2004/05 - Match No. 20
FA Cup, 4th Qualifying Round Replay
Saturday, October 30th, 2004
Alfreton Town 2, Worksop Town 1 (after extra time)
Report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.

ALFRETON Town’s dreams of a place in the first round proper of the world’s greatest domestic cup competition finally became a reality in an epic contest at the Impact Arena on Tuesday night.
Emeka Nwadike headed a 99th-minute winner after Paul Dempsey had broken the home fans’ hearts with Worksop’s equaliser in the third of four added minutes at the end of the 90.
The Reds looked for all the world to have secured a first round tie against League Two high fliers Macclesfield when Peter Duffield fired them into a deserved 69th-minute lead.
But Dempsey’s last gasp strike set up the nerve-jangling extra half-hour, before the Reds finally booked their place.
Any other result than an Alfreton win would have been an injustice, for they always looked a class above their local arch-rivals.
The majority of the bumper 1,238 crowd were in turn entertained, exhilarated and frustrated throughout a contest which was in direct contrast to Saturday’s dour affair at Sandy Lane.
The frustration element was caused by the number of chances which went begging, because the tie really should have been wrapped up well before Demsey’s lifeline for the Tigers.
But the entertainment and exhilaration came from the quality of their football, which must have impressed an appreciative crowd, and it is now to be hoped that the Reds can pick up a few extra regulars as a result.
Certainly, manager Dave Lloyd had every reason to express his pride and his delight after the match.
“We thoroughly deserved it, and the way we came back after that setback was absolutely fantastic,” he enthused.
“It’s not just about today, we’re top of the league and in the first round proper, and I can’t ask for any more than that. Macclesfield at home is a great tie for us - I hope we can do ourselves proud and I’m sure we will.”
Skipper Grant Brown has more reason than most to look forward to that tie, following his man-of-the-match performance at the heart of a defence which allowed Worksop very few chances.
“I’ve a couple of mates who play for them,” he said, “so no doubt I’ll be on the phone to them this week. Macclesfield won’t fancy coming here and maybe we can cause an upset.
“We’ve a lot of experience in the side and most of our players have been in these situations before, so at times like this you call on that past experience.
“We knew we would get chances in extra time, we knew we were playing well enough and we knew we would put away at least one.
“We must have created six or seven clear cut chances, but we got the one we needed, and any other result would have been an absolute travesty.”
Although the first half was far from one-sided, Worksop were allowed to create nothing by Brown’s well organised defence, and it was always the Reds who looked the more likely to get their noses in front.
Duffield broke into the Worksop area in the third minute and had the ball taken off his toe as he was about to shoot, and he twice more went close in the opening quarter-hour, as well as teeing the ball up for Mick Godber to lob over the bar..
Steve Nicholson’s 27th-minute free kick provided Worksop’s first serious threat, but Brown did well to head clear.
Livewire Duffield finally had the ball in the Tigers’ net in the 34th minute from Godber’s neat flicked header on, but an offside flag ruled it out.
Alfreton were playing some delightful football, though, and they upped the pace further in the last five minutes of the first half.
Chris Bettney’s surging run and cross found the leaping Godber at the far post, only to see his header go narrowly wide.
More good work from Bettney and a neat backheel by Godber gave Duffield another chance, but his 20-yard effort also flew wide.
And another typical Godber lay-off set up Carl Bradshaw on the edge of the area. His driven shot looked a goal all the way until keeper Kris Rogers sprawled to tip it aside.
Ian Robinson and Godber both had shots charged down in the opening seconds after the restart, and Duffield had another one deflected for a throw-in.
Worksop responded by at last coming more into the picture, and when Brian O’Callaghan got in a dangerous cross from the right which found Nicholson a yard off the line, Lee Butler did very well to parry and then fall on the ball.
Butler then acrobatically tipped Blake Norton’s 23-yard shot around the post after the Worksop man had broken clear from a Reds corner, and Matt Fisher - again as busy as ever - cleared off the line from the resulting flag kick.
Dempsey did get the ball in the net on the hour, but like Duffield’s earlier effort it was cancelled out by a flag.
But once Brown had put in another superb tackle as Chris Cleary surged into the Alfreton area, that looked more or less like the end of the visitors’ brief period of ascendancy.
Back came Alfreton, and when Ben Chapman threaded a delightful through ball to Godber, the striker’s crisp shot on the turn was not far wide.
Alfreton finally got the goal they so richly deserved in the 69th minute.
Duffield played an incisive interchange with Godber but saw his shot deflected off a defending boot for a throw. However, from that, Bettney played the ball in from the left, and Duffield applied a clinical 12-yard finish.
Kris Davies headed off the line to deny Bradshaw five minutes later, but 10 minutes from time Worksop sounded a warning that they were not beaten, when Simeon Bambrook - on four minutes earlier for the injured Cleary - hit a cross-shot from the right against the foot of the far post.
And three minutes into stoppage time the unthinkable happened. Substitute Mark Wilson crossed from the left, the ball was not properly cleared, and Dempsey lashed an absolute piledriver past Lee Butler from the edge of the box, to the delight and relief of the travelling supporters.
Two minutes into extra time, Emeka Nwadike sent fellow sub Mick Goddard on a goalbound run. The striker looked to have been fouled by James Dudgeon, and the referee looked long and hard at his assistant before playing on.
Goddard had a cross shot from the right deflected for a corner, but the home fans were celebrating on 99 minutes.
Bradshaw’s corner from the right was touched on by John Knapper, and as the ball bounced up at the far post Nwadike was first there to head it over the line.
It should have been game over four minutes later when, from Goddard’s pull-back, Godber somehow steered the ball wide of a gaping goal from about 1½ yards.
Alfreton continued to deal competently with any Worksop attacks in the second period of extra time while still looking adventurous going forward.
But when three minutes of stoppage time were indicated there was a feeling of dread that Worksop would do it again.
However, there was no way that Brown and his men were about to let that happen, and it was Godber who found the net at the other end after the ball bounced around from a corner, but for the third time in the match an offside flag ruled it out.
That disappointment quickly turned to joy as Mr Barnes sounded an agonisingly belated final whistle.
MATCH DETAILS
ALFRETON: Butler, Bradshaw, Chapman,Blount, Brown, Ward (Knapper 63), Bettney (Nwadike 86), Fisher, Godber, Duffield (Goddard 89), Robinson. subs not used: Dolby, Holmes.
WORKSOP: Rogers, Nicholson, Davies, Thorpe (Browne 86), Jackson, Dudgeon, O’Callaghan, Dempsey, Cleary (Bambrook 76), Townsent, Norton (Wilson 79). Subs not used: Archer, Bowling.
REFEREE: Paul Barnes of Peterborough.
ATTENDANCE: 1,238.
SCORERS: Alfreton - Duffield 69; Nwadike 99. Worksop - Dempsey 90+3.
CAUTIONS: Alfreton - Godber 73 (time wasting); Nwadike 101 (dissent). Worksop - Dempsey 69 (dissent); Davies 72 (foul on Bettney); Nicholson 109 (encroachment at free kick).
MAN OF THE MATCH: Grant Brown.