​Mentality is key for Alfreton Town boss in battle for success

That can apply to having the kind of mentality needed to play for Heath himself, as well as that required to successfully integrate into Alfreton Town as a club and as a squad.

And with Heath readily admitting that the Reds are one of the more ‘unfashionable’ clubs at National League North level, he’s absolutely fine with that.

He said: “I turned down very good players in the summer because they just didn’t have the right mentality to play for me or the club.

"The ones we brought in do have that, showed that from the start and have fitted into the group we already had very well.

"It always take time to understand what we do and how we play, and that’s still ongoing, but the results speak for themselves in terms of how well the team has already gelled.”

Alfreton are, once again, mixing it at the top of the National League North.

They sit fifth in the early standings, following on from finishing in that very same spot last season before being beaten in the play-offs on penalties by the eventually-promoted Boston United.

And Heath says that after a blip to start things off, he’s been very happy with how things have gone so far.

He said: “It’s fair to say we’ve done really well. League-wise, the opening day of the season was our only defeat and our worst performance so far, but apart from that we’ve had some good results.

"Our away form is good, while our home form continues to be fantastic and I think it’s been about a year and around 19 games since we lost on our own patch.

“We’ve still got lots of work to do and there are lots of areas where we can improve, but we’re in a good place at the moment and hopefully we can keep away from too many injuries as we’ve had pretty much a full squad to choose from thus far.”

Heath, as always, was keen to do his summer business of retaining, releasing and recruiting early, managing to keep a large number of last season’s squad and supplement them with some new faces.

He said: “It’s how I operate. I don’t like to go in with wholesale changes if I can avoid it because you lose a lot of continuity and that can count for a lot when you’re coming off the back of a good season.

"Signing so many from last season was paramount and we then added a few more that I felt would make a difference.”

As was highlighted by Heath, the opening day defeat at Southport was the only loss of the campaign so far, with wins against sides including Needham Market, King’s Lynn, Farsley Celtic and Kidderminster Harriers soon following.

Heath added: “We’ve done well although we drew a couple of games where I felt we should have held on to leads.

"The Kidderminster game was particularly pleasing because we’d played 120 minutes in the FA Cup four days previously and then went to one of the league favourites and beat them 1-0 on their own patch.

"That’s about character and the willingness to go through lots of situations and boundaries, fatigue being one of them. These are the kinds of obstacles you have to overcome.”

The winter months will, as always, sort the strong from the weak on many levels but Heath is confident his side has what it takes to come out the other side in a similar position to where they are now.

He said: “The challenge is to come through winter. Last season was so impressive because we had the FA Cup run [Alfreton reached the second round proper before being beaten by Walsall] and when you consider we’re a part-time side with one of the smallest squads, it shows how well we’ve done in training Tuesdays and Thursdays, having the FA Cup run and still reaching the play-offs.

"It will be as difficult this year. I’ve said all along that there are probably 15 teams that could finish anywhere from fourth to 14th, and we are among those.

"If you’ve got a good group with the right drive and mentality then you should have a good season. If you get a couple of injuries to two or three then a club like us can have problems, but we’ve been magnificent so far and have played some of the fancied teams already and yet are fifth in the league.

"You can only take one game at time at this level, not like higher up where you can plan four weeks ahead. Every game, I pick the best eleven that I think will win the game, which might be dictated by the opposition sometimes, but the next game is all that matters.

"We’re not one of the big clubs in this league with bells and whistles, we have to do a lot, which is what makes our achievements every year so pleasing.”

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