Gresley Rovers vs Blakenall
Faltering Gresley – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Gresley boss Frank Northwood refuses to accept his Banks’s League title dream is dead – despite last night’s disappointing home draw with championship favourites Blakenall.
Blakenall were the team Gresley had to beat to realise Northwood’s main ambition after five so-near-yet-so-far seasons.
But as Gresley went looking for a crock of gold at the end of their rainbow the rough and ready Bloxwich side snatched away the map and tore it to shreds with a miserly defensive performance.
Said Northwood afterwards: “It’s about getting breaks in this game – and unfortunately we didn’t get any. But no way are we giving up with seven games left to play and 21 points still to win.”
Northwood said his team had “given their all” in the second half after getting a roasting during the interval.
“They shouldn’t have needed to be told, but they stepped it up and did well in the second half. If they’d have done it for the whole 90 minutes we could have won.”
In truth, though, it wasn’t so much breaks as proper scoring chances that were at a premium in a game were tension and tough tackling replaced the flair and finesse that were Gresley’s hallmark earlier this term.
Tracey Norton had a half opportunity in a hectic opening five minutes, Dean Page’s through ball squirming through the Blakenall defence only for Tommy Crook to toe the ball away for a corner.
Gresley had to be just as sharp at the other end, Ray Skeemer putting in a saving tackle as former Moatman Gary Stevens scuttled into a scoring position on the left and Mark Sparrock, another ex-Rover, heading a foot wide after beating Bob Aston to Crook’s free kick.
Then Stevens skated past Aston only to run the ball too wide and turn it straight back into the keeper’s grateful grasp.
There were bookings for Skeemer and Blakenall’s Clive Bland and a series of lectures from Mr Godfrey, Sunday’s Littlewood’s Cup Final linesman, as going got rough but there were still no chances until Michael Guest’s up-and-under created an opportunity for Norton to head powerfully goalward, keeper Paul Hayward saving with typical ease.
Desperation was showing already as half time neared and Neil Lovell, busy and effective in the middle, twice tried hopeful efforts from outside the box as Gresley looked less and less like finding a goal from their front three.
In fact it was the visitors who twice went close before the break, Aston saving Mick Folland’s diving header then somehow turning a goal-bound shot from the same player onto the bar before clutching the rebound.
With Kieron Smith replacing the disappointing Ian Wells, victim of a groin strain, at half time Gresley looked more the part after the break but the nearest thing to a goal came when defender Mark Davies had his keeper stretching for a backpass.
Gresley couldn’t even manage a storming finish, Norton blazing yards over after Martin Dick’s excellent work on the left and Graham Jones despatching a similarly wasteful effort over from Richard Denby’s late corner.
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Blakenall (0) 0
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Guest, Dick, Denby, Skeemer, Page, Moore, Norton, Wells (Smith 45), Jones, Lovell. Sub not used: Astley.
Blakenall: Hayward, Bowater, Brotherton, Davies, Crook, Walsh, Bland, Stevens, Folland, Sparrock, Keeling (Glover 31). Sub not used: Malcolm.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Dean Page.
Referee: J L Godfrey (Chasewater).
Attendance: 558
