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Post by hatter_in_macc on Dec 24, 2017 1:24:02 GMT
Just starting this one now, before things of a Christmassy nature get too busy!
Post all the usual stuff here, ahead of, and on, Boxing Day...
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Dec 24, 2017 1:27:14 GMT
And here is my 'Take Five' piece for COWS, to cover the festive 'double-header' fixtures:
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TAKE FIVE… Alfreton Town
By Hatter in Macc
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!
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Post by hermannsays on Dec 24, 2017 22:31:16 GMT
The last game we watched was the draw against Southport in the FA so 3 pts and a bit of decent football on Boxing Day would erase that one from our minds! Merry Christmas to Heaveners near and far - will post from the game and try to contribute properly (if it was ever proper!) in another month or so. Should any staff or players (and their families) read the board, Merry Christmas to you all too!
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Dec 24, 2017 23:41:04 GMT
Good to see you back, H. A very Happy Christmas to you, too - and to all other fellow Heaveners!  |
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Dec 25, 2017 16:32:50 GMT
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Post by jimboslovechild on Dec 25, 2017 19:17:57 GMT
I'll be at the game tomorrow, my first and only game of the season. Desperate for a good result!
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Post by gazz on Dec 25, 2017 21:35:24 GMT
I'll be at the game tomorrow, my first and only game of the season. Desperate for a good result! I hope you brought some of that famous German efficiency over with you, mate - a slice of luck wouldn't go amiss either! |
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Dec 26, 2017 20:00:13 GMT
my first game in over a month - just haven't felt compelled to make the journeys even when i'd originally intended to. not quite the usual match report, in that i...err...did one at half time. thought i'd nip home for the liverpool game after county and just miss a decent chunk of the first half but alfreton's travel planning rather put the mockers on that until i hatched my shameful plan. i'm also in work tomorrow and was pulling faces when i heard the delay announcement on imagine. my cousin's been saying he'll get his daughter to send me a map so i can find edgeley park...so i thought i'd better reclaim my birthsentence for a least one half of football before crossing back into god's c*nty.
we started strongly, with two early crosses badly letting a well positioned darren stephenson down, one from oswell who sent it long when anything else would have sufficed, and one from kallum mantack. mantack was looking very lively, but a bit like he was trying to be the pre-2017/18 raheem sterling, where everything was decent until the end product. stephenson then played a cross-cum-shot, which oswell should have scored from (stabbed at and missed from a yard out) and then mantack should also have scored from (hit the post from similarly close in). thought oswell looked a little bit off it today in the 45 minutes i saw, but then he's probably allowed a less than stellar game.
the game was all county - alfreton looked like a nothing side - but we needed to put the ball away. the goal came from some good work down the left, but i've forgotten who. the most likely suspects are stephenson or duxbury. the ball was pulled across to mantack advancing at the far post. looked like their player might have blocked if he shot first time, but he cut inside his man before hitting it. the ball still took a nick off one of their players but rose into the net. decent bit of play from mantack, finding his end product afterall. alfreton offered virtually nothing, although one of theirs still got a shot away which hinchliffe had to be very quickly down to his right to get both hands on and tip past the post.
and that is where i leave you. listened to the second half until the signal went at the roof of the world. sounded as though hinchliffe bailed us out again from a one-on-one, and both jon keighren and his co-commentator thought their lad should have seen red for the tackle that ended mantack's afternoon. hope it's not too bad, but it was apparently an ankle injury for which he needed to go straight to hospital, so it didn't sound too good - the co-commentator thought that the next time we see mantack, he'd be in plaster.
a reasonably happy return to the fold for me. will have to see if i feel the same after the crass of '92 next week at EP (i don't fancy a quick return to derbyshire on new year's day as i've just spent two -admittedly happy- days there).
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Post by hermannsays on Dec 26, 2017 20:02:01 GMT
With Stopforth in as a #10 and Mantack (a full back still learning the 'final ball') offering our most progressive width, the team sheet looked like an away team sheet to me and suggested we should be pretty solid today if a little lacking in final third quality (with the exception of Oswell and Stephenson). So, I guess it wasn't too surprising that the first half played out as it did - almost total dominance but only a 1-0 score line.
Alfreton offered nothing in the first 45 as Stopforth pressed high up the pitch, forcing them to go long with aimless balls or to try to play under pressure (beyond their abilities) leading to easy turnover. The only 'moment' Alfreton got in the 1st half was when Winter was caught on the ball leading to them breaking onto our central defence and getting a shot off which forced a corner. The corner saw a bit of a scramble but nothing came of it.
