A point from an away game in your first outing for over five weeks should be considered decent reward. Not so for Blue Square North club Alfreton Town though.
The Reds found themselves hugely disappointed at having to share the spoils from Tuesday night’s trip to Solihull Moors when the hosts equalised in the 3rd minute of stoppage time at the end of the second half.
Assistant-manager Russ O’Neill was a very frustrated man after the game. He reflected: “We are massively frustrated because it is a definite case of two points dropped.
“Considering the long lay-off, we were excellent in the first half and carved out four or five very good chances. The game should have been dead and buried.
“We had a stone wall penalty denied when Anthony Howell was brought down in the second half but, after creating and not taking further chances, you are always susceptible to a counter and that’s what happened in the end.
“To be totally honest, we tended to go too long, too early in the second half with the wind behind us.
“At the end of the day though we have got to be far more ruthless at both ends of the pitch - and it’s not just the taking of chances, we need clean sheets as well, we needed to get the ball away from our end of the pitch and paid the price for not doing so.
“We have got to be aiming for an average of two points a game to the end of the season to have any chance of finishing in the play-offs.
“We have now got to pick ourselves up and go to Vauxhall Motors this Saturday and get something there.
“We have told the players that the season starts again now. Everybody gets carried away with looking at the league table up to Christmas, but that counts for nothing. We have got all the hard work to do between now and the end of the season.”
The Solihull game saw debuts for two players with former Eastwood Town Chris Shaw (pictured) finally making his bow at left-back
O’Neill ended: “Both boys did really well. Shawy has got a very good left foot and he gave us some good aggression and balance on that side of the pitch.
“Jake Moult put in a really good performance on his debut and, despite being booked very harshly early on, he didn’t let it bother him. He is a very good prospect.”
Moult was only signed on Monday of this week from league rivals Stafford Rangers and at just 20, he has plenty of time to develop.
Also signing on Monday was right-sided midfield player Jack Muldoon from Glapwell. He had to be content with a place on the bench on Tuesday night.
