealing well with all that the home side could muster.
However, the Seadogs might have equalised in the 81st minute when Dalton won a one-on-one with Roberts but was forced wide and shot across the face of goal.
Thompson’s cross shot also beat the far post in the 87th minute, and two minutes later home sub Ryan Blott also fired wide from a good position.
As the game entered four minutes of stoppage time Mayman went on a strong run into the area and squared for Burbeary who lashed the ball against the bar from eight yards with the goal gaping.
That should have made overtime academic, but Alfreton effectively closed the game down and the home side had no chance of salvaging anything.
The Town fans had kept up a barrage of noise throughout in support of their favourites despite being heavily outnumbered in a crowd only 23 short of the four-figure mark, and at the final whistle the entire Alfreton team ran to the away end to acclaim them with a celebratory dive.
Few of those fans will have realised that this was the first ever meeting between these two clubs which had not resulted in a home win, which perhaps made the three points even more special.
SCARBOROUGH: Wilberforce, Lyth, Davies, Cartwright, Hotte, Ingram, Dalton (Blott 66), Beadle, Hackworth, Thompson, Thornton. Subs not used: Cook, Amos.
ALFRETON: Roberts, Clarke, Barnard, Hannigan, Winder, Brown, Mayman, Burbeary, Tiday, Rawle (Glass 85), Whitman (Reeves 80). Subs not used: Turner, Harcourt, Flanagan.
REFEREE: Neil Sharp of Hartlepool.
ATTENDANCE: 977.
GOAL: Alfreton – Burbeary 48.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Danny Mayman.
