JIM Vince saw his Halifax side suffer a crushing defeat in their latest pre-season friendly against Alfreton.

The game kicked off 40 minutes later than scheduled after the Shay outfit were held up en route to the game on the M1.

The delay didn't affect Halifax though and after a bright opening, they took an 11th minute lead when Neil Ross netted with a stunning 22-yard free-kick.

Alfreton recovered and were level six minutes later when Leo Fortune-West finished from close range after Paul Clayton's shot had been blocked by keeper Craig Mawson.

Alfreton dominated and went on to add a further three goals before the break through Danny Davidson's neatly-executed lob, Clayton's acrobatic overhead kick and Martin McIntosh who bettered Ross's effort with a 25-yard direct free kick to put Alfreton 4-1 up at half-time.

Halifax substitute Liam Smith put through his own goal early in the second half before the scoring was completed just ahead of the hour courtesy of a Josh Law header.

Alfreton Town: Evans, Marples (McFadzean 69), Bowler, Ellender, McIntosh (Wilson 69), Butler, Law (Grocott 69), Hall, Clayton (Reet 73), Davidson, Fortune-West.

FC Halifax Town: Mawson, Awang (Morning 57), King, Harban, Barrass, Profitt (Smith, 45), Woolley, Dunne, Jones (Lennon 75), Ross (Brown 71), Brown.

Referee: Mr P Thompson (Chesterfield)

Attendance: 204.

Robbie Keane finally gets the chance to pull on a Liverpool shirt tonight, 14 years after he turned down his boyhood heroes.

Liverpool have now had to spend close to £20million to sign the striker from Tottenham, when as a 14-year-old Keane declined the offer of schoolboy terms at Anfield to join Wolves instead.

Keane makes his long-awaited debut for Liverpool in their friendly away to Villarreal tonight, and is also expected to play on Saturday away to Rangers.

"Everyone knows I have supported Liverpool all my life, and I could have joined them as a schoolboy," he said.

"But I wanted first-team football much quicker than I would have got it at Anfield, and I was certainly proved right with the way my career developed at Wolves."

Keane has now arrived at Anfield via Molineux, Coventry, Inter Milan, Leeds and Spurs, his combined fees now touching £60million.

And Keane insists he is not worried by Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez's rotation policy, saying: "I am not bothered by any of that.

"There is always competition for places in any top side. There was at Spurs and I expect the same here.

"You must have a big squad and of course there is rotation.

"It is nothing new for me."