2006/2007 season Match no.17 - Nationwide North
Saturday, November 11th, 2006
Stalybridge Celtic 3, ALFRETON TOWN 2

Report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD)

There was no happy 45th birthday present for Alfreton manager Gary Mills after his side failed to profit from scoring first on their travels for the second week in a row.
Instead, it was Stalybridge manager John Reed who had something to brighten his day on what would have been his 100th game in charge, had he not been confined to his sick bed.
The result would have been a tonic for Reed after the Celts had picked up only two wins in the last 11 games.
Indeed, had Alfreton broken their away wins drought they would have gone above their hosts on goal difference, instead of sliding a little closer to the relegation zone.
Mills was denied his wanted birthday present by individual errors,which he blamed for costing his side the game.
“We started very well and were more than a match until Dale Roberts made an error to give them their equaliser, and another error gifted them another goal,” he said.
“We had been looking strong and solid until an error let them back in. We’ve given them two goals and that is hard to take.
“It didn’t help that we had to reshape twice after injuries to Nathan Winder and Mark Barnard, but that is no excuse for the result.
“I couldn’t fault our desire or effort, but the mistakes cost us.”
Mark Rawle headed Alfreton into a sixth-minute lead, but Lee Ellington and former Reds favourite Mark Hume turned the game the home side’s way before half time.
Then Emeka Nwadike conceded an own goal, and although Ashley Burbeary got one back late on with a peach of a goal it was not enough to salvage anything from the trip.
Hume, playing up front rather than the defensive rule which Reds fans were accustomed to seeing him operate, had a shot charged down in the opining seconds, before the Reds put their noses in front in the sixth minute.
Barnard, also playing against his former club, floated a free kick into the box from near the half-way line, and Rawle was gifted a free header which he guided under the angle, to the delight of the visiting fans who, on their last visit to Bower Fold, had walked out after less than 20 minutes.
Boosted by the goal, Alfreton pressed more, and when Anton Brown found a path around the back on the left his dangerous cross was headed away by the stretching Barrie Keeling.
A couple of probing crosses into the Reds box could have cause problems, but Winn’s first one just eluded the head of Lee Ellington, before another lofted centre, this time from Scott Maxfield, found the head of Hume who brought a stretching save out of Roberts.
Winder and Hume had an accidental clash of heads midway through the half, and there was a long delay while Winder, who came off worst, received treatment.
Shortly afterwards, Roberts came to Alfreton’s rescue. Neil Prince’s corner was played deep and was knocked back in by the always lively Steve Smith for Ellington to flick goalwards. Somehow the keeper managed a touch to turn the ball onto the bar and behind for another corner.
But the home side hit the Reds with a six-minute double whammy, three minutes either side of the half-hour mark.
They were level when Roberts raced out of his goal to prevent Hume from profiting from Grant Black’s through ball. But the keeper sliced his clearance horribly to Ellington on the Stalybridge right, and he was left with an open net.
Then Ellington received Prince’s angled cross from the left at the far post, headed it back across goal, and Hume turned the screw on his old manager as he bundled the ball in from close range.
Alfreton tried to battle back before half time, and Paul Pettinger managed a punch to take the ball off the head of Rawle, who then headed over a cross from Marcus Ebdon.
And when the striker tried to turn creator by putting Andy Tiday through, the finish beat the advancing keeper but also just cleared the bar.
Stalybridge took control of the second half and Alfreton, with Matt Glass on for Winder and temporarily reshaped to 3-5-2, were on the back foot for long periods.
Ellington twice went close, and Prince wasted two free kicks from good positions.
In between those, Burbeary replaced Barnard, and Nwadike dropped back into defence,
Roberts stretched an arm to tip away a problematical corner, but there was nothing the keeper could do about Stalybridge’s third goal in the 65th minute. Ellington got to the by-line on the right and crossed hard and low, and Nwadike, standing at the near post, watched in horror as his attempted clearance deflected into the net.
By this time Celtic were playing with renewed confidence and verve, and Roberts did well to push away a crisp drive from Smith following an incisive build-up involving Steve Brodie and Ellington. And the keeper then made two more good blocking saves as shots rained in on him from the resulting corner.
However, Burbeary threw Alfreton a lifeline in the 83rd minute. Receiving a cross from fellow-sub Glass, he chested down on the 18-yard line and, before the ball bounced, sent a sublime dipping volley under the angle.
But although that inspired a late foray of attacks by the Reds they never really looked like pulling it level, even when Mr Trott somehow found five extra minutes to give them the chance.
STALYBRIDGE: Pettinger, Black, Maxfield, Keeling, Sykes, Winn, Smith, Brodie, Ellington, Hume, Prince (Lally 74). Subs not used: Morris, Fish, Hollingsworth, Buxton.
ALFRETON: Roberts, Clarke, Brown, Hannigan, Winder (Glass ht), Barnard (Burbeary 55), Nwadike, Ebdon, Reeves, Rawle, Tiday (Whitman 76). Subs not used: Mitchell, Harcourt.
REFEREE: W. Trott of Liverpool.
ATTENDANCE: 404.
SCORERS: Stalybridge – Ellington 27; Hume 33; Nwadike (og) 65. Alfreton – Rawle 6; Burbeary 83.
CAUTIONS: Stalybridge – Winn 70 (late challenge on Brown). Alfreton – Winder 44 (dissent); Reeves 71 (foul on Smith).
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Dale Roberts.