Gresley Rovers vs Stapenhill
We're not good enough - Rex Page - Burton Mail
Gresley Rovers boss Frank Northwood fired another broadside at his Moat Ground squad last night - despite victory over neighbours Stapenhill in a tepid local derby.
Northwood snarled: "The result means nothing - we're as far away from being a good side as we've ever been. No matter what side Stapenhill put out against us, they'll always make a fight of it, but we just wanted to go through the motions."
On the face of it, Rovers won convincingly enough, but the truth is that the luckless Swans helped to bridge the gulf in class with the sort of honest endeavour that apparently deserted Northwood's men at the end of last season's epic FA Vase adventure.
Only a superb display of goalkeeping by Bob Aston denied the Swans the opportunity to make it a much closer affair on a night his opposite number Dave Bolton will want to forget.
Bolton was the central character in the two incidents that spiced up an otherwise colourless affair.
With 32 minutes gone he fell foul of the new goalkeeper's crack down to concede an indirect free kick inside his area.
Steve Astley rolled the ball square for Richard Denby to drive in a low shot which Steve Adcock deflected over the line to give Gresley a lead which they barely deserved.
Two minutes after the interval a dozing Swans' defence gave substitute Stuart Stokes an invitation to make it 2-0 before Bolton's ordeal was painfully extended with an hour gone.
He rushed from his area as Gresley surged forward only to be flattened by Carl Rathbone's injudicious challenge.
Bolton was taken to hospital as a precautionary measure, forcing the Swans to put outfield player Neil Dolman between his posts.
Surprisingly, though, it was the Swans who got the upper hand with Aston having to produce excellent saves to keep out shots from Dean Coppinger, Eddie Lee and a towering header from Cec Wain.
Gresley's third - good though it was - came much against the run of play when Brian Beresford exposed the left flank of the Swans' defence before providing a perfect centre for Rathbone to apply a clinical finish in the 89th minute.
Gresley Rovers (1) 3
Stapenhill (0) 0
Scorers: Adcock 32, Stokes 47, Rathbone 89.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Evans, Elliott, Denby, Land, Astley, Weston, Smith, Adcock, Rathbone, Venning. Subs all used: Beresford, Stokes, Barry, Anderson.
Stapenhill: Bolton, Warren, Thompson, Walton, Trow, Carlin, Walker, Reed, Barnes, Marsh, Banton. Subs all used: D Coppinger, Lee, Pitt, Dolman, Wain.
Referee: P Roberts (Swadlincote).
Attendance: 281
