On That Day, Alfreton Town Win Promotion and the Cup

 1^st May 1996, Alfreton Town had just beaten Holbeach Utd in the final of the Evans Halshaw Floodlit Cup 4-0 at the home of arch rivals Eastwood Town. Minutes before the trophy was presented the Alfreton contingent, which made up most of the 230 crowd, started celebrating wildly, much to the confusion of the competition officials who still had possession of the trophy and medals.

 

Match report of the Cup Final

The reason for the celebration lay in Pudsey, West Yorkshire, where Farsley Celtic ended Lincoln United’s promotion challenge, and aided the Reds, as they won 2-1 ensuring United couldn't overtake Alfreton in 2nd place.

For Alfreton Town, getting promotion to the NPL Premier Division was a major achievement at that time under the stewardship of Chairman, and former player, Sean Egan. The appointment of Paul Mitchell and Danny Hague in February 1992 as the management duo was the catalyst for making Alfreton such a formidable side in the mid 1990’s culminating in the promotion which was celebrated so joyously that night in Eastwood.

The promotion season started with a resounding 5-1 over the team that finished 1 place above the Reds the previous season, Warrington Town. There were some bumps on the road to promotion, losing a 2-0 lead at home to Worksop in a 2-2 draw and more surprisingly, a 2-1 defeat at home to Atherton LR in the next game.

 

The Alfreton Town programme cover for 1995/96

Results got back on track with a quick double over Harrogate Town and 4 were put past Lincoln Utd, in the Unibond League Cup, a game which saw the return of winger Paul Eshelby from injury, annoyingly suffered in a trial at Barnsley. By the end of September the Reds were 4^th.

The League table at the end of September.

October saw just 1 league defeat (0-1 at Farsley) as the Reds played 8 games in this month and saw the FA’s top guy, Graham Kelly, on the ground for the 5-0 FA Trophy drubbing of Congleton Town. Kelly was a football supporter and during his tenure at the FA visited lots of non –league games using the early rounds of the Cup, Trophy and Vase to get some groundhopping in. No fuss was sought, he just wanted to visit the club and if memory serves me right he came to the game with his wife.

It was around this time that the old club shop, basically a shed, suffered fire damage but this didn’t stop Brian and Mark Thorpe from selling their stock. The shop is still going, and in new premises from the pic below, and one of the best in non-league football. Ever popular with visitors so much work has gone in over the years to provide a continuous flow of goods and funds for the club. At this time the club were relying on burger vans for supporter refreshments, the refreshment building (below) was built for the 1996/97 season and food sales came back in-house.

 

The Alfreton Town club shop, to the left of the new refreshment block

November saw no let up in the amount of games and the only disappointment being the 2-0 defeat at Dudley Town in the FA Trophy 2^nd Qualifying replay. The game saw Alfreton down to ten men after 14 minutes, by which time they were trailing 1-0, Bob Dawes being sent off for 2 yellows. On a frustrating night for the Reds they ended up with 6 bookings and a 2nd dismissal when Matt Walsh was sent off. The winning run in the league saw the Reds go 3 points clear at the top of the table following a 1-0 victory over Congleton Town despite a glut of injuries and suspensions. That win over Congleton was Alfreton’s first away win since early September. The biggest win of the season was the 9-1 beating of Heanor Town in the Derbyshire Senior Cup which came a few days after a surprise defeat at home to Whitley Bay.

The Chad report for Alfreton going top of the league.

 

Results were mixed at this time but the biggest shock of the season was the 6-1 home defeat at home to Lancaster City in mid-January. Lancaster had been deposed by the Reds just before Christmas and they were back in top spot prior to this game, they weren’t to relinquish this again and went up as worthy champions.

Steve Johnson scored Alfreton’s consolation that day against Lancaster in what turned out to be his last game for the club as he was to be involved in a controversial swap deal a fortnight later. 

Hague & Mitchell needed players in to bolster the promotion push particularly with the injuries mounting up.  Goalkeeper Paul Norton was facing a long lay-off so Phil Yeomans was brought in after a loan spell at Ashfield Utd. Scott Rowlands was signed from the same club but the big signing was Caine Cheetham from Premier Division neighbours Matlock Town.

The deal to get Caine here meant that we lost influential midfielder Steve Johnson who was suspended at the time of the transfer so Andy Glenister was loaned during the period of Johnson’s suspension.

 

The Derbyshire Times report the Cheetham/Johnson swap deal.

Reports at the time said that Johnson didn’t want to leave Alfreton and he never turned up for training at his new club, he wasn’t returning calls either. Someone from Matlock went to see him one Sunday, whether this was manager Imre Varadi isn’t confirmed, but the story goes that he wasn’t at home but they found him playing for his local Sunday side, whilst still under suspension. Johnson never played for the Gladiators but for Alfreton Town, Caine Cheetham went on to play 155 times and scored 95 goals. It was a great move for player and club but the deal was a bad one for Matlock Town, they lost their top scorer and were relegated at the end of the season. No-one could have foreseen how the deal would have worked out for our neighbours as they were getting a great player in Steve Johnson, the only problem being he didn’t want to go.

 

Caine Cheetham in middle of penalty area in 1998/99 season.

Cheetham, Yeomans and Rowlands all made their debut in the 4-0 home win over Gretna in early February. We lost just 2 more league games following the drubbing by Lancaster City, reached the semi-final of the Unibond League First Division Cup for the 3^rd consecutive season and won the Evans Halshaw Floodlit Cup. 

It was a great season for Alfreton Town which wasn't a rich club but the knowledge and experience of the management duo a committee led by Chairman Sean Egan who got stuck in to do maintenance work to ensure the ground was up to Premier Division standard and a small but growing supporter base who made for a great atmosphere at the Town Ground all helped make 1995/96 a memorable season for those that were priviledged to be there.

The front of the Chad Promotion Souvenir.

Chad article following promotion.

Final League Table, NPL Division 1 for 1995/96