WHITCHURCH Alport are looking for their fans to play a massive part in their quest to bring Premier Division football to the town next season. 

A quite magnificent away win at Alsager Town on New Year’s Eve keeps the Reds as the team everyone else has to chase down.

The six-pointer must have been a crushing blow for Town, who were hoping to claw back what was an eight- point gap that has now been stretched to 11 after Alex Hughes blasted a late winner at Woodland Court. 

The Reds were sublime  in Cheshire, standing up to a fiercely physical approach from a home side that went right to the boundaries of legality at times. 

Alsager did well to finish with 11 men but those who were still on the pitch after 98 minutes were a spent force anyway, after the away side ran them ragged in the last 15 minutes or so. 

Alsager had won 2-1 earlier in the season at Yockings although Whitchurch got some revenge via a 4-0 second round League Cup win back in November.  

Despite the extra-time League Cup quarter-final defeat at Holker, the rest of December was near faultless for Luke Goddard and Carl Everall’s men. 

Only a 97th-minute equaliser prevented Alport from winning at Litherland but since then, the Yockings boys have won the last three – keeping clean sheets in each of them. 

The team’s belief shows no signs of waning and it must be psychologically difficult for teams coming off the pitch every weekend to hear that Alport have done the business again. 

Saturday’s win was a 10th on the road for Alport who have  been beaten only once on their travels this season – and that was in their first game back in August! 

Goddard was delighted with every aspect of his team’s performance at a promotion rival. “It was another outstanding afternoon for the club,” he said. 

“The performance, result and support again showed how far we have come together as a group. 

“We went into the match with a few key players missing through illness and suspension which meant a slight re-shuffle. 

“Alsager had dragged in a few players from the Evo Stik league and it was always going to be a huge test for our young side against probably the most direct side in the division. 

“However, every single individual stood up to the physicality of the opposition and we showed our qualities to create a lot of chances, where we’ve ended up a bit disappointed as a group to score only the one goal."

*For a full Alport round-up, see this week's Whitchurch Herald.