Alfreton Town Football Club

Match reports
2004/05

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2004/05 - Match No. 11
Nationwide North
Saturday, September 18th, 2004
Alfreton Town 2, Southport 1
Report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.
“WE ARE top of the league!” rang the supporters’ chant at the start and the end of Saturday’s showdown between the Nationwide North’s two current leading clubs.
But it was not the same set of fans chanting at the end as it had been at the beginning.
It had been the large following of Southport supporters who were proclaiming the fact that their favourites were going into the contest as league leaders. But by the end, the Reds had leapfrogged them into top place and were having the last and proverbially longest laugh of the day.
It was, of course, only the end of the day, and not the season, and as Alfreton manager Dave Lloyd constantly cautions: “There is still a long way to go.”
Lloyd added: “We should have gone into half time more than one goal to the good. We had played really well in the first half, and Southport never caused us any real problems until the end of the half.
“I was disappointed that we did not keep the ball quite as well as we had in the second half, and we let them back in after we’d gone two up, but we could have scored again at the end.
“We’re beginning to find a bit of form now, the passing is better, Matt Fisher and Mitch Ward did a great job in central midfield, and with Mick Godber doing so well taking over from the injured Mark Sale, I’ll have a problem when Mark is fit.
“But I have problems like this week in, week out, with such a strong squad to choose from, even without the injured players.
“Our first aim entering this league was to avoid relegation, so sitting on top of the league is a great bonus.”
Sale, who has done so well since taking possession of the number nine shirt, suffered a rib injury in midweek at Moor Green, and received the praise of his manager for being honest enough to admit that he was not fit when a man of Godber’s calibre was waiting to reclaim the shirt for himself.
There was a welcome return to the bench, too, for Mark Hume, while new left sided player Paul Riley, released by Notts County after 23 first team appearances last season, was also named as substitute, and both had a taste of the action.
Peter Duffield set the Reds on their way with a seventh-minute penalty, and Chris Bettney doubled the lead on 65, only for the prolific Terry Fearns to pull one back for the Sandgrounders five minutes later.
But Alfreton held firm to deny them an equaliser, and might well have had a third late on when Bettney hit a post.
The match itself was an enthralling contest worthy of the league’s top two clubs, but Alfreton were deserving winners for a wholehearted and well constructed team display.
Early in the season they were picking up points without playing particularly well. But the home fans on Saturday were treated to the result they wanted and a performance to be savoured – and it was a pity that a game of this magnitude still did not attract more of them.
Chairman Wayne Bradley said: “I think the real problem is that people in Alfreton just do not understand how far this club has come in the last three years, since we were playing the likes of Armthorpe and Brodsworth – and no disrespect to those clubs intended. So this is the message we have to get across.”
Many more performances like this one, though, should see the missing hundreds come flooding back.
Just about everyone in the side had a wothwhile claim on the man of the match accolade, and although my vote eventually went to Ian Robinson it could reasonably have gone to any one of his team mates.
Godber, though, grabbed his chance with both hands, and it was his astute through ball to Bettney which led to the winger being perhaps needlessly brought down by Steve Pickford on the right by-line.
Duffield drove the penalty kick hard and low just inside Steve Dickinson’s right hand post to give the Reds a dream start.
Robinson’s acrobatic header back to his keeper Lee Butler from some 25 yards out ended a Southport threat on the counter-attack after they had broken away from an Alfreton corner.
Then Dickinson got just enough on the ball top tip over Emeka Nwadike’s well-placed header onto Ward’s deep free kick, before the game threatened briefly to boil over, referee Andy Hogg somewhat mercifully showing Pickford only a yellow card for kneeing the grounded Ward in the face during a melee.
With Ward and Fisher at the heart of their fluent passing game, Alfreton forced several first half corners, but Southport always looked capable of breaking away from them, and Bettney tackled back superbly to end one such foray as Kevin Leadbetter almost got clear.
Southport, though, did not win a corner of their own until the 43rd minute, but they almost capitalised, with Neil Robinson’s bullet header superbly parried by Butler, who then regained his ground quickly enough to throw himself to his right and, crucially, keep hold of Chris Price’s follow-up shot, despite seeing it late.
However, Alfreton had the final word of the half, when Ben Chapman’s defence-splitting through ball put Godber in. His shot beat Dickinson, but Neil Fitzhenry dashed back to clear off the line.
Another great run by Godber early in the second half set up Duffield, who brought yet another magnificent save out of Dickinson, then Ian Robinson thundered through on a strong run from deep until halted by Leadbetter’s timely challenge.
Southport should have equalised in the 59th minute when Carl Baker’s cross rebounded off Fisher to Fearns who sidefooted wide at the far post when a goal looked certain, then Baker himself gathered a clearance from a corner and sent a rising 25 yard drive clipping the angle – Butler appeared to have got a touch, but a goal kick was given.
With Southport enjoying their only real spell of genuine control, Alfreton hit them swiftly and decisively on the counter. Godber ran clear down the left, and pull the ball back to the 18-yard line, where Bettney arrived to double the lead with a crisp, spearing drive into the bottom corner.
So the Sandgrounders, who had never previously fallen behind on their travels this season, found themselves with an even steeper hill to climb, but got one back within five minutes when Fearns collected Pickford’s ball along the left and pushed it past Mark Blount before driving it home beyond the advancing Butler.
Alfreton almost restored their two-goal cushion on 72 as Bettney’s cross shot hit the foot of the far post and went to safety.
Southport pushed forward in increasing numbers late on, but the home back four gave absolutely nothing away, and as the Reds sought to capitalise on the visitors’ consequent gaps at the back, Nwadike, Ward and Hume all went close to extending their lead.
ALFRETON TOWN: Butler, I. Robinson, Chapman, Blount, Brown, Ward, Bettney (Riley 82), Fisher, Godber (Hume 84), Duffield, Nwadike. Subs not used: Knapper, Goddard, Holmes.
SOUTHPORT: Dickinson, Williams, Pickford, Kilbane, Fitzhenry, Lynch, Baker (Daly 79), Price, Fearns, N. Robinson, Leadbetter (Mulvaney 88). Subs not used: Lowe, Morley, Fitzgerald.
REFEREE: Andy Hogg of Sheffield.
ATTENDANCE: 479.
SCORERS: Alfreton – Duffield 7 pen; Bettney 65. Southport – Fearns 70.
CAUTIONS: Alfreton – Blount 29 (foul on N Robinson); Nwadike 52 (foul on Wiliams). Southport – Pickford 27 (unsporting conduct).
MAN OF THE MATCH: Ian Robinson.