Stourport Swifts vs Gresley Rovers
Gresley Rovers manager Gary Norton rung the changes and gave debuts to five new members to his squad.
Dale Belford, Danny Haynes, Shaun Harrad, Gareth Holmes and Steven Lenagh were all given the nod and the changes almost paid off.
Gresley dominated the first 45 minutes and the home side were fortunate not to have been behind by 2 or 3 goals by the interval.
Harrad could easily have netted two goals before he scored on 18 minutes. That goal was the result of some fine work by Lenagh who left his marker, John Newall, for dead before putting a superb ball through to Harrad. The on-loan striker kept his cool and put his shot wide of Swifts keeper Lee Evans.
Gresley went close again minutes later when Matt Moran made Evans earn his money by pulling off another save.
On 30 minutes the woodwork came to the rescue of Swifts when Jamie Barrett fired in a ferocious shot that clattered the base of the upright.
Gresley continued to put the pressure on the home defence and Evans was called on twice to deny both Moran and Gary White.
The home side must have been mightily relieved to reach the interval only one down after the battering they had received from Gresley.
Norton had warned his side that Swifts would battle and with a few minutes of the restart they were back on terms.
A clever ball by Richard Ball found Mark Jones galloping down the right flank and it was his tempting cross into the area that found John Shirley waiting to head the ball home giving the very sparse crowd something to cheer.
Two minutes later Gresley almost regained the lead but were denied again by the woodwork, which kept out a low shot from Lenagh.
Lenagh went close again after some fine work by Danny Haynes but he put his shot just wide of the upright.
The lively Harrad was having a terrific debut and was giving the home defence all sorts of problems and was unlucky not to have scored his second of the day. The striker was denied first by Steve Ulfig, who deflected his shot for a corner, and then by yet another good save from Evans who managed to get a hand to a low shot.
Swifts could have snatched an undeserved victory right at the end of the game when Andy Wright put Ball through on goal but Belford was more than his match and pulled of a terrific save to give his new club a share of the points.
Gary’s view of the game
It's great to get off the mark but I talk to you again with some degree of disappointed but this time for the right reasons. We should have had all 3 points today as our overall performance was better and overall we had the better chances. We've by far created more opportunities had more efforts on goal today than in all of our previous 4 league games. 1st half we battered them and with a little luck could have been 2 or 3 up at the interval. I said at half time that we by far had the better quality but Stourport’s battling qualities would keep them in with a shout. Unfortunately, that turned out to be the case. I watched Stourport play Halesowen here a couple of weeks ago and they lost two nil. But what impressed me about them in that game was that they battled and fought all the way to the end, despite being beaten and if you have that you’re always going to be in with a shout.
After discussions with Alan and Steve, we had no hesitation about starting all five new signings to give us a much needed shake up and the response we have received from the whole squad has been great. Dale’s presence in goal was huge and Danny Haynes showed his quality at centre half. We looked far more solid at the back than at any stage this season. Loan signing Gareth Holmes was superb in midfield with Jamie Barrett and he's just the type of combative midfielder we have been looking for. Shaun Harrad and Steve Lenagh gave us the quality upfront we've been lacking and the linkup play and movement they produced in their 1st game together was very encouraging. They linked well for the goal with Steve's turn and pass releasing Shaun for a great goal.
Jamie Barrett's effort that came off the inside of the post could have given us the gap we needed to relax a little more but it wasn’t to be. Conceding when we did was a blow. We knew they would come at us right at the start of the second half, especially after the way we passed them off the park in the 1st half. Their goal was probably the 1st goal of any quality we've conceded in the league so far but that said there was one or two small things we could have done better to defend it better.
When Shaun hit the post for us again in the second half, I knew it wasn’t going to be our day but overall we are very pleased with the point. It gives us a foothold in the situation and we've hopefully started the job of digging us out of the hole we are in.
Player wise, the rebuilding continues. I want players here who will spill blood for Rovers and if required finish a game on one leg. All of the players we've brought in will do that and I expect our existing players to do that too. We've agreed terms with another experienced defender and also have seven days in for another midfielder. There will be a lot of competition for shirts.
Today was a good sign but there is no way anyone will be getting carried away. We have a massive amount of work to do still and I need everyone to be patient while we go about it. Rome wasn’t built in a day so Gresley most certainly won't be!!
Stourport Swifts (0) 1
Gresley Rovers (1) 1
Scorers: Shirley 49 (Stourport Swifts); Harrad 18 (Gresley Rovers).
Stourport Swifts: Evans, Jones, Ulfig, Newall, Mulders (Davies 45) Harris, Shirley, Giddings (Webb 45,) Ball, Wright, Cotterill. Subs not used: Sayer, Dunn, Howard.
Gresley Rovers: Belford, Wardle, Cheetham, Smith, Haynes, Barrett, Moran (Hebberd 78), Holmes, Harrad, Lenagh (Pitt 78), G White. Subs not used: Tate, Timms, Sheils.
Rovers Star Man: Shaun Harrad – terrific debut.
Referee: S T Barron (Tamworth)
Attendance: 83
