Match Photos
Gresley Rovers vs Sutton Coldfield Town
This was a game of little excitement and very few clear-cut goal-scoring chances coming from either side.
A good Boxing Day crowd witnessed a scrappy affair with the home goal coming from their first serious goal attempt.
Recent signing Jamie Hood made his debut replacing Leigh Everitt who succumbed to a re-occurrence of a thigh injury.
It was Sutton who applied the early pressure and it needed a save from Gresley keeper Dale Belford to tip over a shot-cum-cross from Nicky Carter within minutes of the start.
On 3 minutes Sutton's defender Stephen Farmer should have done much better but could only put his header, from a Mark Peters corner, straight into the arms of Belford when well placed.
On 11 minutes Gresley were awarded a free kick that was taken by Leon Doughty. The ball was only half cleared to Rovers defender Matt Smith who then laid the ball on for Jamie Barrett. But, as the youngster shaped for his shot, former Moatman Peters managed to toe poke the ball away from him.
Eight minutes later Carl Slater made a run towards Sutton's area before putting a shot narrowly wide of the upright.
On 44 minutes Sutton almost gave Gresley the lead when Neil Watkin's attempted clearance cannoned back off teammate Farmer but their keeper Justin Bray did well to save his defender's blushes.
However, a minute later Gresley took the lead. A superb through ball sliced Sutton's defence in two with Carl Francis racing after it. He controlled the ball, held off a defender before coolly slotting the ball past Bray.
The second half had as few goal chances as the first.
On 59 minutes Doughty sent a fine ball into the Sutton area where Francis was just a fraction of an inch from capitalising on the chance.
On 73 minutes Sutton were level. A long throw from Exodus Geoghaghan was headed on to substitute Marin Blake waiting just on the edge of the area. He unleashed a vicious shot that beat Belford hitting the underside of the bar before crossing the line.
Both sides had chances of sneaking all three points towards the end of the game.
Just minutes after scoring Sutton went close but Carter was denied by a fine fingertip save from Belford and then a poorly directed header by Geoghaghan went wide.
Right on the full time whistle Gary White put his shot agonisingly wide of the mark.
Gary's view of the game
"I would have taken 1-1 before the game going in to it with all the injury problems that we've got.
"Having said that, on reflection, I'm slightly disappointed that we didn’t hang on and take all three points.
"It was a scrappy game but in my opinion we shaded it based on our first half performance. The second half was pretty even. We knew they would put us under pressure and I think we weathered the storm very well. We defended well and in the end it took a 'top-drawer' strike to get them a point. Even then we were unlucky that it just bounced the other side of the line. The luck we've been having recently with injuries it would have been nice for the ball to have bounced out and one of the lads to get it away. But, it wasn't to be.
"I think Jamie Hood did very well. He came in not having played for four weeks. Danny Haynes was fit to play but he was big enough to say that he wasn't 100% and still had a slight problem with his balance after his recent ear infection. On another day we might have risked him but with Jamie in the squad it now gives us that option to swap things about a little bit.
"I was very pleased for Carl Francis. As I've said before he's been very patient waiting for his chance to come off the bench. He did so at Bromsgrove and had a hand in both goals. Today he's worked very, very hard bringing the midfielders and Jamie Barrett into play. He's put in a very good performance and scored a very good goal on the stoke of half time. I though he took it very well. He held the defender off and put a nice goal away for himself.
"We nearly snatched it at the end. The ball seemed to get caught under Jermaine Liburd's feet but he managed to put the ball out to Gary White who unfortunately put his shot wide.
"So, on reflection I'm quite happy with a point."
Gresley Rovers (1) 1
Sutton Coldfield Town (0) 1
Scorers: Francis 45 (Gresley Rovers); Blake 73 (Sutton Coldfield Town).
Gresley Rovers: Belford, Wardle, Cheetham, Smith
, Hood, Slater, Doughty (Sylla 82), Holmes, Francis (Liburd 75), Barrett, White (Alexander 90). Subs not used: Branch, Haynes.
Sutton Coldfield Town: Bray, Carpenter (Ejiofor 63), Gardner, Geoghaghan, Farmer, Jones, Watkins, Spittle, Carter, Perrow (Blake 30), Peters. Subs not used: Ling, Perry, Martin.
Rovers Star Man: Jamie Hood – impressive debut.
Referee: S Cook (Belper).
Attendance: 406
