2005/06 season match No.46
Saturday, April 1st, 2006
Nationwide North
Worcester City 2 , Alfreton Town 2
Report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.


WORCESTER left back Adam Burley was a strong candidate for April Fool of the Day as he conceded a bizarre 17th-minute penalty to end Alfreton’s 561-minute away goal drought.
But the Reds could not quite use the gift to chalk up their second away win of the season, despite twice leading at St George’s Lane.
This result saw Alfreton drop one place in the table to 17th, but at the same time they extended their advantage over the bottom two to six points, with the sides below them starting to run out of games to close that gap.
It was one of those games where, before the match, Alfreton would happily have accepted a point, but afterwards they were disappointed that it was not three, as assistant manager Darron Gee pointed out.
“We deserved to win it, we were the better side,” he insisted. “But we’ve given two bad goals away – the second was a real scrappy affair that bobbled over the feet of a couple of defenders and went in.
“But when you are coming to a place like this with the run that they are on, the first thing you do is to set your stall out not to lose it.
“We achieved that, but we’ve given two points away.”
The Reds’ 17th-minute opener was unbelievable, and was followed by angry scenes which led to the dismissal from the bench of City’s assistant manager Andy Morrison.
For a reason which was not apparent at the time, Burley unbelievably caught the ball as it dropped within the penalty area.
Morrison, sitting in the stand by this time, explained after half time that Gary Mills had gone down apparently injured, and for some unknown reason, instead of saying ‘kick it out’, City skipper Des Lyttle had admitted in the dressing room calling ‘catch it’ to his left back who, being a good lad and always doing what his captain tells him, duly obliged.
This was no Northwich situation – the referee had no choice but to point to the spot. But apparently the home side thought Chris Bettney should have given the keeper a simple save from the penalty.
Whether intentionally or not, the winger might well have done so, for he placed a fairly soft spot kick straight down the middle, but the keeper had dived to his right, the ball went in, and Alfreton’s away goal drought had ended as it began after the last one at Northwich, in controversy.
Former Forest player Lyttle protested fiercely, seemingly wanting to cover his own embarrassment, although Burley himself accepted the decision with good grace.
Not so his assistant manager, for the linesman on that side called Mr Rushton’s attention and Morrison was sent to the stand.
There had been little in the way of incident up to that point apart from a good piece of defensive work by on-loan newcomer Emmet Friars, the Notts County defender doing well to close down Troy Wood before he could do anything about Burley’s probing ball into the Alfreton box.
Lyttle, though, could not calm himself down, and when he kicked the ball away for a second time – on top of his protest at the goal – his 20th-minute booking was inevitable.
But from Bettney’s free kick Reds’ other new loanee, Wigan Athletic’s Sam Litchfield, looped a header onto the roof of the net.
In fact Alfreton’s lead lasted only six minutes. Then Jai Stanley hooked against the bar from a right wing cross, and Wood was there to force the rebound over the line.
On balance of play parity was justified – City were seeing more of the ball and held the territorial advantage, although Matt Fisher and Emeka Nwadike worked typically hard in midfield for the Reds.
That pattern continued into the restart, and when Simon Rayner miscued an attempted punch from a corner and had to stretch a leg to clear, the ball fell to Burley, whose follow-up shot was blocked by Friars.
Not long before that Rayner had caught Rob Warner’s high free kick, and although he and the ball were bundled over the line by Burley it was clearly illegal.
Instead it was Alfreton who got the next allowable goal in the 63rd minute. Ryan Clarke found a way around the back to the right by-line, and although Litchfield could not get a touch onto the subsequent cross, Nwadike arrived at the far post to poke it in.
Three minutes later the busy midfielder was in action at the other end, tidying up as City’s leading scorer Adam Webster tried to force home Lyttle’s free kick.
Both sides made the expected substitutions, but the telling one was City’s player-manager Andy Preece, who found the equaliser nine minutes from time with a seemingly harmless cross shot from the right of the box which appeared to bobble in as Clarke and Rayner got in each other’s way.
Clarke was lucky three minutes later when neither referee nor linesman spotted what was a clear handling offence in the box from a corner, the defender controlling with his arm before clearing.
But with Worcester pushing on in search of a stoppage time winner, and Gary Mills, by this time back on the bench, demanding of the referee: “When are you going to blow?” the official duly complied.
Alfreton had got their point, and Worcester were still seeking their first victory over the Reds after four attempts.
WORCESTER: Skyers, Warner, Burley, Pearce, Thompson, Lyttle, Stanley (Colley 67), Smith, Wood (Preece 74), Webster, Clegg. Subs not used: Warmer, Walker, Watkins.
ALFRETON: Rayner, Clarke, Featherstone, Friars, Turner, Fisher, Bettney (Powell 74), Mills (Howard 77), Stevenson (Rankine 83), Litchfield, Nwadike. Subs not used: Godber, Bodkin.
REFEREE: Steven Rushton of Stoke-on-Trent.
ATTENDANCE: 860.
SCORERS: Worcester – Woods 23; Preece 81. Alfreton – Bettney 17 pen; Nwadike 63.
CAUTIONS: Worcester – Lyttle 20 (unsporting conduct); Burley 76 (late challenge on Fisher).
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Emeka Nwadike.