Gresley Rovers vs Mickleover Sports
This was a match that is best forgotten and forgotten quickly from the Gresley view point.
If anyone turned up thinking this was just a formality was very much mistaken and so it proved as early as 2 minutes.
Mickleover was awarded a throw in from the left touch line. Mark Wood sent in a long throw which found Wayne Sutton just outside the six-yard box and a yard or so from the byeline. His back header cleared both Stuart Evans and James Lindley and into the net.
It was all Mickleover and they went close again when former Rovers player, Chris Parkins, was put through by Dave Middleditch but Lindley reacted quickly and cleared the danger.
The writing was on the wall and Gresley still appeared shell shocked when their evening got even worse.
On 12 minutes it was another throw in that was Gresley’s downfall. The defence didn’t clear the ball and it fell to Parkins who turned and hit a superb shot from 25 yards over the head of Lindley and into the net.
No-one could deny that Mickleover deserved their lead as they had out fought the home site right from the outset.
Five minutes later the night could have been even worse as Mickleover went close again. This time Lindley did well to turn a header from Parkins onto the post and the ball ran to safety.
The now rampant Mickleover, still not content with their lead, went looking for more goals and on 29 minutes went close again when Middleditch was just beaten to Parkins’ through ball by Lindley.
The first clear cut chance for the home side came a minute later when Chris Gray was put through but, with only the keeper to beat, he hit his shot well over the bar.
Gresley seemed to have lost the plot and were reduced to long range shots that were well wide of the target.
On 39 minutes the game was as good as over when Gresley virtually handed another goal to Mickleover.
Carl Timms dallied on the ball for too long and was robbed just 25 yards out and Middleditch played a precise one-two with Smith before easily beating Lindley.
Which Gresley team would appear from the dressing room for the second half? Unfortunately, it was the same one that had been truly hammered in the first.
For the first 10 minutes or so of the re-start Gresley huffed and puffed but could not blow down the stubborn Mickleover defence.
On 56 minutes there was a glimmer of a chance for Andy Bourne as he was played through but the visitor’s keeper Mark Wilson did well to deny him.
For the next ten minutes Gresley were again reduced to long range shots and a couple of half-hearted shots that failed to worry the keeper.
Mickleover began to take control again and on 67 minutes they had a shot that was just wide of the upright.
But Gresley could not stem the tide and on 73 minutes Parkins added to their woes. Parkins received the ball and made a fine run cutting in from the left flank and as the Gresley defence stood off him he made no mistake and expertly placed a shot past Lindley and into the net.
On 75 minutes Gresley should have got a consolation goal when a long punt from Lindley cleared the Mickleover defence and Bourne ran on to it but put his final shot well over with only the keeper to beat.
On 77 minutes a ball back to the Mickleover keeper was adjudged by referee Mr Smith to be a backpass. The ball was placed on the edge of the six-yard box and there was the bizarre site of 10 Mickleover players and three or four Gresley players all standing on the goal line. But Mark Peters shot deflected off the wall surprisingly and away for a corner.
Wilson’s only real save of the game came on 82 minutes when Gray made himself some space and curled a superb shot to the far post which the keeper did very well to turn round the upright.
The manager’s view
“I’m ashamed to put my name to that performance tonight. I thought we let down the football club, I thought we let down everyone who works within the football club and does hell of a lot of good work; we let down the supporters and we let down ourselves all of us.
“I thought it was a disgrace and I’m not going to pull any punches. That was the worst performance that I’ve been associated with since I came out of football. For nothing else than a complete lack of desire, lack of enthusiasm, a lack of willingness to change things when the tide is flowing against you.
“Mickleover worked very hard, they made it difficult for us and we hadn’t got an answer to that.
“I said the performance in last year’s Derbyshire Senior Cup final was poor but this was even worse and from my point of view that’s completely unacceptable.
“We asked the players to do certain things and in their own wisdom they decided to do things differently. Whether it be set pieces or the way we play but I can’t answer for the players only myself and the people around me.
“I’ve driven 250 miles to get here today and to be honest I wish I never bothered and stayed away. I cannot put into words what I think, I just can’t explain it.
“Mickleover worked very, very hard. If I was to say we’d been beaten by a better team who passed us off the pitch and were more creative, who worked the ball better, they kept possession and regained possession better but they didn’t do any of that.
“They worked harder than us. They won more tackles and headers, they won more second balls, they pressurised us more, they had a lot more commitment but they are all things that you expect from players. And, if you can’t raise your game and as an individual you can’t get up for a cup semi-final of the last cup competition you are in, then you need to ask yourself some questions. Some of the players in the dressing room need to do that and they need to learn from it.
“We got off to the worse start possible. It was a long throw in that someone flicked on and it landed in the back of the net. I don’t know how many times this year that we’ve stood in the dressing room and gone through how to defend a throw in. It’s one of the basic things in football. One of the replies was 100. So what can I physically do to make it different? What we need is the more experienced players to tell the other what to do. We are just too quiet on the pitch. There is no communication. How do you get players to talk? We seem very reluctant to do it. But that’s a side issue.
We were just not at the races tonight.”
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Mickleover Sports (2) 4
Scorers: Sutton 2, Parkins 12, 73, Middleditch 39.
Gresley Rovers: Lindley, Moran, Tate, Wardle, Evans, Cheetham
, Bourne, Peters (Bluck 85), Barrett, Timms (Hopkins 66), Gray. Sub not used: Newsome.
Mickleover Sports: Wilson, Broadhurst, Mays, Wood, Reynolds, Sutton, Parkins, Wraith (Stevens 81), Middleditch, Payne, Smith. Subs not used: Cliff, Cunnigham.
Referee: S Smith (Matlock).
Attendance: 225
