Westcarr's late winner again

A clearance off the line by Kyron Stabana to deny Luke Shiels nine minutes from time appeared to have thwarted the Reds’ hopes of a comeback victory, but Moyses said he always thought a winning goal would come.

“Yes, always. We stuck out the task really well,” he said.

“it was a dogged performance. There was not a lot of pretty football played.

“We knew we had to be strong, physical and determined, and l think we were.”

Craig Westcarr hit the 86th-minute winner, repeating his dramatic late intervention in October when he also settled the clash between the two sides. The Reds won 3-2 on Tamworth’s artificial surface in the autumn and so Saturday’s success completed a double.

On Saturday Darryl Knights struck first for the visitors in the 26th minute, steering a loose ball low past Chris Elliott following a move that was far from fluent.

Alfreton were level within ten minutes when Brendon Daniels swept a free-kick directly into the net from 22 yards after Chris Sharp had been brought down by Joel Kettle.

Moments before half-time Tamworth defender Andy Burns was sent off for bringing down Cieron Keane in full flight on goal.

However, the Reds were unable to make their man advantage count until four minutes from time.

Tom Allan was impeded inside the penalty area by Connor Taylor and Westcarr had stroked home the ensuing spot-kick.

Asked about the reaction to going a goal behind, Moyses said: “It was a slightly fortunate goal for them.

“There were a couple of ricochets and deflections — but we had a game plan, and knew if we kept going we would get back into the game, and so we did.

“l was impressed with them all today.

“We have worked hard to get their fitness levels up, and it’s showing because we finished very strong.”

The manager would not comment about the decision to send off Burns, saying he was too far away from the incident.

But Moyses added: “Sometimes those decisions can work against you as 10 men so often work as hard as 11.

“To be fair to the lads we moved the ball around and made them work.

“We eventually got the rewards.”

ALFRETON: Elliott; Wood, Shiels, Beevers, Allan, Keane, Disley, Platt, Jennings [Marshall 66], Daniels [Baxendale 72], Sharp [Westcarr 69]. Other subs: Topliss, Everington.

TAMWORTH: Stevens; Burns, Sharpe [Reid 86], Kettle, Jones, Coulson [Stabana h/t], Taylor, Verma, Asante, Shaw, Knights [Powell 79]. Other subs: Kotwica, Lane.

Referee: Martin Woods.

Attendance: 449.