Chadderton vs Gresley Rovers
Gresley through - Andy Parker - Burton Mail
The FA Cup is as much about ding dong battles on the muddied fields of England's lesser known soccer stadia as it is its spectacular Wembley finale.
And thus Gresley Rovers and Chadderton played their small part in the world's greatest soccer knockout competition on Saturday.
The preliminary round is a time for throwing away form books and forgetting unbeaten records. Indeed, Gresley nearly didn't have an unbeaten record to crow about after emerging from a game that was incredible in that only three goals were scored from a veritable hatful of chances.
They're not lacking in spirit or conviviality up on the Lancashire/ Yorkshire border but, at Chadderton FC at least, they do appear to be lacking a mower blade or two. So Saturday's battle was enacted on a pitch that have a new meaning to the expression lush and Gresley's precise, flowing footballing style had to be abandoned for the day.
The grassiness of the pitch meant it was always going to be a bad afternoon for defences and so it nearly proved in the opening minutes when Gresley twice failed to clear seemingly innocuous attacks, Chadderton's balding striker Dave Blakeman failing to capitalise on both occasions.
But if Gresley thought luck was running their way they reckoned without Martin Dick's fifth minute knee injury prompting John Bottomley to rise from the bench for his first appearance of the season.
Gresley's forward motion was apparently unimpaired and they proceeded to lead their hosts a merry dance, Richard Denby carving a way through for Brian Beresford, stretching in the box, to miss the first of many chances.
Beresford then presented an even greater opportunity to Gil Land and/or Kieron Smith when he turned Michael Guest's cross through the heart of Chadderton's flailing rearguard but neither was able to provide the tap-in required.
Home keeper Steve Kilroy then got in the action, saving splendidly from Paul Acklam, but was powerless a minute later when Beresford cleverly beat the offside trap to pick out Acklam with a crossfield pass that he had time to control before driving past the keeper from 12-yards.
A goal glut seemed in the offing but Chadderton rallied, forcing Steve Astley to clear off the line from Steve Gartside after Guest's headed backpass had fallen short. Winger Paul Dixon then drove a shot against the foot of the post and Bob Aston produced a splendid diving save to deny midfielder Jack Hurst.
Acklam forced Kilroy to save with his feet after driving in Lovell's cross but an equaliser seemed the more likely score until Beresford engineered Gresley's second in the first half injury time, picking up an errant crossfield pass and mesmerising the Chadderton defence before setting up Smith to sidefoot home from two yards.
Gresley's defensive nervousness failed to evaporate after the interval so there were further scrapes at both ends to keep the crowd entertained. The only goal, though, came when left winger Ronnie Davies charged down Astley's clearance and set up Blakeman with an easy chance.
Right till the final whistle there were chances for both sides to add to the scoring but at the end of the day Gresley carried off a victory - and a home tie with HFS giants Whitton Albion - that their extra attacking class merited.
Chadderton (0) 1
Gresley Rovers (2) 2
Scorers: Blakeman 60 (Chadderton); Acklam, Smith (Gresley Rovers).
Chadderton: Kilroy, Blackman, Graham, Greaves, Hall, Joynes, Dixon (Curran 82), Hurst, Blakeman, Gartside (Gledhill 30), Davies.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Adcock, Dick (Bottomley 8), Denby, Land, Astley, Guest, Smith, Acklam (Maddocks 80), Beresford, Lovell.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Kieron Smith.
Referee: S Bush (Halifax).
Attendance: 175
