Returning to action after successive postponements Brackley claimed a vital away win on a remarkable and dramatic night at Alfreton Town.
“It is an unbelievable result. We were in control and two goals ahead when the game turned on its head and suddenly it is three each,” Gavin Cowan said. “This a tough place to come and with ten men it was an extra challenge but we defended brilliantly and late on made our moment count.”
A red card for ‘keeper Jonny Maxted on the stroke of half-time saw George Carline pull on the goalkeeping jersey without a substitute ‘keeper on the bench in a moment that completely changed the game.
Alfreton were ahead in the tenth minute as a corner kick fired under the cross-bar was helped over the line for an own goal. But Saints were level on 16 minutes as Alfie Bates drilled his shot through a crowded penalty area and the visitors went ahead just minutes later as Carline finished clinically from close range.
A dominant Brackley pressed to extend the lead and a third goal came on 31 minutes as Connor Hall peeled away from his marker to plant his header beyond ‘keeper David Robson into the top corner from Matt Lowe’s perfect cross.
With stand-in ‘keeper in place Alfreton scored from the free-kick that resulted from the red card incident, Billy Whitehouse finding the bottom corner to narrow the deficit at the break.
In the third minute after the resumption the sides were level, Max Hunt finding the net as a re-organised Saints line-up looked vulnerable every time the ball was loaded into the penalty area. But Carline grew in confidence in his temporary role and the visitors performed a resourceful and battling rear-guard action to keep Carline’s goal in tact. A brave double save by Carline on 85 minutes kept Saints within touching distance of a valuable point before the final denouement that, had it been Hollywood, nobody would have believed.
Substitute Justin Donawa’s 89th minute run up the wing brought Matt Lowe into play and Lowe finished past Robson in clinical fashion to steal the headlines.
Alfreton threw everything forward in added time seeking a late equaliser but every attack was repelled as the visitors put bodies on the line and stuck to the task until the very end to claim a famous victory and an unlikely three points.

Brackley Town:  Maxted, Carline, Lyttle, Dean, Griffin (Lilly 60), Calder, Lowe, Byrne, Roberts, Bates, Hall (Donawa 67).   Subs unused:  O’Sullivan, Arlott-John, Abbey.

Alfreton Town: Robson, Clackstone, Hunt, Lund, Wiley, Whitehouse (McDonagh 73), Day (Salmon 80), Waldock, Perritt, Abbey, Newall. Subs unused: Askew, Hinton, Solademi.

Referee: Jonathan Chadwick Assistants: Thomas Bingley and Ian Ruddock  4th official: Grace Lowe

Attendance:   327

PIC: By Bill Wheatcroft