Leicester United vs Gresley Rovers
Gresley slip up - Andy Parker - Burton Mail
Gresley took the Beazer Midland title race by the scruff of the neck last night - then let it go again.
Rovers tore into their hosts like a team hell bent on the title, took a 12th-minute lead through Mark Hurst's third goal in three games, then simply stopped playing the football that had stood them such good stead all season.
Yet again, dismal defending from set pieces proved Rovers' undoing.
Two goals from free kicks put Leicester ahead by the interval and when winger Stuart Bond's 63rd-minute shot flew into the top of Bob Aston's net Rovers found it was too late to stage a comeback against a team prepared to pull seven or eight men behind the ball to defend their lead.
Time and again the Moatmen hurled the ball into the United penalty area only to find keeper Ian Marsden in insuperable form.
It had all started so differently with Rovers controlling the game virtually from the off. Skipper Richard Denby saw two long-range shots fly just off target and Stuart Evans powered in a close range header that Marsden did well to tip over before Hurst provided the breakthrough.
Martin Devaney was the creator with an excellent through ball and Hurst, advancing on goal, did well to keep his feet and his composure before slipping the ball into the bottom corner.
Rovers went close again when Devaney and Hurst showed the potency of their fledgling partnership with a move that ended with Leicester skipper Steve Ross clearing perilously close to his own goal line.
Suddenly, though, the power disappeared from Rovers' play and after 24 minutes, the home side were level when Keith Dakin met a right-wing free kick by Steve Jackson with a towering header.
After 37 minutes Gil Land stopped Oswald Mintus with a foul near the edge of the penalty area and Ross's free kick was perfectly placed for Chris Tonge, stealing in on the blind side, to volley across Aston's goal and into the far corner.
Rovers started the second half as if determined to make some sense from the debacle but after 63 minutes Stuart Bond produced a 25-yard volley from nowhere and Rovers' goose was as good as cooked.
Though they denied Leicester any further attempt on goal, Rovers were too often guilty of over-elaboration, poor distribution or the wasteful final ball.
Referee Jeffcote compensated for Leicester's time wasting by adding on five minutes of injury time but when Paul Acklam headed in Denby's corner it was too late to salvage anything for Rovers.
Leicester United (2) 3
Gresley Rovers (1) 2
Scorers: Dakin 24, Tonge 37, Bond 63 (Leicester United); Hurst 12, Acklam 95 (Gresley Rovers).
Leicester United: Marsden, Jackson, Potter, Taylor, Tonge, Ross, Bond, Dakin (Hollis 85), Mintus, Weafer, Thomas (Wall 83).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Foster (Dick 69), Rigg, Denby, Evans, Land (Taplin 66), Wardle, Weston, Acklam, Devaney, Hurst.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Richard Wardle.
Referee: I Jeffcote (Milton Keynes).
Attendance: 300
