Dudley Town vs Gresley Rovers
Rovers nap a double - Andy Parker - Burton Mail
Gresley Rovers produced their most convincing 90 minutes for several games - and with it completed their first Beazer Homes League double - at Round Oak Stadium on Saturday.
Dudley, beaten 2-0 on the opening day of the season, were despatched with even greater style this time with Rovers - apart from a 10-minute second half blip in which the home side scored twice to almost make a game of it - dominating throughout.
Mike Taplin scored a measured seventh-minute opener, breaking away onto Tony Marsden's pass down the left, slipping, stopping, sidestepping a defender and then spearing in a low left foot shot.
Dudley threatened an equaliser when Loy Stobart set up Lee Young but Bob Aston instinctively pushed wide, then a poor goal kick straight at Neil Tomlinson forced him into a redeeming save at the foot of the post.
Robbie Briscoe engineered a second to put Gresley back on top, beating a defender on the left and dropping a cross at the far post for Kieron Smith to glance home.
Three minutes later, Gresley thought they had a third when Gil Land powered in a header from Richard Denby's free kick but referee Haslewood judged that the ball had not crossed the line before being hacked clear.
It made little difference to the outcome because, with the second half just five minutes old, Rovers delivered another superb goal, a left wing move ending with Taplin's perfectly placed cross to Denby who took the ball in his stride and lifted it delicately over keeper Ian Scarr.
A rout looked on the cards when Taplin stooped to head home Briscoe's corner six minutes later but Dudley briefly rallied, Andy Hodgetts heading in Stobart's cross and Andy Harnett breaking away to score a second within five minutes.
But it was soon back to normal service as Martin Devaney rose from the bench after a 13 match absence to start and finish the move that lead to Rovers' fifth.
Dudley Town (0) 2
Gresley Rovers (2) 5
Scorers: Hodgetts 64, Harnett 69 (Dudley Town); Taplin 7, 56, Smith 25, Denby 50, Devaney 87 (Gresley Rovers).
Dudley Town: Scarr, Moore, Woodbine, C Field, Day, Young, Tomlinson, Stobart, Hodgetts, S Field, Harnett. Subs: Clifton, Street.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Dick, Briscoe, Denby (Weston 64), Evans, Land, Wardle, Marsden, Smith (Devaney 79), Taplin, Swainston.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Mike Taplin.
Referee: G Haslewood (Redditch).
Attendance: 317
