Alfreton Town aiming to end goal drought against side who nearly shocked West Ham United

A 5-0 loss at Bradford (Park Avenue) on February 5 was followed by a 0-0 draw at home to Kettering Town three days later, before league leaders Gateshead arrived at the Impact Arena last weekend and ran out 4-0 winners.

So as the Reds prepare to now visit another full-time side that were seconds away from beating Premier League high-flyers West Ham United in the FA Cup nearly a fortnight ago, boss Billy Heath knows his side will have to be at their best.

He said: “Kidderminster are a very tough full-time team and tick a lot of boxes and a have a lot of good players, particularly their front four but the whole team is a good outfit.

"So it’ll be a tough game but what we need to do is go there and be harder to break down, harder to play through and stop conceding cheap goals.”

Looking back on Saturday’s defeat to high-flying Gateshead, Heath took some heart from his team’s display despite the scoreline.

Gateshead opened the scoring in the 21st minute after Daniel Greenfield and Adam Campbell combined well to provide forward Cedwyn Scott an easy finish from close range.

A couple of minutes later, Scott doubled his account for the day after a ball over the defence was brilliantly controlled by the forward who cut in on his right and his shot slid underneath goalkeeper George Willis.

Alfreton improved after the break, having the ball in the net within the first three minutes, but Dayle Southwell was deemed offside from Bailey Hobson’s free-kick.

Gateshead extended their lead in the 73rd minute though after great wing-play by Macauley Langstaff saw him cut the ball back into the six yard box for Greg Olley to score.

A fourth goal for Gateshead shortly followed as Campbell’s shot was blocked at point-blank range but Langstaff had time in the box to shoot with his left into the far corner.

Heath said afterwards: “Obviously we’re disappointed. I said when we went to their place that they were the best side in this league and today hasn’t changed my mind in any way.

"We were too passive in the first-half. We knew what we wanted to do but were too passive, found it difficult to stay with the runners and found ourselves 2-0 down.

"I felt in the second-half we looked in good shape for the first 20-25 minutes but we had a goal disallowed, which I’d like to see back as it changes the course of the game if it’s given as we were pushing.

"Then we concede another two poor goals on the break which they’re very good at but it’s disappointing to get caught on the break twice.

"We’ve got a lot of work to do with some difficult games coming up and to go from keeping a clean sheet on Tuesday to conceding four on Saturday is really disappointing.”

Following the Kidderminster game, Alfreton will be on the road again three days later with a trip to Gloucester City, before returning home to face Curzon Ashton at home on February 26.