Gresley Rovers vs Hinckley Town
Six high! – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Goal-hungry Gresley showed their appetite was still not satisfied by carving up the Hinckley Town team they had roasted on Saturday at the Moat Ground last night.
Rovers proved their four-goal blast at Leicester Road was merely the starting course as they set about a first half goal feast to ensure the most comfortable of passages into the second round of the Dr Martens Southern League Cup.
The Moatmen may have scored only 12 goals in nine league games this season but they would have far exceeded that total in this tie had it not been for the heroics of Town keeper Dennis Burke last night.
The shell shocked custodian was beaten five times before half time but managed to produce a string of excellent saves as the home side threatened to go nap again after the break.
Hinckley could surely not have harboured the faintest hopes of retrieving a tie they had seen taken beyond their reach on Saturday but Rovers made doubly certain by making the aggregate score 5-0 after 10 minutes last night.
Mark Hurst broke onto Graeme Rigg’s piercing pass and crossed for Christian Moore to score his first goal of the season with a low header from a yard out.
Eight minutes later Mark Blount, again outstanding in defence, broke forward and exchanged passes with Hurst before planting a perfect right wing cross onto Martin Devaney’s head. 2-0.
Burke twice foiled Devaney again but could not stem the irresistible tide as Rigg popped in the goal of the tie, beating three defenders in a run across the edge of the box before firing a superb drive high into the net. 3-0.
The floodgates were now wide open and barely four minutes had passed before Dave Swainston released Moore to round a defender and score with a precise shot that came a close second in the goal-of-the-game stakes. 4-0.
Another excellent through ball soon set up the fifth, Tony Marsden providing and Hurst finishing off with another accurate shot, but Hinckley were then treated to a 22-minute break without conceding a goal before Devaney picked out Marsden to score with a close range header. 6-0.
That, remarkably, was it as far as the scoring went but Burke at least brought a little credit to his team with excellent saves, first to deprive Moore of a deserved hat trick, then fingertipping away Richard Wardle’s drive after good work by Hurst and finally producing the save of the night to somehow keep out Devaney’s drive towards the top corner.
Gresley Rovers (5) 6
Hinckley Town (0) 0
(Gresley win 10-0 on aggregate)
Scorers: Moore 10, 28, Devaney 18, Rigg 24, Hurst 36, Marsden 63.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Blount (Dick 71), Swainston, Rigg, Evans (Weston 45), Stanborough, Wardle, Hurst, Moore, Devaney, Marsden.
Hinckley Town: Burke, McKernon, Preston, Griffin, Rudkin (Symcock 45), Ison, Cadell, McCann, Potts (Shields 62), Machin, Kennedy.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Graeme Rigg.
Referee: R Olivier (Sutton Coldfield).
Attendance: 408
