Ilkeston Line up:-

Ross Turner saves the penalty	Ilkeston celebrate	Players salute the fans

Ilkeston Town made the short journey to high riding Alfreton Town as rank outsiders in this Derbyshire Senior Cup Quarter Final tie. The task was made more awesome by the fact that Alfreton fielded their strongest eleven whilst the Robins were without Tony Brown, David Jervis and Andy Evans.

In the opening minutes it appeared that the visiting fans worst fears were to come true as Alfreton started in swashbuckling fashion. Mick Goddard looked to be a different class and Mick Godber hit the bar. With a combination of lady luck, stout defending and excellent keeping from the improving Ross Turner Ilkeston held out and weathered the early storm.

Indeed it was the Robins who took the lead against the run on 12 minutes when Marc Laws (pictured left) picked the ball up from a Paul Eshelby and coolly slotted home a crisp shot from 20 yards. 

Alfreton continued to have the bulk of the possession but Ilkeston sat back and soaked up the pressure and could have easily doubled their lead when Adam Baum shot narrowly wide just before the break.

After the break Alfreton stepped up a gear and penned Ilkeston back in their own half. Ross Turner made an excellent save from John Knapper but his luck deserted him on 78 minutes when Mark Blount scored with a header from a corner. 

The Robins were happy to force the game into extra time but were nearly undone when Chris Dolby came close for Alfreton. The inevitable Alfreton goal came at the start of the second period of extra time when Mark Blount sprayed an excellent 40 yard ball out to Chris Dolby who beat his man and crosed for Chris Goddard to force the ball home. Ilkeston looked to be down and out but four minutes later James Tevendale crossed for Paul Eshelby to head home the equaliser to send the game into a dramatic concluding penalty competition.

Alfreton saw John Knapper, Grant Brown, Tony Hemmings  and John Godber convert their spot kicks and Michael Lyons, Daniel Holyoak, James Tevendale and  Marc Laws scored for Ilkeston. At 4-4 the stage was set for ex Alfreton keeper Ross Turner to become the hero when he faced Chis Goddard arguably the best player on the pitch. Turner guessed right and saved the spot kick. Craig Swinscoe raced from the centre circle to take the next spot kick and calmly slotted the ball past Lee Butler to give Ilkeston an unexpected but very sweet victory.

WhiteBallProject Man of the Match - Ross Turner - An excellent performance from a keeper who has grown in stature in the last two games and just pipped Craig Swinscoe who had an excellent game playing out of position at centre half.

Marc Laws makes a pass	Freestone just beaten by Butler	Alfreton clear their lines

Ilkeston should not really have had a prayer in this game and for spells they were completely outplayed but under Manager Phil Stant (pictured left) the Robins never give in. They grew in confidence and frustrated Alfreton with an effective patient 4-5-1 formation. Ilkeston attacked on the break and did exploit Alfreton lack of pace at the back. 

What made the win sweeter was that Alfreton are packed with ex Robins who are supposed to have left for more money and glory at North Street and that they are a good side. It was obvious why they are a force in the Northern Premier League especially with their combination of the quicksilver Chris Goddard and the gritty Mick Godber upfront.

There were some excellent performances from Ilkeston players particularly when you consider they lost there key man in John Burns after 40 minutes but Adam Baum, Aaron O'Connor, Marc Laws, Jo Atkinson and Danny Holyoak all stuck to their tasks.

Ilkeston will now hope to repeat the dose against Swindon Supermarine on Saturday and then it will be interesting if Ilkeston 4-5-1 formation will be used in the home fixture against Bromsgrove Rovers the following Saturday.