Match Photos
Sutton Coldfield Town vs Gresley Rovers
Gresley Rovers’ dismal start to the new season continued at Coles Lane when they slumped to their fourth successive defeat.
The first 10 minutes was cagey as each side tried to settle into the match. On 13 minutes a free kick from the right by Gary White was comfortably cleared by the Sutton defence.
Keeper Brad Clarke, in for the injured Mark Sheils, had to be on his guard to deal with a half shot that deflected off one of his defenders.
Chris Gray took a free kick 20 yards out but he fired his shot well over the bar and ten minutes later he repeated the act.
Sutton had their first real chance on 29 minutes when a low free kick was blocked by Clarke but not held and the ball had to be hurriedly clear from danger by Andy Cheetham.
Gresley were undone only two minutes later by some sloppy defending that has plagued their opening league games.
The visitors gave away a series of free kicks in dangerous areas and from the final one former Gresley player Ritchie Gardner played a quick pass to Mark Wolsey inside the box and with the Gresley defence slow to react he blasted a shot past Clarke. Ian Bluck managed to clear the ball off the line but Kevin Jones was there to knock the ball home.
Gresley hit back and won a corner. Gary White swung in the ball which was knocked down for Gray but the ball was cleared off the line by a Gardner for another corner and the second kick was flicked on by Ian Pitt but was just to high for the head of Neil Kitching.
On the stroke of half time a free kick floated into the box caused panic in the Royals defence and home keeper Justin Bray was mighty relived to see the ball skim past an upright.
Gresley came out looking for an equaliser and on 52 minutes Ian Bluck smashed a shot well wide and a corner from Gray three minutes later was again fractionally too high for the advancing Cheetham.
Six minutes later manager Gary Norton mad the first of three changes bringing on Shaun Kidson for Pitt to try and liven up the front line.
On 61 minutes White collected the ball just in the Sutton half and made a fine run down the middle but his shot was well held by Bray.
Sutton made one of their rare attacking moves on 63 minutes but it finished with a shot well wide of the mark.
Carl Timms was called into action on 68 minutes replacing Nathan Tate and a few minutes later Andy Bourne replaced Neil Kitching.
The changes did not bring the change of luck that Gresley so desperately needed and they conceded their 10th league goal of this campaign on 75 minutes.
Gresley had been pushing forward looking for a goal but from a corner the ball was cleared by Neil Watkins and found Emeka Ejiofor who beat Bluck before squeezing the ball past Clarke.
Things almost got worse just three minutes later when Clarke sprinted off his line but was beaten to the ball by Dean Perrow but his shot went just wide.
Gresley seemed devoid of any ideas up front but a shot from Jamie Barrett just over the bar on 90 minutes went closest.
Gary’s view of the game
“Very disappointed with the another defeat. I can’t keep making excuses. It was some inept defending again. For the first goal we gave two or three silly fouls away on the trot – talk about putting ourselves under pressure. We were throwing ourselves in to stupid tackles and our left back switched off and allowed them to send a ball down the side of the wall and a free shot on goal. I thought we could have done a little better with that because we gave their player plenty of space and time and all he had to do was to hit it hard and low.
“In the first half I was pleased with some of our play. It was in patches but we got at them. I felt the left hand side option was working but then we seemed to go off the boil and it turned into a scrappy game, which played into Sutton’s hands because that’s the sort of side Sutton are. They never give you an inch and as soon as it turned into that sort of game we were on a hiding to nothing.
“I was looking for a leader; someone to take the game by the scruff of the neck and start passing the ball to feet and start breaking them down with the sort of football we can play, something like the first 45 minutes against Bromsgrove. But, it wasn’t there, people were hiding again and I’m very disappointed in them. They have started to make me look a bit of an idiot.
“There’s no determination, guts or pride in the shirt and after four straight defeats I’m looking round for leaders when the second goal goes in. We are pressing their goal with a corner looking to get back into the game with an equaliser and 10 seconds later they hit us on the break. I was looking for the experienced players to deal with those sorts of situations a lot better than they are doing.
“That was the ninth poor goal we’ve given away and I’m not prepared to listen to any excuses anymore and it’s time to do something drastic. We need to change the personnel and bring fresh faces in. We’ve already started the hunt because we’ve said we need someone up top – and we’ve been looking long and hard for that – but maybe we need to bring one or two more in to freshen up the squad.
“Maybe one or two who have been here a while are a bit stale and we need to give them a little bit to think about.
“I can only apologise to the supporters and hope they give me the time. The true supporters, I know are behind me and they are the ones who count.
“I’ve given the players a bit of a rocket in the dressing room which is not my style but I felt that it was needed particularly going into the game against Buxton in the FA Cup. Buxton will fancy themselves coming to the Moat Ground on the back of our four straight defeats. Because of the seven day rule I can’t bring anyone in before that game, so the squad we have will have one last chance to put things right.
“But you can rest assured that I will be going to look at players this week in a few games. Alan and I have been on the phone all weekend to try and bring players in and agree to the money we have on offer.
“I can only ask the supporters to be a bit more patient because I won’t accept a performance like that and I know the supporters won’t accept it either.
“I’ve gone two or three games making excuses for my team but that’s over now. The players themselves have got to take responsibility for their performances. They need to have pride, first in the shirt and then in their performance.
“Too many times today we got in good positions but the final ball was very, very poor. The strikers have had no support when they did get the ball and it’s just not acceptable.
“If I were a player I wouldn’t take my wages based on the last few performances. I’ve now got to try and get the players’ heads up for Saturday. We’ll be there raring to go against Buxton and I hope they feel the backlash from our performances so far.
“I my opinion, none of the sides we’ve played so far are top three or four sides and we’ve much tougher games to come than Sutton Coldfield and we need to be more switched on and far cuter and creative than we were today to brake them down.
“I just can’t put my finger on what’s gone wrong because we had a good pre-season, I was delighted with how we’d played then.
“People say we need something up top and we do but we also need a bit of luck. Nothing’s going for us at the moment. The work rate is good but you can run around like a headless chicken and work hard but if the quality is not there we will see performances like today. Players are just getting by on hard work and effort but that isn’t good enough at this standard.
“Other than just one effort headed off the line we created nothing really and when we did have a sight of goal we wanted to beat another man and we got into trouble. We need to take the opportunities that present themselves and have a shot.
“The players have all been treated professionally both in pre-season and these few league games but my patience as got to the point now where I’ve given the players their chance and I feel that the chairman, Alan and I need to sit down and say right, we need to bring one or two new players in; someone with experience because we are a bit naïve at times. We are a young side but that said they are good players. They’ve played a lot of games at this standard but some times we make silly mistakes. I think it’s time to freshen things up and I’ll be looking to do that over the next week or ten days.
“I’ll have to get rid of a few players because of the budget and if that’s the case and players are dislodged because we bring better players in then they’ve got to look at their futures with the club whether they are going to play in the reserves and try and fight for their first team places again or leave the club. I don’t mind being beaten by side who play good football and score good goals but I won’t accept performances like today’s.”
Sutton Coldfield Town: Bray, Watkins, Gardner, Spittle, Farmer
, Jones, Wolsey, Peters(Maragh 82), Ejiofor (Carpenter 82), Perrow (Ling 90), Carter. Subs not used: Yates, Keogh.
Gresley Rovers: Clarke, Bluck, Tate (Timms 68), Smith, Cheetham, Barrett, Gray, Slater, Kitching (Bourne 71), Pitt (Kidson 58), G White. Subs not used: Moran, Lonegan.
Rovers Star Man: Matt Smith – best game so far.
Referee: R Winfendale (Rugeley).
Attendance: 217
