2005/06 season match No.30
Nationwide North
Saturday, January 21st, 2006
Alfreton Town 2, Worksop Town 1
Match report by Gordon Foster (Mansfield CHAD). Pics by Phil Lucic.

MICK Godber struck his 100th goal for Alfreton on Saturday against the club from which he returned in October, following his close-season move in the opposite direction.
Godber, who had insisted during the week that the Reds would comfortably avoid the drop, lashed home a superb volley on the turn from Paul Smith’s free kick to send the home fans wild with delight, and drag old arch-rivals Worksop Town closer to the relegation dogfight.
Godber had emerged from the bench in the 36th minute as Alfreton switched from 4-3-3 to 4-4-2 following Worksop’s opening goal on the half hour.
Skipper Paul Dempsey had fired the Tigers ahead from the edge of the box when the home defence failed to clear their lines from a throw-in, but Michael Rankine hauled Alfreton level 11 minutes later.
The winner was Godber’s third goal in two games, and his milestone strike had a touch of the spectacular about it, earning the praise of his manager.
Gary Mills commented afterwards: “I’m delighted for Mick – and what a good goal as well! I’ve brought Paul Smith into the side for his quality at set plays, and now all our dead ball situations are ones in which we look likely to score off. Mick kept his eye on the ball and it was a magnificent finish.”
It was also the Reds’ third successive victory, their second in the league, and Mills is at one with the fans in hoping that this is the start of the recovery.
“We had to start somewhere,” he added, “ and after our results in the first half of the season, to take two league wins and six points in a week is massive.
Worksop arrived seven points ahead of us and it would have been 10 if they had won, but now its only four.
“However, let’s remember that three wins in a week is all we’ve achieved, and there is still a lot of work to be done.”
Mills was also unstinting in his praise for debutant keeper Simon Rayner, on a month’s loan from Lincoln City.
“He’s confident that he’s going to get to every ball that comes in to his area, and his handling, kicking, and domination of his area were superb,” enthused Mills.
It is certainly to be hoped that Rayner will be allowed to stay longer, because the confidence he radiated bred confidence in the men in front of him.
The heart would have certainly given Godber man of the match, but both he and Rayner were outdone on the day for that honour by Lee Featherstone, who kept a tight rein on the normally troublesome Mark Wilson, to the point where the Tigers’ winger was ultimately withdrawn.
The game made a lively start with corners traded inside the first two minutes, Rayner having an early chance to impose himself with a clean catch before 60 seconds had elapsed.
Rankine, who has added a touch of ‘oomph’ to the front line, outjumped even the arms of Adam Sollitt in the third minute, but unfortunately could not guide his downward far post header onto Chris Bettney’s accurate cross on target.
Tony Crane’s looping header landed on the roof of the Alfreton net three minutes later as the busy opening continued.
Featherstone got in on the act with a strong run and driven centre which was well parried, and then made two excellent blocks from Crane’s attempted crosses at the other end, the second at the expense of a corner from which the Worksop striker’s bullet header was well held by Rayner under the bar.
Worryingly, Worksop were beginning to take the upper hand, and Dempsey blasted them into the lead with a low drive from the edge of the area.
The Tigers had optimistic penalty appeals turned down five minutes later when Blake Norton went down under Mark Hume’s challenge, but Hume was in trouble seconds later for a two-footed lunge on Norton which earned him his third consecutive league booking since his return. Having missed Hume for so long, the last thing Alfreton want is to lose him again to suspension, and he will have to watch his step in the coming weeks.
Mills’ 4-3-3, which had come up with the goods against Hednesford a week earlier, was not working this time, though, so he opted to make the switch, sending on Godber.
And the substitute was involved in the Reds’ 41st-minute equaliser, with a deft touch onto Rayner’s long clearance to set up a shot from the right by Rankine, which Sollitt could only help into his own net.
Worksop controlled the early part of the second half and for a time they looked the more likely to get the winner, as the home side struggled to click back into gear.
Referee Mark Swift also got himself noticed with a succession of bookings, which may have pleased the watching assessor but did little to endear him to the supporters of either side.
However, he did reject Worksop’s penalty appeals when they claimed hands against Featherstone.
Alfreton eventually regained their composure again, and Godber’s 77th-minute goal was the icing on the cake, the ‘happily ever after’ part of the fairy tale.
But the happy ending could have been snatched away. Rayner did flap at a corner a minute later, and fortunately Mark Turner was on hand to clear from under the bar and preserve the lead.
Then Worksop were unlucky not to equalise in the 88th minute when Tony Crane lashed the ball against the post. They will have gone away feeling what Alfreton have felt so often this season, that when you are struggling your luck is right out too.
And their woe was compounded after the final whistle when Michael Simpkins was red-carded for foul language to the referee.
However, Lady Luck did see fit to smile on the Reds on this occasion, and maybe the hopes that this mini-run will spark the recovery, which Godber himself had predicted in midweek, are on their way to being realised.
ALFRETON: Rayner, Clarke, Featherstone, D. Robinson, Hume, Fisher (Blunt 58), Bettney, Powell (Godber 36), Rankine, Turner, P. Smith. Subs not used: Duffield, Stevenson, G. Smith.
WORKSOP: Sollitt, Nicholson, Davies, Thorpe, Miller, Simpkins, Wilson (Carrington 67), Dempsey, Crane, Norton, Jackson (Owens 60). Subs not used: Kirkwood, I. Robinson, Ratcliffe.
REFEREE: Mark Swift of Grimsby.
ATTENDANCE: 367.
SCORERS: Alfreton – Rankine 41; Godber 77. Worksop – Dempsey 30.
CAUTIONS: Alfreton – Hume 35 (foul on Norton); Fisher 53 (foul on Crane); Robinson 61 (foul on Owens); Rankine 73 (dissent). Worksop – Wilson 55 (foul on Smith).
DISMISSAL: Simpkins (post-match, foul and abusive language).
MAN OF THE MATCH: Lee Featherstone.