Gresley Rovers vs Lye Town
Bob’s the job for Moatmen – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
After two successive home defeats, Gresley badly needed to bounce back against title rivals Lye Town on Saturday.
But even manager Frank Northwood could not have predicted the sparkling all-round performance that buried Rovers’ Black Country title rivals in the Moat Ground mud.
Northwood glowed with pleasure afterwards as he explained: “We got together at two o’clock and had a long talk and the lads responded superbly. They gave their all today – it was a superb team performance.”
No-one did more to earn their win bonus in the Rovers’ super show than keeper Bob Aston, who produced brilliant diving saves in both halves to block goalbound shots, made a tackle that any defender would be proud of one on the edge of his box to rob striker John Wesson, then broke Lye’s hearts completely with a brilliant double save from Paul Anslow’s harshly awarded penalty on 79 minutes.
But Aston’s super show was merely a platform for some terrific outfield performances. Kieron Smith set the standard for the afternoon with a razor sharp turn and shot on six minutes to give Gresley the lead, and the home side went on to dominate the game.
If the finishing was slightly off target in the first half, Rovers made up for that in the second. Paul Acklam set up Neil Lovell for a confidently struck second from 15 yards after 50 minutes, then scored the goal of the game himself 12 minutes later, turning superbly after Smith’s cross had been cleared and despatching the ball into the top corner.
There could – and should – have been more goals. Tracey Norton hit the side netting with a meaty drive, another terrific strike from Acklam was disallowed for offside and substitute Guy Hall was desperately unlucky to see an effort cleared off the line after Acklam’s cross had deceived keeper Andy Crannage.
Richard Denby’s superb through ball could have given Acklam another but a last ditch tackle thwarted one attempt then, from Lovell’s corner, the crossbar denied another from the centre forward’s header.
Gresley Rovers (1) 3
Lye Town (0) 0
Scorers: Smith 6, Lovell 50, Acklam 62.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Bottomley, Dick, Denby, Land, Astley, Scally (Hall 63), Norton, Acklam, Smith, Lovell. Sub not used: Maddocks.
Lye Town: Crannage, C Field, Cooper, Randle, Paskin, Bradley, Hadley (S Field 66), Anslow, Wesson, Delahay, Cole (Whitehead 75).
Gresley man-of-the-match: Bob Aston.
Referee: J T Boulton (Birmingham).
Attendance: 271
