Yate Town vs Gresley Rovers
There was very little to say about this match and to be honest it was a game that's best forgotten as Gresley Rovers suffered their biggest defeat of the season at Yate Town.
The Moatmen and their supporters must hope that this was one of those "against the odds" results that most teams suffer at some time in a season and get back to winning ways against Cirencester on Tuesday night.
Gresley did not get really going at all and could easily have been two down in the first ten minutes if it had not been for saves from Dale Belford.
The home side did grab the lead on 12 minutes. A free kick slung in by David Elsey was not cleared and the ball landed to Matt Rawlins who's first shot was blocked but he made no mistake with the rebound.
Gresley had only one worthwhile attempt on goal when Jamie Barrett made Yate keeper Tony Court tip over his shot from 25 yards.
Indeed, Gresley were very fortunate to be only one goal down as the home side had made all the running in the first half.
The turning point of the match came on 47 minutes. A sturdy but fair tackle by Jamie Hood on James Hughes caused a Yate player to race half the length of the pitch to remonstrate. It appeared that he then raised his hands leaving the Gresley player on the ground but amazingly referee Alison Chapman viewed the incident as just a yellow card and not the fully warranted red card for violent conduct.
Yate doubled their lead on 58 minutes. A long ball from Elsey found Tony Bennett looking at least yard offside and he raced on to put the ball past Belford.
On 64 minutes Yate scored another goal from an offside player leaving the Gresley players and management totally bemused and angry.
Steve Campbell's pass found Rawlins yerds off side but the referee and lineman chose to allow the play to continue and the striker sent a tremendous volley into the top corner past Belford.
Campbell was involved in Yates fourth on 69 minutes when his corner from the left was deflected by a Gresley player giving Phil Ward the easy task of knocking the ball home.
It was Campbell himself that completed the rout on 82 minutes. Ward had sent Rawlins scurrying down the left flank who sent in a cross that Campbell finished with an angled shot.
Gary's view on the game
"I feel despondent to be honest; as low as I've felt for a long time. This was by far our worst performance of the season but having said that I've said that I would never complain about officials but they were an absolute joke today.
"Yate worked hard and got themselves one-nil up and they deserved it - we weren't at the races at all in the first half and I have no qualms about that.
"We came out in the second half and a key decision did not go our way were their No9 ran thirty yards, pole-axed one of our players and in the end the referee did not deem it violent conduct yet she's booked him so for me that was the turning point because five minutes later the same player, clearly offside, ran through and put the ball in the net. I just looked in disbelief at what was going on.
"Having said that I still expected us to put a foot in and go forward and push things. We changed things and went three at the back but we were poor all over the park today.
"The players are complaining about the further goals being well offside and saying what can you do with officials like that.
"Yes, we were second best today and perhaps didn't deserve anything from the game but 5-0 I'm just lost for words.
"I would like to apologise to all the supporters who travelled today. We haven't become a bad side over night and hopefully we can bounce back on Tuesday night.
"We came here today on the back of a very good run and they've had some good results of late but they are fifth from bottom.
"I was tempted to change things a little at half time but I've got faith in the team we started with. We didn't start particularly well and they bullied out of the game in the first half us and a few of our players were a little off it. I was looking for the type of response we had at Mangotsfield where we dig in and earn the right to play football.
"All over the park today our passing was poor; our first touch was poor. Their first goal was due to a poor first touch by us.
"We weren't at the races today but I had confidence in the team that we could get back into the game and we had an ideal opportunity when their player should have been sent off. Even Yate's bench apologised to me saying 'some you get and some you don't'. It should have been a straight red card. He's run 30 yards raised his hands and knocked one of our players to the floor and yet the referee doesn't deem that at violent conduct.
"I'm not using that as an excuse for losing, definitely not but it just gets your back up to be honest.
"Andy Cheetham got injured by the guy who should have gone off earlier. Eight times out of ten it would have been another yellow card but again the referee bottled it and he's left on the pitch and I'm left with a player now doubtful for Tuesday.
Yate Town (1) 5
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Yate Town: Court, White, Powell, Ward, Elsey, Metheringham, Wyatt, Campbell, Bennett (Collett 71), Rawlins
, Hughes (Neal 62). Subs not used: Pritchard, Hobbs, Barlass.
Gresley Rovers: Belford, Wardle, Cheetham (Sinclair 56), Smith, Hood (Haynes 87), Lake, Doughty, Barrett (Hall 63), Slater, Lenagh, Alexander. Subs not used: Holmes, Clarke (gk).
Rovers Star Man: Carl Slater – another hardworking performance.
Referee: A Chapman (Reading)
Attendance: 175
