Report by North Derbyshire Radio’s Senior Football Correspondent Ben Smith
There was nothing to split two North Derbyshire neighbours on Saturday, as Alfreton Town and Chesterfield played out a 1-1 pre-season draw at the Impact Arena.
Chey Dunkley opened the scoring for the away side and that was an advantage which held for much of the game until Billy Fewster’s fine finish 12 minutes from time.
This latest friendly marked a first for the Spireites since their a training camp in southern Spain, and they were greeted by contrastingly bleak weather as they returned to action in North Derbyshire.
Paul Cook’s side recorded an 8-3 victory over Gibraltarian outfit Europa Point during their overseas excursion and showed little sign of needing time to reacclimatise as they hit their stride early again here.
Dylan Duffy and Armando Dobra both forced saves from home ‘keeper George Willis inside 15 minutes before Dunkley did indeed find a way through on 22.
The defender saw his initial headed effort also denied by Willis following a clever corner routine, but would be on hand to slam in the rebound from close range.
That was enough to give the visitors the advantage at half-time, with the only real disappointment of their first 45 being an injury sustained by Devan Tanton.
Ofton would fire off a warning shot as play resumed after the interval, and it was one that forced Zach Hemming into his first true action of the game.
From there though the game did settle back into its familiar pattern, with Duffy and Dobra both going close again to getting on the scoresheet, as the former was only denied by an offside flag which was fiercely disputed by the away bench.
That was all, however, until minute 78 when Fewster fired home following a long-throw to level things up.
Amid a series of substitution breaks the hosts would then see things out relatively comfortably, collecting a commendable result against a side two tiers further up the pyramid.
Championship opposition await both of these sides in their next pre-season test, with Alfreton Town hosting Stoke City (Friday July 25) and Chesterfield welcoming Sheffield United (Saturday July 26.)
