Christmas 2019 will go down as a bah humbug period in Whitchurch Alport’s festive calendar.

Their scheduled Boxing Day clash at Winsford United was rained off just an hour before kick-off and on Saturday their misery was compounded by a humiliating home defeat at the hands of Charnock Richard.

The 3–0 reverse saw the visitors become the first side to record a league double over the Reds following the equally emphatic 4–0 win at Mossie Park at the beginning of November. It takes Alport’s winless run to 10 matches in all competitions – notwithstanding the penalty shootout win at Sandbach in the Ethelston Cup quarter final last month.

The heady days of autumn where 19 points were banked from the first 21 on offer might yet prove to be Alport’s saviour. They are still eighth in the Premier division but you have to go back two months for their last victory in the league, secured courtesy of a stoppage time penalty from Alex Hughes. The striker has failed to score since, although he’s not alone – witness just three goals scored from the last six matches.

Confidence is at rock bottom and that’s hardly going to help manager Matt Burton’s cause. He’s had nearly two months to bed in and if Saturday’s performance is anything to go by, he’s a long way off ending the curse.

Alport were dominated from start to finish and failed to muster a single shot on target in the whole 90 minutes. It’s hard to figure out exactly what’s gone wrong although the upheaval felt since Luke Goddard’s decision to hand over the reins, has plainly had an effect.

Steve May remains as Burton’s assistant and he’s asking for the Alport supporters to stick with the club.

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“There’s no hiding from the fact that Saturday’s performance was nowhere near that expected from a Whitchurch Alport side,” he said.

“I thought we were really lucky to get in at half-time level but once they scored, I couldn’t see us finding a way back into the game.

"We have used the word transition quite a lot over the past six or seven weeks and although some of the changes have affected the players, we can’t keep blaming transition.

"Players will always come and go and there will be some more comings and goings in the weeks ahead as we try to stabilise the club. I want the fans to know that we are working feverishly behind-the-scenes and are well aware of the issues that we are facing.

"We see the same things as the supporters and we will always be open and honest with them.”

May revealed that in the pre-match team talk he warned the players not to come in after the match with excuses.

“When results aren’t going your way and you’re in a poor run of form like we are, it’s easy to blame the pitch or bad luck. I didn’t want any of the lads coming in after the 90 minutes complaining about players that might have been missing or our confidence being low.

It’s 11 versus 11 out there but what disappointed me was the ease in which our players seemed to accept defeat and that’s unacceptable.

You need for most of the team to be putting in 6’s or 7’s to get you a result but yesterday there were too many 4’s and 5’s and that’s what made the result a formality for them.

We have a management meeting on Thursday and we will be highlighting the next two home games as ones we need to be taking points from.

I think it will tell us a lot about which direction we are going in and what we need to do in terms of injecting a spark into a team that hasn’t just become a bad one overnight.”

Alport host Runcorn Town this coming Saturday (3pm) in a Premier Division fixture sponsored by Old Eagles and then on Monday night (7.45pm) the Reds are once again at Yockings in a rearranged clash against Skelmersdale United.

Supporter Michael Reeves is sponsoring this one.