2005/06 season match No.3
Nationwide North
Saturday, August 20th
Worksop Town 1, Alfreton Town 1
Match report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.
This trip to local derby rivals Worksop saw the Reds league debut of goalkeeper Greg Smith who had been out injured with a thigh strain since the home pre-season friendly with Barnsley on Friday, July 22nd.
Shaun Smith hadn't recovered from a calf injury sustained in the first game of the season a week previous and his place was taken by Lee Featherstone who put in a man of the match performance after starting his first game since rejoining the club five days before.
Karl Rose, who joined on a month's loan fromTamworth on Thursday, didn't gain a squad shirt while Kevin Donovan found himself on the bench after starting the first two league games.
Peter Duffield had recovered sufficiently to get a shirt on the bench after suffering a heavy knock in training less than 48 hours before the game.

ALFRETON broke their points duck with a deserved point at local arch-rivals Worksop on Saturday, and not a moment too soon.
The probable effect of another defeat on a notoriously fickle Alfreton public does not bear thinking about.
But fortunately the Reds, who again employed a fluid 3-5-2 system which had served them well in midweek at Hednesford despite the defeat, continued their improvement from the opening day, and the draw was perhaps a fair result.
Indeed manager Gary Mills insisted afterwards that his side could have notched their first win of the new campaign.
"I thought that over the 90 minutes we deserved the three points," he said, "but we've given away an early goal which was disappointing.
"We can't keep on doing that, but we've come back well, and over the three games so far we've improved and improved again, so that's delighted me.
"I was pleased with the character we showed in the way we came back, we've had the better chances after the equaliser, and with a bit more luck we could have gone on to win it."
That said, it was Worksop who could have snatched the three points as the game entered stoppage time, when skipper Paul Dempsey rifled a low 20-yard drive against the foot of a post.
The Tigers, unable to field popular former Reds striker Mick Godber as part of the deal that took him to Babbage Way, had taken an eighth-minute lead when Dempsey floated over a free kick from the left and Anthony Jackson rose at the far post to head home, and the travelling Alfreton fans must have feared the worst.
But Jon Stevenson cancelled that one out on 24 when he ghosted in past a static defence to net with a stooping header onto Chris Bettney's free kick.
Worksop began the brighter and it needed a superb challenge by Matt Fisher six minutes in to prevent Mark Wilson from getting a run in on goal.
However, neither keeper Greg Smith nor any of his defenders managed to clear Dempsey's free kick, and Worksop were ahead.
When Alfreton won a free kick at the other end two minutes later the home defence failed to clear their lines and Neil Ross got in a stooping header which keeper Adam Sollitt saved on his line to his left.
And after Bettney had displayed some typically tricky footwork, Ross' head was a whisker away from connecting with the cross in front of goal.
Dempsey and Glen Kirkwood both went close with good efforts as Worksop sought to stretch their lead, before Stevenson hauled the Reds level.
By this time Alfreton had taken the upper hand, with Lee Featherstone and Jason Blunt catching the eye, and Blunt sent a 30-yard free kick whistling just over the bar.
Michael Simpkins, who had a short spell on loan with Alfreton from Burton Albion last season, blocked a disappointingly tame Ross header on the line, and the hard-working Featherstone harried Dempsey into bringing him down in full flight along the left.
Then Sollitt kept the home side level with a brilliant tip over from Bettney's venomous rising 25-yard drive five minutes before the break.
The second half was tame in comparison, but Featherstone stretched a leg to make a crucial interception when Kirkwood's probing ball would have put Richard Carrington free on goal four minutes in.
There was some concern as Alfreton lost Stevenson (hamstring) and Bettney (back injury).
In between, one of the now rare goal chances was headed over by Ryan Clarke from Bettney's free kick.
But Dave Robinson breathed a sigh of relief at the other end when he sliced a clearance wide of his gaping own goal after Smith had come out to claim the ball.
Then, after Alfreton had looked the more likely to win it,, Dempsey rattled the post in the 90th minute and, with Featherstone off with a thigh strain, Kirkwood's injury time shot on the turn flew just wide.
MATCH DETAILS
WORKSOP: Sollitt, Nicholson, Davies, Dempsey, Jackson, Simpkins, Carrington (Cropper 57), Wilson, Thorpe, Kirkwood, Norton. Subs not used: Oldham, Hansen, Farmery, Ratcliffe.
ALFRETON: G. Smith, Clarke, Featherstone (Nwadike 90+1), Robinson, Blount, Turner, Bettney (Duffield 78), Fisher, Ross, Stevenson (Donovan 59), Blunt. Subs not used: Woolley, Bodkin.
REFEREE: Martin Dexter of Leicester.
ATTENDANCE: 496.
SCORERS: Worksop – Jackson 8. Alfreton – Stevenson 24.
CAUTIONS: Worksop – Dempsey 35 (foul on Featherstone). Alfreton – Fisher 50 (dissent).
REDS MAN OF THE MATCH: Lee Featherstone.