County host Alfreton Town on Boxing Day 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. So, Alfreton – the final team we have yet to face so far this season, I think?
Correct. And if, by chance, you’ve been pining for those ‘Reds’, you’re in for a treat, as they take their turn to be County’s opponents twice within six days for the festive ‘double-header’ matches.
- 2. Not quite local rivals for the time of year!
True enough. But rather closer to SK3, geographically speaking, than the Boxing and New Year’s Day opposition – namely, Harrogate (twice) and Colwyn Bay – allocated to us by the National League North’s fixtures-computer over the last three seasons! And unlike Bradford Park Avenue, who are the one other side we have faced for these fixtures whilst in the NLN, Alfreton’s county (Derbyshire) does at least border ours.
That said, 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 County diehards may, however, recall a 2005 pre-season friendly at North Street (or the Impact Arena, 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 seasons in the Central Alliance, Alfreton Town forged up through the Midland League (where an unrelated 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 recently, 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 McIntosh (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.
The respective squads over the forthcoming holiday period are also likely to contain one player from each club who has previously played for the other. Ex-Hatter Chris Sharp (2014/15) has been part of the Reds’ attack this term, since moving to North Street in the summer. And County’s Oldham loanee Kallum Mantack was this time last year on loan from the ‘Latics’ at Alfreton.
- 5. What does history tell us about the likely scorelines on 26 December and 1 January?
Before last season, quite a lot – at least, potentially. Three league encounters at Edgeley Park had yielded a meagre pair of goals, while those in Derbyshire witnessed one net or the other bulge on no fewer than 15 occasions. But both patterns went out of the window for 2016/17, when our opening-day encounter in SK3 saw County edge a seven-goal thriller and the return fixture produce nothing more than a one-all stalemate! Still, this time around, it is Christmas, so we should be assured of a veritable two-legged festive feast of football – right, gang? Not ‘Alf!