At the other end, and from the off, we had got into scoring positions time and time again only for crosses not to find a man. Mantack lacked the final ball in from the wide area and hit the post when it looked easier to score while Oswell was not at the races at all. Smalley headed his free header over the bar from a corner, Ball had a couple of decent long range efforts and Stephenson was running the ball nicely. Ball was having an excellent first half - partly because we saw so much ball so his defensive duties were limited but mostly because Winter was alongside him. With that extra player, he was more free to play to his own strengths (running the ball, and joining midfield and attack higher up the pitch). After his performance as a deeper attacking midfielder against Alty last season, it still looks like that's really what brings out the best from him.
A minute after I commented to Mini-Herm that Mantack may well get pulled at HT for Thomas or McKenna, he scored! Stephenson will get the assist (mainly because he actually slid the ball across very nicely!) but Stopforth was key. With the ball out for a throw, he ran into space and demanded to receive it and it was from him that Stephenson was slipped in to centre the ball. Mantack appeared to have missed his chance to shoot on his favoured right foot after pulling it back onto his left... but no... in it went.
Winter, on a booking (one of those where, even if he was slipping, it could have been red if he had made contact), was withdrawn at HT which meant Stopforth went to play much deeper and Dixon came on. With Dixon and Stephenson part of the front 3, and even for them putting in a few tackles, our ability to press was now reduced leading to Alfreton seeing more of the ball and being able to move it through midfield a bit more. Mantack was hacked down leading to him being stretchered off. Thomas came on and did ok but we didn't really get at their left back with sufficient venom to force him into too many more tackles which would likely have seen them reduced to 10. We started to give some soft fouls away and errors were creeping in as a few players began to look mentally tired.
Alfreton managed to break onto our back line a few times. On the first occassion, Stopforth would have been best pulling down the opponent and taking a yellow rather than to let them run at our CBs but... fair play and all that... it took Hinchliffe to save 1-on-1 to stop what should have been the equaliser. A couple of other times Smalley found himself unprotected and having to deal with a nippy player running directly at him - to be fair, he managed both situations as best as you could expect a slower defender to manage a faster attacker.
Thankfully, on a day when Oswell was as poor as he's been (no hold up, link up or finishing on show) we've come away with the points and know that when he plays anywhere near his level, and when Warburton returns, we'll find the net from the passages of play crafted in the first half. Anyway, I've come away grateful that we don't have an average NLN 'keeper in net and we have the tireless 'can do' mentality of Stopforth in the team. Both deserved to share MOM in my view.
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Post by another_ruined_saturday on Dec 26, 2017 20:08:14 GMT
thanks for filling in the blanks herm  forgot about smalley's free header - like mantack's effort against the post it was one of those that has you saying 'missing these is going to be costly', but fortunately, due to having a decent custodian and a poorish opposition, it wasn't. |
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Post by hermannsays on Dec 26, 2017 20:26:04 GMT
And on Mantack... yup, onto the stretcher and straight to the Pop/CE exit for a hospital visit by the look of it. That'll be Keane's 9th booking of the season but, on seeing it from some distance away, it probably was 'just' a yellow but unfortunately Mantack's leg was planted when he was hit. They threw in a couple of other completely unnecessary fouls too in the 2nd half when balls were going out of play... the coward ones when the opponent can't see you coming. Good luck to the lad on a full and quick recovery.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2017 20:40:28 GMT
I thought the challenge on Mantack was thoroughly deserving of a straight red. Completely reckless, no chance of getting near the ball and straight through the side of him where as pointed out, he couldn't see it coming and take evasive action. Similar to the one that nailed Warburton at Brackley. Very pleased that Hinchliffe was awake on the 1 v 1. Having had a 4 hour trip to get to the game I'd have been v narky if we'd dropped more points having been on top a la Curzon on Saturday.
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Post by hatter_in_macc on Dec 27, 2017 0:00:49 GMT
Really bad - and sad - news about Mantack. He will not play again this season...
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Post by dudleyhatter on Dec 27, 2017 0:02:56 GMT
That’s not good. Best wishes for his recovery
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Post by Deleted on Dec 27, 2017 7:24:43 GMT
Wow, that's months of recovery. The dislocation is the worst part as I can testify from very painful experience. A dislocated shoulder finished my participation in sport because the torn and ruptured muscle and tendon never recovered to it's pre-injury condition. Hopefully the areshole who dished it out is proud of himself.
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