Four fixtures against teams occupying the top eight places saw FC Halifax Town collect an impressive 10 points. Now go up against a struggling 19th placed Alfreton fighting for survival – with just one victory since the turn of the new year.
Away from the football, the town itself is believed to be founded by King Alfred – who allegedly had a house on King Street. Continuing with the theme of royalty, the town received a special visitor in 1992 when The Princess of Wales herself Diana opened the Riddings Park Community Centre.
33 years prior to this saw the formation of Alfreton Town – the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfreton United, taking the name of a previous club that had played in the Midland League in the 1920s.
North Street, or the Impact Arena, has been the home of Alfreton Town since launch – housing 3,600 with 1,500 seats. The travelling Shaymen faithful will be housed in the open ‘Tin End’ terrace at one end of the ground. This end can accommodate around 1,200 supporters.
Last weekend saw the FA Cup 4th round fixtures take place. The cup continued to throw up a non-league surprise with Lincoln City ending their 130 year wait to reach the fifth round. Alfreton’s best performance in the oldest cup competition was the second round back in 2008–09 and 2012–13 seasons. They succumbed to a 4-0 defeat against Scunthorpe United and a 4-2 defeat when they hosted Leyton Orient.
Returning to the league- their highest finish on the football pyramid was 11th in the Conference (now the National League) in 2013-14 under the guidance of manager Nicky Law.
Law is now in his tenth season of working at the club- however his tenure was almost cut short in 2008 when he almost made the switch to Bradford Park Avenue. However, Bradford Park cancelled the move at the last minute and were forced to apologize to the club.
Nicky began his playing career in Arsenal’s youth system before spells at Barnsley, Blackpool, Plymouth Argyle, Notts County, Scarborough, Rotherham United, Chesterfield and Hereford United.
When he swapped boots for dugout – he spent a season at Chesterfield where he led them to second and automatic promotion into League Two. After poor spells at Bradford and Grimsby, Law took Alfreton up into the Conference as champions in 2011.
The current boss sanctioned the club’s biggest transfer fee of 150,000 that year defender Aden Flint, however he only went on to make 30 appearances across two seasons before moving onto Swindon Town after a temporary loan spell during his time with The Reds.
Another former player Ryan France made 199 appearances for the club before switching to Hull City in 2005. He was part of the club’s progression into the Premier League in 2008/2009 season – however only managed to appeared twice in the top flight for the Tigers. However, it’s worth noting that his games were against Arsenal and Chelsea!
We hope that you can join us at North Street for Tuesday night’s game – however we will be providing full match coverage of the game via Shaymen Player and social media should you be unable to travel.
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