Gresley Rovers vs Merthyr Tydfil
A rousing finale put the gloss on Gresley's best performance yet of the new campaign and earned Rovers a notable victory over star-studded Merthyr at the Moat Ground on Saturday.
The Welsh team look good on paper but the Moatmen looked very good on the pitch, and while the deciding goals came late, there was no flattery in the final score.
All this was achieved without the services of defensive kingpin Stuart Evans, whose holiday absence looked as if it may prove crucial in the early minutes.
Merthyr's first attack, a neat piece of interplay between Carl Saunders and John Pearson, left the former Bristol City and Stoke man in yards of space but his needlessly hurried shot was well off the mark.
With six minutes gone Rovers were exposed again and this time Pearson should have done better than his illustrious teammate. Instead, the gangling striker's close-range header after the influential Paul Evans had skipped past Stuart Ford on the right of the box skimmed to safety off the crossbar.
It was looking ominous for Rovers but they soon showed attacking aspirations of their own, Graeme Rigg seeing a shot blocked from Mark Hurst's cross and Ady Mann with time to pick his spot from 18 yards, firing too close to Gary Wager after Dave Taylor and Hurst had linked to create the chance.
Taylor was again involved when Rovers created an even better opportunity with a quarter of the game gone, the striker crossing well from the right and Graeme Fowkes neatly setting up Tony Marsden for a meaty drive that Wager dived full length to save.
Honours were about even at the break but only a stupendous save from Ford averted disaster for Rovers five minutes after the restart.
Pearson's shot from 18 yards lacked power but took a wicked deflection off Brian Horseman with the Gresley keeper already moving to his left. A goal seemed certain but somehow the new boy changed direction to fingertip the ball to safety round a post.
Attacks - and bookings - were traded as the pitch of the game heightened with Rovers going closest to breaking the deadlock when Marsden climbed well to head down Horseman's cross only for acting skipper Nick Stansborough and Taylor to see close range efforts blocked on the line.
Finally the breakthrough came when Hurst neatly played Fowkes clear on the left and, although Wager saved the midfielder's low drive well, Mark Aizlewood's attempted clearance was heading for the net when Mann raced in to finish the job and prompt extravagant celebrations.
Merthyr were stung into retribution and it took Ford's second excellent save of the game to deny them a leveller, the keeper snatching the ball from Saunder's toes as, moving onto Pearson's pass, the striker looked poised to roll the ball into the gaping net.
No way were Merthyr prepared to accept defeat, however, and Rovers appeared to be flagging as the Welshmen snatched an equaliser with 11 minutes to go, Evans' run from the deep leaving him space to collect on the edge of the area and place a precise shot past Ford's dive.
Now it seemed the visitors' ambition might pay off as they forced Rovers to backpedal but in the final minute of normal time a gem of a goal settled the issue.
Substitute Andy Garner was the architect with a superb first time pass from Marsden's through ball to release Taylor on the right and the striker's shot was precision itself.
Aizlewood summed up Mertyr's frustrations with a crude foul on Mann that earned one of the game's five bookings but the new Moat favourite soon had the last laugh - and how.
Again Marsden played his part with an excellent crossfield pass and Mann took the ball on before lifting an outrageous shot over Wager and just under the cross bar fro 25 yards.
Gresley Rovers (0) 3
Merthyr Tydfil (0) 1
Scorers: Mann 65, 92, Taylor 90 (Gresley Rovers); Evans (Merthyr Tydfil)
Gresley Rovers: Ford, R Wardle, Horseman, Rigg (Denby 85), P Wardle, Stanborough, Fowkes, Marsden, Hurst (Garner 85), Mann (Foster 94), Taylor.
Merthyr Tydfil: Wager, York, Fereday (Beattie 74), Eversham (Jenkins 60), O'Brien, Evans, Nicholls, Loss, Pearson, Saunders, Aizlewood.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Stuart Ford
Referee: M P Galey (Flore, Northants).
Attendance: 580
