Alfreton were unable to defend their status as a Conference Premier side and are heading down a level after four years spent in the top echelon of non-league football. Something like that happening was hardly on the cards after an excellent previous season in which the Reds were a genuine play-off challenger until the closing stages of the season. But the loss of key personnel hurt the squad badly over the close season. John Akinde, the battering ram of a striker who carried the entire team in the previous year, Nicky Law, Shaun Harrad, Chris Westwood and Jon Worsnop all left over the summer and the manager had to re-build the squad extensively. He signed some decent players at this level like Luke Graham, Anthony Howell and Duane Courtney. But there was still work to be done in that aspect as the season already started and Alfreton definitely did not seem prepared. They lost a whooping seven games on the trot at the start of the campaign and soon found themselves playing catch-up at the foot of the table. Nicky Law started to rebuild things slowly after signing a few new players on loan and the team showed a lot more resilience and quality in the next month, picking up three wins in a row to move clear of the bottom four. But that would prove to be a brief sojourn out of the relegation places. There was just not enough flair, quality and creativity in the team and they were relying on muscular defending and wholehearted commitment too much. Karl Hawley proved to be the lead striker this season after arriving in September and he did get some goals on occasion. But there was little in the support act and Alfreton kept on losing too many games as the campaign developed. A run of nine defeats in 12 games over the autumn kept them firmly in the bottom four and with a real challenge at their hands to beat the drop. There was the odd tight win that kept them somewhat in contention but that was quickly followed by another shocking display, with a 5:1 defeat at the hands of Macclesfield an example of that. Law continued to search for reinforcements in his shallow squad over the winter and the likes of John Johnston and Jason Mooney proved good additions over the course of the campaign. There were finally signs of some improvement in terms of consistency after the turn of the year, as wins against Welling and Southport in the space of a few weeks lifted the Midlands side out of the bottom four for a first time in a while. It looked like it would be a very tight battle against the drop but one that Alfreton seemed to be winning after excellent wins at Dartford and AFC Telford on the road in March. In fact, the team seemed all but certain to stay up after going seven games without a loss and keeping clean sheets in five of these games. It seemed like there was finally balance and more momentum in the squad as a whole. But just when it looked like they had done enough, Alfreton collapsed by losing three games in a row and allowing Welling to catch them with a couple of games left. The two teams were level on points before Alfreton entertained them on the penultimate weekend. But the Reds had a much inferior goal difference and were obligated to win to give themselves a chance. They had the lead and were also a man up, only to throw it away and settle for only a 2:2 draw. It pretty much meant that relegation was certain as the visit to a superb Bristol Rovers resulted in a devastating 7:0 loss. Thus, Alfreton went down in an agonising and hugely disappointing manner and have a lot to rebuild in the coming season after a disastrous last nine months undid the excellent foundations laid before. But Law is a good and experienced manager and the Alfreton fans will trust him to get the team straight back up.
