Wolverhampton Casuals vs Gresley Rovers
Smith settles nerves - Andy Parker - Burton Mail
They reckon teams that play badly and still win are good championship material.
But Gresley boss Frank Northwood will surely be hoping his runaway league leaders are not going to allow their form to desert them in mid-season yet again.
If not though, Rovers will have to get a dreadful performance at Wolverhampton quickly out of their systems. Gresley, sinking slowly but surely into the pit of ineptitude along with their struggling hosts, looked nothing like league leaders against clueless Casuals.
On chances Gresley could have run out 10-0 winners, but as it turned out the points were never safe until Kieron Smith grabbed an 89th-minute clincher.
It all started well enough for the Moatmen with the first half a one-sided procession in the direction of the Casuals' goal.
Carl Rathbone was especially unlucky not to break the deadlock early on with a string of efforts blocked or deflected, Carl Weston and Neil Lovell saw shots stopped on the line then Lovell almost bent the crossbar with a fierce close range effort.
Finally, appalling marking by the home side allowed Scott Elliott to move unchallenged onto Richard Denby's astute free kick and fire a low cross past keeper Mark Fletcher in first half injury time.
The pattern was maintained after the break but gradually Gresley's midfield dominance slipped away and Casuals began to look capable of exploiting their guest's torpor.
For the second match running - although this time under entirely different circumstances - Northwood gambled on a double substitution and it paid off when Steve Adcock's determination and Brian Beresford's poise and timing set up Smith's last gasp strike.
Wolverhampton Casuals (0) 0
Gresley Rovers (1) 2
Scorers: Elliott 45, Smith 89.
Wolverhampton Casuals: Fletcher, Pincher, Tudor, Thompson (Foster 60), Butler, Lawler, Drury, Ingleby, Loftus, Lees, Walker. Sub not used: Crutchley.
Gresley Rovers: Moore, Barry, Elliott, Denby, Land, Astley, Weston (Adcock 68), Smith, Acklam (Beresford 68), Rathbone, Lovell.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Gil Land.
Referee: G A Stones (Walton-on-Trent).
Attendance: 120
