2005/06 season match No.27
Nationwide North
Saturday, January 7th, 2006
Vauxhall Motors 3 , Alfreton Town 1
Match report by Clive Edwards. Pics by Phil Lucic to follow.

Oh, dear, oh dear, oh dear. This was a shocking performance by the Reds.
This match was billed as a relegation battle. But it was no such thing. Alfreton showed no signs of battle.
They had hung out the white flags within the first five minutes. It was depressing to watch players who are capable of so much more, deliver such a poor performance as this.
Even more sadly, defenders who have played their hearts out this season, usually contenders for man-of-the-match on a weekly basis, were guilty of elementary mistakes, in marking, tackling and distribution.
“We’re sickened and disgusted, and we feel very sorry for every single person who has travelled from Alfreton today,” assistant manager Darron Gee said.
“Gary will get it in the neck first, but those players today have been totally and utterly disgusting for this football club. We know it cannot carry on like this. That’s two wins in 19 games, but all we can do is plod along until the Chairman says ‘Enough’s enough.’ It’s not a lack of trying on our behalf. It is a total lack of commitment by the players today.”
Gary Mills said: “I’ve been over to the supporters and apologised to them for this performance.
" It was unacceptable and they should feel ashamed of themselves. It’s the worst we have played for a long, long time.”
Alfreton were a goal down after 85 seconds. Peter Cumiskey crossed into the area from the left wing, the heads went up for the challenge in the box, and the ball dropped down to Tom Field, unmarked, ten yards from goal. He blinked, unable to believe that such space and the ball should have been gifted to him. Then he fired clinically past Greg Smith.
This terrible start got worse three minutes later. Wayne McDermott, the Motormen’s fullback, crossed from the left wing. The heads went up again, and the ball dropped. This time, the recipient of the ball and bags full of space was Cumiskey. He blinked, shot and scored in similar fashion.
There was no way back from this road-crash of an opening. And Vauxhall Motors had no intentions of lifting their foot from the pedal. Despite their poor season and lowly status, they had before this game, won three of their last four league games, their manager Owen Brown having left the club by mutual consent in early December.
The new regime is using the same players in different positions, and hey presto, the team is purring along like a well-oiled Rolls Royce, not the tinny old Vauxhall Astra that the signs around the ground advertise.
In fact, Vauxhall played some really lovely football in the first half. Their midfield trio are all good ball-players, able to pass accurately, beat men, and see opportunities. They are creative – and it is in this area that the difference between the two sides was most evident. Alfreton’s midfield worked hard, tackled, and sweated.
But they lacked the sense of building an attack, of passing patiently until an opportunity for that incisive through ball presented itself. Too much rests on whether Bettney can dribble his way through a few players to create a panic in the opposition defence. Against Vauxhall, he couldn’t do it, and there were no other options available.
In fact, Bettney took a direct free kick from 25 yards in the 46th minute of the first half. Dittmar, the Vauxhall keeper, fumbled it out for a corner. He may have been suffering from frostbite. It was the first time in the game that he had been called on to make a save.
Gary Mills changed the formation after the break. Nwadike had to go off injured early in the game, and at half time the ineffective Norris was replaced by Mark Hume. So, the Reds played with a back three (Robinson, Hume and Turner) allowing the two full-backs to push up into wing-half positions.
This did improve prospects for Alfreton, and they did create more chances in the second half – though, frankly, they could not have created fewer.
New signing Michael Rankine got a goal in the 56th minute – after good work by Fisher and Bettney.
It lifted the hopes of the visiting supporters briefly, but before long even the dwindling band of optimists realised that it was to be merely a consolation goal. Late in the game, Rankine himself showed signs of frustration.
Ten minutes from the end of the match, he picked up the ball to take a throw in. Angered that no players moved for him as he waited to restart play, he threw the ball down in disgust. “He must have wondered what sort of side he’d come to,” Gary Mills said after the game.
Mark Hume, though, was effective throughout the half. He is a man who makes a difference. He imposes himself on the play. Within minutes of the restart he had made two excellent sliding tackles, and on both occasions he maintained possession of the ball, got up, looked around and calmly distributed it with sense and style to a teammate.
Such simple and effective displays were, like all things in short supply, gratefully received, like breadcrumbs to the starving.
Hume also created some panic in the Vauxhall defence, on corners and free kicks, where his height and bravery are a distinct advantage. In the 88th minute, his towering jump enabled him to meet a Bettney corner, only to have his shot blocked by a packed defence.
It was a rare chance for the Reds, who struggled to pull a further goal back. But in the 94th minute, Vauxhall broke away, a crisp passing movement that sliced the Reds apart.
Thomas Rooney raced away, defenders in pursuit; if he had taken the keeper on, he may well have scored. Unselfishly, he squared the ball and Peter Cumiskey was unable to get the shot past Smith. It was a fitting end to the game. A piece of good football by the home side that Alfreton struggled to keep up with.
In the 45 minutes that he was on the field, Mark Hume did enough to be named Reds’ Man of the Match. He was narrowly ahead of Alfreton’s other star.
The man who defies human thermal resilience properties on a weekly basis. The physiotherapist, Doug Kyle. As most spectators struggle with small icicles forming from their nostrils, Doug sits in the dug out in shorts and tee shirt. It must be disconcerting for an injured player writhing in agony to be treated by a man who has no concept of physical pain.
“Hold tight, Emeka, I’ll just twist this round a bit……” Aaaarghhh!!!
A couple of matches ago, as the snow was falling, Doug was asked by a spectator whether he was cold.
He was wearing slightly less than the average man about to spend a summer afternoon sitting in a deckchair on Margate beach.
“Cold is a state of mind,” replied Doug, in a tone reminiscent of Spock from Star Trek.
After this match, every Alfreton fan felt numb. With cold, and depression. They all needed some of that Doug stuff. Whatever it is.

Vauxhall Motors - Dittmer, Moogan, McDermott, Brazier, McNulty, Field (Lawton 61), Garrity (Smyth 85) O Donnell (Glendenning 76) Rooney,Olsen,Cumiskey
Subs not used: Noone,McGorry

Alfreton Town - Smith, Powell, Featherstone, Clarke, Turner, Fisher, Bettney, Nwadike (Robinson 15),Rankine, Duffield (Godber 61)Norris (Hume46)
Subs not used: Stevenson, Woolley .

Referee: Mr M A Astley (Manchester).
Attendance 197.
Scorers - Vauxhall Motors: Field (2 mins),Cumiskey (5 mins) O Donnell (31 mins). Alfreton Town: Rankine (56 mins).
Red card: none.
Yellow cards - Vauxhall: Garrity (foul on Lee Featherstone, 67 mins). Alfreton: Hume (foul on Lawton 71 mins).
Reds Man of the Match: Mark Hume.