Mile Oak Rovers vs Gresley Rovers
Rovers get the rules mixed up – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Gresley Rovers were checking the rule book this weekend to see if an alleged ineligible player could keep their FA Vase hopes alive.
But if they had referred to a certain other regulation before Saturday’s match at Mile Oak all that would have been unnecessary.
The rule states: “The team that scores the most goals wins.”
Had Rovers been reminded of this fundamental point before Saturday’s embarrassing defeat they may have converted their almost total domination of a poor Scoreline Combination side into something more tangible than a complaint to Football Association headquarters about an illegal goal keeper.
But the fact is that Gresley were lulled into a false sense of security by Mile Oak.
They hardly gave the home side a kick in the opening 25 minutes as their free flowing, attacking style opened up the Oak defence as a carving knife unto a Sunday roast.
And after Paul Acklam had scrambled home Scott Elliott’s far post cross from the left wing on 25 minutes no-one could seriously have believed that the floodgates were not about to open.
Even when Andy Bizzell popped up to bury a 25-yard equaliser four minutes later it seemed only a matter of time before Gresley wrapped the game up.
But as chances came and went and the minutes ticked away the draining of Gresley’s self-belief was matched only by the blossoming of Mile Oak’s pluck and cheek.
The writing began to appear on the proverbial wall when Bizell put an unchallenged header straight at Bob Aston – anywhere else on target and it would have been a goal.
Rovers, meanwhile, were hitting the woodwork through Brian Beresford and Kieron Smith and putting a variety of shots, headers and crosses off target.
And there was a sense of inevitability to the scene when extra time substitute Les Williams beat Aston to a race for Meryl Henry’s right wing cross to drive home an unbelievable winner.
Mile Oak Rovers (1) 2
Gresley Rovers (1) 1
After extra time
Scorers: Bizzell 29, Williams 109 (Mile Oak Rovers), Acklam 29 (Gresley Rovers)
Mile Oak Rovers: Reeves, Matthews, Campbell, Cooper, Clews, Deeley, Gamble (Williams 105), Whitehouse, O’Neill, Bizzell, Henry. Sub not used: Wynter.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Barry, Elliott (Adcock 98), Denby, Land, Astley, Weston, Smith, Acklam, Beresford (Wood 77), Lovell.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Scott Elliott.
Referee: P Heafield (Walsall).
Attendance: 185
