Alfreton Town face one of their biggest games of the season thus far as we make the trip to Merseyside tomorrow afternoon and to the Pure Stadium, to face Southport in the National League North; kick off is 3pm with a limited number of home fans in attendance.

With the Liverpool City region being placed into Tier 2 following the end of the National lockdown on the 2nd December, Southport were given the green light to have home supporters back inside the stadium and 800 were in attendance for the Port's defeat to Farsley on Wednesday night.

Unfortunately no Reds supporters are permitted to attend the fixture tomorrow, coinciding with Derbyshire being placed into Tier 3 after the national lockdown. The club will continue to monitor the situation and hope we can welcome you back to the Impact Arena once Tier 3 restrictions are lifted.

The Reds have been in a desperate need for form and suffered a fourth defeat in a row at Chester on Tuesday night. Alfreton played well for good periods in the contest and had good spells of possession and pressure. We fell behind to a first half penalty by former Red loanee Danny Elliott, after a harsh handball decision on Josh Clackstone.

The second half saw the Reds do most of the pressing, Dan Bradley, Connor Branson and Danny Clarke all hit the woodwork as chances went begging again. Chester struck a further two times with goals from Morgan and Dudley. A 3-0 defeat certainly didn't sum up the games events and the Reds were hit by clinical attacking play, despite playing well and creating good chances we lost by a three goal margin for the second game running.

The Reds head into tomorrow's game having lost the last four league games, we have now failed to find the net in our last three. We have won just once in the last seven and registered just two wins from the 11 league games we have played so far.

Alfreton's six league defeats is a league high, alongside Curzon and Blyth.

Away form has seen us lose our last four on the road (Bradford PA, Leamington, Kidderminster, Chester). Our only away win in the league so far came at Telford at the end of October (0-1).

Hosts Southport find themselves in 7th in the league table with 14 points from 11 games. They are five points above us having played the same amount of fixtures.

Their current playing record stands at: P11, W4, D2, L5.

The Port made a strong start to the season having lost just two of their opening eight games in all competitions. They had only lost once from their first six league games, but recent form has been a struggle with now four defeats from their last five.

Southport will be looking to avoid a third straight defeat after a 4-1 loss at Gateshead and a 0-1 home defeat by Farsley on Wednesday.

Home form has seen Port lose their last four at home, the last two without scoring. Their last and only home win so far in the league this season came against Chorley on the 17th October (1-0).

SOMETHING HAS TO GIVE: The Reds have lost the last four games away from home with Southport losing their last four at home.

Venue:
The Pure Stadium - No away fans will be permitted to attend this fixture, Southport will be permitting their home fans with a limited attendance in effect as per government guidelines.

THIS FIXTURE WILL BE LIVE STREAMED:
Southport will be live streaming the fixture for £9.99, Reds supporters can sign up and purchase the stream here:
https://southportfc.net/stream-southport-v-alfreton-town/

Form (Last five):
Southport - L-L-W-L-L
Reds - W-L-L-L-L

Southport Last Fixture:
Wednesday 2nd December 2020: Southport 0-1 Farsley Celtic (NLN)

Reds Last Fixture:
Tuesday 1st December 2020: Chester 3-0 Reds (NLN)

Last Meeting:
Monday 26th August 2019: Reds 2-0 Southport (NLN)
The last meeting between the sides came in August of last season as an Amari Morgan Smith second half double saw the Reds grab three points over Port at the Impact Arena. Our last visit to Southport came in the season prior as we lost 2-1 in December 2018.