- County visit Alfreton Town on Monday in a 3pm kick-off and, ahead of this Vanarama National League North tie, County Tweet-meister (as quoted on the BBC Tweet of the Week more than once) Gareth Evans has put together five factoids on our opponents for you.
1. A 90-odd-mile round trip to see in the New Year! Better set that alarm…
Good call (as it were…)! To be fair, though, the ‘Reds’ of Alfreton, as this season’s festive ‘double-header’ opponents for County, do lie rather closer to SK3, geographically speaking, than the clubs – namely, Harrogate (twice) and Colwyn Bay – allocated to us by the National League North for Box-ing and New Year’s Day matches over the last three seasons! And unlike Bradford Park
Avenue, who are the one other side we have faced in these fixtures since joining the NLN,
Alfreton’s county (Derbyshire) does at least border ours!
2. Even so, not quite local – or traditional – rivals for the time of year!
True enough, on both counts. There is relatively little by way of playing history between our two clubs prior to their coming together in non-league’s top tier, following County’s relegation from the Football League and Alfreton’s promotion as Conference North champions, just over six years ago. Some Hatters may, however, recall a 2005 pre-season friendly at North Street (or the Impact Are-na, if you will) that the Hatters, as a League Two outfit, won 5-2 against their hosts – thanks to a Jermaine Easter hat-trick, together with goals from Chris Williams and Michael Malcolm.
3. How had Alfreton been faring in the non-league world before that?
Pretty impressively – and within quite a short timescale, too. The club was only formed as recently as 1959, following a merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfreton United – just ahead of a time when the coal pits that provided the town’s principal industry were closing. After an initial two sea-sons in the Central Alliance, Alfreton Town forged up through the Midland League (where an unre-lated team of the same name had once plied its trade during the 1920s), the Northern
Counties East League and the Northern Premier League, before becoming – along with other
current NLN clubs Bradford PA, Gainsborough, Harrogate and Southport – founder members of the Conference North, a level to which the Reds returned in 2015 after four years in the Premier.
They are also nine-time winners of the Derbyshire Senior Cup – and, on lifting that trophy most re-cently, for 2015/16, happily joined County in some mutual congratulations after the Hatters had been triumphant in the Cheshire equivalent!
4. I am guessing that anyone playing for both clubs would only have done so recently?
Not entirely! Several players from our League days can claim to have done so – including the late Keith Alexander (at County in 1990), who turned out for Alfreton in the late 1970s, fellow former strikers Peter Duffield (1993), Bob Newton (1986) and Neil Ross (2000-03), defenders Martin McIn-tosh (1997-2000) and Jordan Rose (2010/11, first spell), and goalkeeper Matt Duke (2005). More recently, midfielders Paul Marshall (2013) and Lee Stevenson (2014, as a loanee from
Alfreton), as well as another keeper, Richard O’Donnell (2014), have also featured in each team.
Alfreton’s New Year’s Day squad may contain a couple of ex-Hatters in Chris Sharp (2014/15), who has been part of the Reds’ attack this term, since moving to North Street in the summer, and former County Youth winger Ryan Jennings (2010-12). Sadly, however, our Oldham loanee Kallum Mantack, who was this time last year on loan from the ‘Latics’ at Alfreton, will not, of course
feature – having suffered a season-ending broken fibula and dislocated ankle in the reverse-fixture on Boxing Day. Our thoughts, and our best wishes for a speedy recovery, are very much with him.
5. Hear, hear. Now then, is history on our side for a good start to the new year?
It could well be! Sweeping under the carpet County’s first competitive trip to Alfreton that led to a 6-1 thrashing in 2012, North Street has subsequently become a happier hunting ground for us – with two victories followed by last season’s one-all draw. Also, since dropping out of the Football League, the Hatters have yet to lose an away-match on New Year’s Day. Mind you, the outcomes are even-ly split between County wins (at Hyde and Colwyn Bay) and postponements (at Bradford and Har-rogate)! Looking at the weather forecast, an each-way bet may be advisable…
