Paget Rangers vs Gresley Rovers
Unlucky 13 for Rovers – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Gresley Rovers’ run of 13 consecutive Banks’s League victories came to a dramatic end at Pager last night.
Gresley dominated the side they beat 5-1 at the Moat Ground back in August but had only Paul Acklam’s 70th minute strike to show for it has the game entered injury time.
With Paget on the offensive there was ample opportunity for the ball to be played long into the opposition’s half but instead it was given away and Rhucha Ford’s looping header from full back Bradley Lee’s cross found the top corner of the net from the edge of the penalty area.
It was a goal that sent the home side wild with delight but the reaction from Gresley boss Frank Northwood was, predictably, quite the opposite.
And he warned afterwards that the result might serve as a reminder that Gresley’s first Banks’s League title is by no means a foregone conclusion.
“The seasons not over and anybody that thinks that can think again,” he said. Because we’ve been on top of the league for so long we’re the team that everyone’s desperate to beat and you could tell by their reaction what the draw meant to them.
“The performance was pretty good – we played some good stuff and we had a lot of chances – but we were trying to walk them into the net.”
In fact, Paget had keeper Dave Harrison to thank for keeping them in the game with two wonder saves in the opening half, first racing from his line to block Acklam’s effort then denying the same player with an instinctive tipover.
With former Paget striker Derek Christopher – in for flu victim Carl Rathbone – a revelation in attack it seemed only a matter of time before Gresley got the goals to wrap up the points but as the interval came and went Paget’s battling qualities began to bring them back into the game.
Still Gresley created the better chances and twice Acklam put efforts off target before prodding home a loose ball after Smith’s effort was blocked to end a personal goal drought stretching back eight games.
Neil Lovell then saw a fierce drive palmed away with Acklam’s half volley from the rebound blocked on the line before Paget’s late, late equaliser left the league leaders with too little time to summon up a response.
Paget Rangers (0) 1
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Scorers: Ford 91 (Paget Rangers), Acklam 70 (Gresley Rovers).
Paget Rangers: Harrison, Lee, Mulcahy, Williams, Richardson, Hanson, Matthews, Carr, Douglas, Taylor (Orbison 57), Ford. Sub not used: Harden.
Gresley Rovers: Moore, Barry, Elliott, Denby, Land, Astley, Weston (Stokes 65), Smith, Acklam, Christopher, Lovell (Adcock 90).
Gresley man-of-the-match: Richard Denby.
Referee: R W Harrison (Wolverhampton).
Attendance: 120
