2005/06 season match No.36
Nationwide North
Saturday, February 11th, 2006
Stalybridge Celtic 3, Alfreton Town 0
Match report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic


"YER pays yer money and yer takes yer choice,"… so goes the old saying around these parts.
And Alfreton Town’s fed-up fans certainly ‘took their choice’ on Saturday after shelling out on the cost of a journey and admission to Bower Fold.
Twenty minutes in, Saturday’s game was already over. That is what a large percentage of the travelling supporters decided, and the stand they were occupying almost completely emptied in favour of a nearby hostelry.
The normally fanatical away following had just seen their favourites go 3-0 down, and voted with their feet to spare themselves any further embarrassment.
As it was, no further goals were conceded, but Alfreton remained very much second best for the remainder of a match where it seemed easier to find the proverbial needle in the haystack than any worthwhile positives from their point of view.
The margin of defeat could and should have been much worse, but if we are looking for positives, the only crumb of comfort was that results elsewhere went in Alfreton’s favour.
After the previous Tuesday’s win over Worcester City, I wrote: “Having to prove a point after a below-par display has been an unwanted requirement too often this season.”
One mathematically-minded supporter subsequently commented that if Alfreton put in eight more below par displays and respond to them with eight better performances and wins, then the club would climb comfortably out of trouble.
It’s an interesting theory, but not one to win over those supporters who quite clearly reached the end of their tethers on Saturday.
It was the calls from the supporters that played no small part in the departure of Dave Lloyd as manager last season – rightly or wrongly many had vowed not to return this season if Mr Lloyd was still in charge. And rightly or wrongly, the chairman has to balance the books.
Those same supporters now stand united in their calls to see another change at the top.
So when the question was put to Wayne Bradley after Saturday’s match: “Where do we go from here?”, he interpreted that as a question on the future of the current incumbent, Gary Mills.
“I have no doubt in my mind that Gary will have a sleepless night tonight, and I have no doubt at all that he will experience a restless weekend,” replied the chairman.
“I hope that, during that restless weekend, he will come up with the answers for the next game against Barrow.”
And if the situation remains unchanged in a month? “Ask me in a month,” was the response.
To the fans who walked out, Mr Bradley added: “Walking out is the easy answer, and it would have been easy for me to do the same. Today we lost a battle, but not a war, and there is no doubt that we are in a relegation war.
“We still need more wins to keep us in this league, but I’m of the opinion that we have the character to do that.”
Stalybridge themselves had their own nightmare performance to put behind them after they had let themselves down in a home midweek FA Trophy replay against Salisbury City.
They did so in style, and it is fair to say that on the day each one of the Celtic players was better than his Alfreton counterpart.
A drubbing looked likely a quarter of the way through the game, and there was certainly no way back from such an early three-goal deficit. Alfreton these days just do not score four.
Prolific striker Lee Ellington struck first in the seventh minute, rising at the far post for a free header onto Neil Prince’s cross.
Four minutes later the hitherto impressive on-loan keeper Simon Rayner made a complete hash of gathering a simple and seemingly harmless through ball, Ellington pounced as the ball squirmed away from the keeper, and that was 2-0.
The Reds were unlucky not to get one back in the 15th minute. Mark Turner’s bullet header onto Peter Duffield’s corner kick bounced down off the underside of the bar, and when Ryan Clarke followed in for the rebound, Mark Haran hacked it off the line.
What would have happened if a goal had been scored then is anyone’s guess. But three minutes later it was all over.
Prince found Jody Banim in too much space, he rounded the advancing Rayner and looked set to score. Turner managed to block on the line, but Paul Sykes was on hand to finish the job.
Thereafter Mills abandoned his 5-3-2 approach with wing backs, and went to 4-3-3. That stemmed the flow of goals, if not chances.
At half time Alfreton sent on substitutes Neil Ross, Michael Rankine and Emeka Nwadike for Dave Robinson, Jon Stevenson and Mick Godber.
But it made little difference as the Reds still barely emerged out of their own half.
Rankine at last forced Paul Pettinger into a worthwhile save in the 65th minute after cleverly making space for himself in the area.
But at the other end it took a couple of timely challenges from Matt Fisher on Prince, plus a glaring miss by Banim who chipped over Rayner and the bar, to keep the score down.
With no midweek game this week, the coming home clash with Barrow and the ensuing trip to Leigh take on enormous significance, but then so currently does every match the Reds play.
The question is, who will wear the red shirt? Will it be Dr Jeckyll, or Mr Hyde?
STALYBRIDGE: Pettinger, Black, Maxfield, Barnard, Haran, Price, Garvey, Sykes, Ellington, Banim (Eastwood 77), Prince. Subs not used: Kharas, Oates, Atkins, Buxton.
ALFRETON: Rayner, Powell, Featherstone, Robinson (Nwadike ht), Clarke, Turner, Stevenson (Ross ht), Fisher, Godber (Rankine ht), Duffield, Blunt. Subs not used: Smith, Mills.
REFEREE: J. Collin of Liverpool.
ATTENANCE: 499.
SCORERS: Stalybridge – Ellington 7, 11; Prince 18.
CAUTIONS: Stalybridge – Banim 44 (high challenge on Blunt); Black 82 (‘professinal’ foul on Featherstone). Alfreton – Robinson 45+1 (‘professional’ foul on Ellington); Blunt 90 (foul on Black).
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Matt Fisher.