One F In Ofton

Walsall  1  Alfreton Town  0

FA Cup – Second Round (Replay)

Admission / Programme – £15 / £2

When the final whistle blew at Alfreton Town’s Impact Arena the previous Tuesday evening, I was in no doubt, I was going to be heading to the Bescot Stadium to watch the Reds in a richly deserved replay at League Two Walsall.

The first game had been somewhat controversial, in the sense that the original game, scheduled to be live on BBC, was postponed due to a frozen pitch, just moments before the kick off. A sell out capacity crowd was in place, but it seems the Walsall Manager, Mat Sadler, got his way and convinced the referee that it was too dangerous to play. Billy Heath, the Alfreton gaffer, had a very different view on things.

Anyway, as disappointing as that was for all involved with the Reds, and for the BBC for that matter who had to quickly bugger about with the scheduling, the re-arranged game was set for the following Tuesday, and that was deemed as a pay on the gate game, which was perfect from my own point view as I could attend.

The game ended goalless but in fairness to Alfreton, other than a couple of spells in the first half, they were more than deserving of another shot at it, and in the end it was the visitors who were the happier to hear the final whistle.

So, the Bescot Stadium beckoned, Mark sold out two supporters buses, fielding numerous calls as we travelled together to Horsham the previous Saturday, whereas I decided to drive down to a ground that I’d only ever previously visited on the one occasion. It was November 1998 and again it was the FA Cup, the visitors were Gresley Rovers and they went down 1-0 to a late Ian Roper goal.

I have to say, the journey down was a shocker, leaving Sheffield at 4pm I thought I’d breeze it, but a pretty serious looking accident at Markeaton Island in Derby caused significant hold ups, whereas the torrential rain that fell pretty much all the way from Derby down to Lichfield didn’t help matters either. By the time I was pulling into the Bescot Railway Station car park, it was getting on for 6.45pm. Mark’s supporters busses, which left Alfreton at 5pm only arrived ten minutes before kick off!

My memories of the Bescot, a ground built in 1989 to replace the old Fellows Park which was less than quarter of a mile away, and now the site of a Morrisons, are pretty sketchy, but since my one and only visit they have actually constructed a new stand behind the North goal, a three tier structure plus some executive boxes, that dwarves the rest of the ground.

The rest of the ground is made up of three single tier seated stands, with the main stand having some corporate boxes to the rear. The away fans sit (stand) behind the South goal, while the East stand, and the two upper tiers of the North stand were closed for the game. It’s a tidy and functional ground, with plenty of car parking around it, and to be fair, it sits right next to the M6, and with the train station being adjacent, access to it is pretty simple depending on your preferred method of transport.

The ground is cashless, so after going to the ticket office to purchase a piece of paper for the sum of £15, it was round to the away end and into the small concourse area that served as the away fans bar. Again, card only, but with many Alfreton fans late arriving at the ground due to the traffic issues, queueing wasn’t a problem. A crowd of just over 2,000 were in attendance with just under 400 of those having travelled down the A38. The atmosphere was all in one end, with the ‘Ofton’ fans in great voice as always. The fact that they were penned into two thirds of the stand helped on that front with the fans close together as opposed to being spread out.

The game got off to the worst possible start for the Reds when an unlucky deflection allowed Jamille Matt to score from close range after just five minutes. It was just the start Alfreton didn’t need, and, you hoped at that point it wouldn’t be a case of the floodgates opening.

I’d not been impressed by Walsall in the previous game, I thought they lacked quality and were low on confidence, but, they recorded an impressive win the following Saturday at Notts County, an outcome few outside of the Black Country predicted. With that result under their belts, and an early goal, what could happen next?

Well, Alfreton regrouped and grew into the game, and very much like the first match, chances for either side were few and far between, and with the Reds support rallying round the team, the score line remained the same at half time.

It was good to catch up with Mark, Lee and a few of the lads at half time, lads I first met at the age of eleven, and forty years later, we are still in touch, still watching football matches, still meeting up from time to time for the odd pint, still wondering at what age you need to grow up and start to behave yourself!

The second half saw Alfreton attacking the end that housed their fans, and to be fair, much like the second period of the first game, Alfreton grew in terms of possession and used their main threat which is an aerial one into the danger area. Walsall had worked out that they needed to avoid giving away throw ins in the final third, so Alfreton’s best hope came from corners and diagonals into the box, but to be fair to Walsall they pretty much got on the end of everything. In fact, I can’t recall a notable attempt on goal from Alfreton despite the ball spending long periods in the Walsall defensive areas.

At the final whistle the run was over, Walsall head to St Mary’s to play Southampton, Alfreton can look back on a memorable experience, and can now focus on the main prize which is the National League North play-off race.

I made a sharp exit at the final whistle, as the Reds players and supporters saluted each other, which meant I was away from the area in double quick time, and, turning the key in the door almost bang on an hour after I left the stadium. 

Normally, when I visit a ground and compose a blog, it’s all about the home club, their history, the experience as a fan, but sorry Walsall, this was all about Alfreton, it could only ever be that way.

In the words of the song, heard occasionally on the terraces at North Street - "There's only one F in Ofton....."