Report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.
STALYBRIDGE’S predatory striker Chris Hall broke Alfreton’s hearts with a personal four-goal haul as Celtic recorded their sixth successive win to edge closer to the Play-offs.
The match was fantastic entertainment which warmed the freezing fans of both sides and never let them take their eyes off the action for a second.
But both managers may well have questioned their respective sides’ defending in the dressing room afterwards.
The visitors led 2-0 inside the first nine minutes, and although Danny Reet pulled one back three minutes before the break, Hall completed his hat-trick with the second half less than a minute old.
Tony Butler and Reet finally got it back to 3-3 with 15 minutes remaining, only for Hall to deliver the coup de grace three minutes later. And, try as they might, there was no way back for the Reds this time.
Stalybridge manager Steve Burr had collected the Blue Square North Manager of the Month award for December, although it should be said that their run of success, which had included a Christmas double over high-flying neighbours Hyde United, co-incided with the arrival at Bower Fold of former Reds boss Paul Mitchell as Burr’s assistant.
Brian Cusworth failed a pre-match fitness test on the neck injury he sustained at Boston United a week earlier, and although John McFadzean had completed his suspension he was sidelined with tonsillitis, so the Reds named an unchanged line-up from that which beat Hucknall on New Year’s Day.
Paul Clayton had already hit the Stalybridge bar with a narrow-angled shot after cutting in from the left inside the first two minutes, before Hall was luckier at the other end three minutes later, turning home Andy Smart’s cross at the far post.
Within a minute Chris Walton pounced on a half chance but sent his 20-yard effort skidding wide.
Hall made it 2-0 with the game still in only its ninth minute, ghosting in to steer in Smart’s corner from the opposite side.
Alfreton’s early woes were compounded when they lost skipper Kris Bowler to a 13th-minute calf injury, Mark Barnard replacing him and Anton Brown pushing up into midfield. That was just before home keeper Phil Senior delayed Hall’s hat-trick with a brilliant tip over.
But these days this Alfreton side just do not know when they are beaten, and along with the high quality entertainment they are currently serving up, they have hearts as big as dustbin lids too.
They set about retrieving the situation with a vengeance, and after a game of head-tennis in the Stalybridge box Reet was pulled up for a high foot with Celtic skipper Paul Sykes in close proximity.
The Reds looked questioningly at the referee and the fans behind the goal were loud in their appeals when Josh Law went down in the box under a challenge from Smart on the half-hour. But Smart showed how good he is going forward two minutes later with a strong, surging run, which ended with a 25-yard shot over the bar.
Brown’s downward header at the far post dropped just the wrong side from Law’s cross in the 39th minute, but three minutes later Reet deservedly got one back, heading home Laurie Wilson’s pinpoint free kick from the right.
And as the Reds went looking for the equaliser before half time they won three corners in quick succession, from the second of which Law’s screaming volley was turned over by an equally impressive save from Martin Pearson.
The Stalybridge keeper had been a last minute replacement after Paddy Gamble, who had initially been named, pulled up in the pre-match warm-up.
Alfreton had ended the first half on top, and hopes were high that they would continue in that mode as the second half got under way.
But Hall looked to have squashed those aspirations when he pounced on hesitation at the back just seconds into the restart. Georges Santos and Senior appeared to leave the ball for each other when it was knocked forward into the box, and Hall needed no second invitation to capitalise and slot home.
But when Tony Butler’s bullet header hit the net from another Wilson free kick nine minutes later Alfreton hopes were raised again.
Smart got in a crucial clearance of Barnard’s hanging cross to the far post with Law well placed to equalise.
But Stalybridge also adopted the philosophy of attack being the best form of defence, and on the hour Senior could only parry Alex Meechan’s 25-yard shot after Walton had lost possession. Fortunately no-one was on hand for the rebound.
Once again Alfreton penalty claims went unheeded when Reet looked to have been pushed over in the area and required attention.
Steve Warne’s rasping drive bounced off Sykes and went for a corner and Brown flashed a cross-cum-shot through the six-yard area and beyond the far post as the Reds were increasingly asking the questions.
And the home fans went wild with 15 minutes remaining when Reet gathered Pearson’s poor clearance and ran on to equalise with a clinical finish.
They thought it had completed a great comeback, and indeed Town may have taken the lead, had Clayton’s angled cross not been inches too far ahead of the inrunning Reet two minutes later.
But just one minute after that it was Hall who had the final word with a perfectly timed run onto a ball through the middle to beat the offside and slot home the winner.
There may have been no more goals, but the highly-charged excitement continued right to the final whistle, with Santos doing superbly well to get his body in the way of what would have been Hall’s nap hand.
Then, for Alfreton, substitute Matt Glass was crowded out by sheer weight of numbers as he looked to put away Warne’s precisie through ball, and in stoppage time Reet’s angled drive flashed past the far post.
ALFRETON: Senior, L. Wilson, Brown, Santos, Butler, Warne, Law (Glass 77), Bowler (Barnard 13), Clayton, Walton, Reet. Subs not used: Knox, M. Wilson, Sutcliffe.
STALYBRIDGE: Pearson, Wooliscroft, Smart, Haran, Garner (Winn 62), Sykes, Ellington, Barwick, Hall, Barlow, Meechan (Roca 77). Subs not used: Fairclough, Burke.
REFEREE: David Lawrence of Barnsley.
ATTENDANCE: 402.
GOALS: Alfreton Reet 42, 75; Butler 55. Stalybridge –Hall 5, 9, 46, 78.
CAUTION: Stalybridge – Sykes 88 (dissent).
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Danny Reet.
