Gresley Rovers vs Chasetown
Rovers out of League Cup – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Gresley Rovers’ quest for silverware on four different fronts is beginning to take its toll – with the results plain to see on Saturday.
Rovers, deprived of two-thirds of their forward line for the second leg of their Banks’s League Cup semi-final against Chasetown, dominated proceedings as they have in the vast majority of games at the Moat Ground.
But the time, faced with a side happy to keep nine, 10 or sometimes 11 players behind the ball in an unashamed rearguard action, Rovers were unable to conjure up the spark, invention or firepower to qualify for their third cup final of the season.
Gifted two first half goals, Chasetown defended like demons in the second half in which Rovers continually tried and failed to break past a dogged back line. And their dances of delight at the final whistle showed why they were prepared for such a dour battle.
It could have been different.
Twice in the early minutes Paul Acklam was an ace away from giving Gresley the lead, first rounding the keeper after a poor backpass by Andy Cox only for an angled shot to be cleared off the line, then firing in a powerful header from a Richard Denby corner only for keeper Andrew Withington to brilliantly palm the ball away.
On 33 minutes Chasetown took the lead. It was unclear whether Cox’s drive from the left after Darren Ansell’s short free kick was intended as a shot or a cross, but that mattered not to centre forward Barry Smith, lurking unmarked at the far post, and he buried a close range header.
More disaster for Gresley followed on the stroke of half time. Another Ansell free kick was only half cleared in the driving wind, and Gil Land, attempting either t clear for a corner or find Bob Aston, succeeded only in planting the ball in the top corner of the net.
Acklam set the stage for a comeback five minutes into the second half when, unmarked, he headed home Denby’s free kick from six yards, but that was all Gresley could muster in an ever-more-frustrating finale.
Gresley Rovers (0) 1
Chasetown (2) 2
Scorers: Acklam 50 (Gresley Rovers); Smith 33, Land (og) 45 (Chasetown).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Barry, Elliott (Weston 63), Denby, Land, Astley, Stokes, A Moore, Acklam, Christopher (Dick 80), Lovell.
Chasetown: Withington, Cox, Jones, Shelton, Richards, Langston (Harrison 76), Hyden, Ansell, Smith, Rose, Ward. Sub not used: Blakemore.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Steve Astley.
Referee: J G Smith (Stafford).
Attendance: 443
