Gresley Rovers vs Paget Rangers
Another cup of woe – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Paget Rangers piled on the agony as they chalked up their second win over Gresley Rovers in the space of four days.
Rangers outclassed the Moatmen in Tuesday’s 3-2 Vase replay win at Springfield Road but Saturday’s re-run at the Moat Ground left Rovers complaining that they deserved better than a painful exit from the Banks’s League Cup – a competition they won in style last season.
The word on the Moat Ground terraces this season is that Gresley will be hard pressed to win anything this term. But manager Frank Northwood had a message for the moaners afterwards.
“I’ve every sympathy for the fans,” he said. “But the truth is we were fortunate to be able to field a side today. You just can’t account for the number of injuries we’ve had and to be honest I can’t wait to get some of my missing players back in the side.”
With an entire forward line – not to mention a sprinkling of midfielders and defenders – watching from the sidelines, Gresley had no answer to Paget’s forward spark where the pace of Eric Sandiford, Pat Williams’ power and Derek Christopher’s lethal finishing skills were unmatched in the home side.
Christopher, a hat trick destroyer on Tuesday, put Paget on the way with a superb strike on 22 minutes after Steve Whipps had headed on Sandiford’s cross, a left foot volley flashing into the top corner of Bob Aston’s net.
Within a minute Sandiford was at it again, cutting the ball back from the left for Paul Snowball to despatch a crisp 15-yarder.
It was uphill all the way for Rovers after that although, in truth, they had enough chances to win the game.
Northwood said of striker Andy Maddocks afterwards: “He had a very good game but the crowd got onto him terribly.”
A centre forward’s job, though is to put the ball into the back of the net and Maddocks, given two glorious opportunities to do just that, failed lamentably.
He burst clear onto Carl Nicklin’s through ball late in the first half but shot too close to John Farmer when a simple lay-off to Brian Beresford, running to his left, would surely have brought a goal.
Then, just after the turn, he again failed to convert when Wayne Scalley’s awful backpass left him in the open.
New boy Nicklin was unlucky to see a meaty volley brilliantly saved and Steve Astley curled a sot against the crossbar, but generally it was Paget who looked the more dangerous. Gresley’s defence, impervious earlier in the season, looked decidedly shaky.
Neil Lovell whipped in a near post volley from Richard Denby’s right wing corner with six minutes left but that only served to show the defensive weaknesses that Rovers had been unable to exploit earlier.
Gresley Rovers (0) 1
Paget Rangers (2) 2
Scorers: Lovell 84 (Gresley Rovers); Christopher 22, Snowball 23 (Paget Rangers).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Bottomley, Perry, Denby, Land, Astley, Guest, Nicklin, Maddocks, Beresford (Haynes 60), Lovell. Sub not used: Dearn.
Paget Rangers: Heath, G Williams, Mulvey, Snowball, Taylor, Capaldi, Scalley, Whipps, Sandiford, Christopher, P Williams. Subs not used: Jones, Campbell.
Gresley man-of-the-match: John Bottomley.
Refree: M Watkiss (Wolverhampton).
Attendance: 232
