Alfreton Town 2 Chorley 0: Goals in each half leave Magpies second best

Both sides struggled to get a foothold in the early stages of Saturday’s game as it took 17 minutes for either team to even get a shot off.

That saw Jack Moore fire wide with a well-struck effort from range before Adam Lund had the hosts’ first go at goal as the half-hour mark approached.

Billy Heath’s side would go on to take the lead after 35 minutes, George Cantrill firing past Matt Urwin after an initial set-piece fell nicely into his path.

The pattern of the game continued in much the same way as the opening 45 minutes played out.

The hosts restricted Chorley to very little with persistent fouling stemming the flow of any of the Magpies’ attacking play.

Urwin was called into action just before the hour, making a smart save to deny Alfreton what looked a certain goal.

Nevertheless, the hosts only had to wait another minute before doubling their advantage as Liam Waldock – having been left in acres of space after an initial set-piece was half-cleared – sweetly volleyed the ball past Urwin.

Chorley’s best chance of the game fell to Carlton Ubaezuonu – but even that was shepherded away well by the Alfreton defence.

Kennedy Digie swept up smartly to avert the danger after great initial play from Justin Johnson and Marco Rus.

Chorley: Urwin, Moore, Smith, Ellis, Wilson, (Blakeman 74), Nolan, Rus, Hazlehurst, Whitehouse (Sampson 60), Ubaezuonu, Johnson (Moyo 80).