Gresley Rovers vs Lye Town
Harsh words for too-cool Rovers – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Gresley boss Frank Northwood didn’t exactly press the panic button after a disappointing first home defeat of the Banks’s League season – but he certainly found a few choice words for his below par side.
“I said two things to them at half time and I feel I was right,” he said afterwards. “I told them that nobody has a divine right to win. I think they felt they had – and they’ve got to get that out of their heads.
“You only get out what you put into a game. We’ve got a league to win and we’ve got to put Wembley out of our heads. Having said that, I still feel we’ll get the two wins we need. We’ve got to start another run and begin looking forward to going to Stourport on Tuesday night.”
After two excellent performances away from home in the previous week, Rovers might have expected the visit of fading Lye to be a formality.
But after Rob Wood’s 27th-minute corner from the left had gone over Bob Aston’s outstretched hands and straight into the far corner, Rovers were always toiling.
It could have been worse. Three minutes from half-time, John Wesson turned Gil Land in the box then went down as Aston dived at his feet.
The penalty looked slightly harsh, but Aston made it inconsequential by diving superbly to his left to beat out Wood’s low drive from the spot.
That might have been the a turning point, but two minutes later Carl Rathbone wasted the best chance of the match, slicing Richard Denby’s left wing cross wide from six-yards at the far post.
The second half adopted a familiar pattern, with Gresley continually knocking on Lye’s back door but getting the meanest of responses – and no help at all from referee Millership and his linesman, who continually failed to clamp down on off-the-ball niggling by the visitors.
In fact, Gresley had no luck whatsoever. Rathbone was taken from behind in the box but kept his feet when a penalty would have been likely had he not done.
Stuart Stokes almost forced substitute Kieron Smith’s cross home but a defender hoofed the ball away and visiting keeper Andy Crannage crowned a faultless performance by clawing Steve Astley’s rising drive out of the top corner.
Then Rathbone released Brian Beresford on the left of the box but the shot from a highly promising position lacked power and Crannage saved easily. It was that kind of afternoon for Gresley.
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Lye Town (1) 1
Scorer: Wood 27.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Barry, Dick (Weston 75), Denby, Land, Astley, S Stokes, Beresford, Acklam (Smith 45), Rathbone, Lovell.
Lye Town: Crannage, Whitehead, Beasley, C Field, Skidmore, Taylor, S Field, Wesson, Day, Mason, Wood. Subs not used: Wingfield, G Stokes.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Kieron Smith.
Referee: B Millership (Tamworth).
Attendance: 647
