Floodlit Pitch

  It’s 10 years ago today, 23 rd April 2011, that Alfreton Town completed the exceptional achievement of promotion to the Conference Premier Division. It was a season that they were by far the strongest side in the division after going close in the previous 2 seasons by reaching the Play Offs. It was also a remarkable achievement for a small town club.   Nicky Law and his team of Champions. After losing to Fleetwood Town in the Play Off Final the previous season it was no surprise to see Alfreton tipped to do well and they started with a narrow 1-0 home win over Hinckley Utd, who had finished a creditable 7 th the previous season. Keeper, Chris MacKenzie, 19 league appearances 11 clean sheets What really showed the Reds’ credentials were two 5-1 away wins, at Redditch Utd & Hyde, as they went on to gain all 24 points in the first 8 games. The worrying stat for the rest of the league being seven different scorers in those two games which brought 10 goals. They didn’t ju...

We left our travels involving Macclesfield Town in the pre-season of 2011/12 when the Macc lads beat Buxton in the Keith Alexander Memorial Cup but went on to be relegated out of the Football League that season. A floodlit Moss Rose in 2004/05 I must apologise as I left off stating there were 4 more games involving Macclesfield Town when in fact there are 5, so think of it as a bonus game. Our next meeting, with Macc, now an Alliance League/Conference/Skrill Premier (delete as applicable) club, was the final game of the 2013/14 season at Alfreton Town. Previous games between the two clubs had been while Macc were the higher ranked club but Alfreton were now on a par and finishing off what was their best ever season in the football pyramid. Alfreton had been top, very briefly, and were strong contenders for at least a play-off place.  An administrative error saw 3 points deducted, this, along with injuries to key players saw the season fizzle out and Alfreton finished 11 th , Macc...