Gresley Rovers vs Belper Town
It took penalties in the end to separate the two sides in the 3rd round of the Derbyshire Senior Cup.
Belper Town were the first to threaten a goal in as little as 2 minutes of the start when Sean Gummer saw his shot hit the bar and way to safety.
Four minutes later they took the lead. Dale Belford did well to save a shot from Gummer but the ball fell to Andy Evans who made no mistake and slotted the ball home from close range.
Things could have got even worse for Gresley on 10 minutes when Evans again was left unmarked but blazed his shot well over from 10 yards.
On 17 minutes Jamie Barrett was put through but was beaten to the ball by the Belper keeper Gary Ingham who smothered the ball and seconds later Liam Walshe hit a shot that went straight to the keeper.
A minute later Richard Wardle was put through by Leon Doughty but his shot was deflected for a corner by Belper defender Joe Cartwright.
Gresley got the equaliser on 28 minutes when a fine cross from Carl Slater found Doughty and his header went in via the underside of the bar.
On 34 minutes a long range shot from Belper was palmed away for a corner by Belford that came to nothing.
Wardle made another run down the left side but his shot-come-cross went high over the bar.
Belper were still having the better of the first half and almost on the half time whistle Evans held the ball up well and passed to Callery whose shot went just wide of the left post.
Gresley had the better of the second half and on 61 minutes Matt Smith had a chance to give the home side the lead. They were awarded a free kick taken by White but Smith could only put his header wide of the target.
Ten minutes later a Doughty corner was missed by Ingham and during the pinball action in the Belper goal mouth Barrett saw his shot blocked and then hacked away.
Belper had visibly faded during the second half but should have prevented extra time when on 90 minutes Evans, who should have done much better, hit a shot straight at Belford.
There were not too many chances for either side in the extra 30 minutes. Richard Butler headed over after 2 minutes.
Substitute Earl Aleaxander put a vicious shot fractionally over from 20 yards in the 4th minute of extra time.
Steve Lenagh's goalbound shot was blocked just before the turn-a-round.
The unfortunate Andy Cheetham who had come on as a substitute on 90 minutes lasted just 10 minutes before succumbing to the Achilles injury he'd been trying to shake off leaving Gresley with just 10 men to finish the game.
On 22 minutes a cross from Alexander from the left was headed wide by substitute Ian Pitt.
And so it went to penalties.
Gary's view of the game
"We managed to scrape through with only ten men in the end because of injuries.
" I was very, very disappointed with our first half performance. The Halesowen performance was poor and they were a good side but we were very, very poor in the first half tonight right the way through the side.
"The defenders were all over the place as a unit. They had a great game on Saturday but tonight we were giving their forwards far to much space - no one was taking responsibility.
"We re-grouped at half time and we played better in the second period. The quality we are after and are used to wasn't there but we will have a lot of games like that this season where we have to dig deep.
"From the second half and into extra time with just the ten men the application and the effort was fantastic even if the quality wasn't there.
"From our point of view it was nice to have gone through all that and end up on the winning side. If we'd have lost I would have been suicidal with the number of injuries we've picked up. We already have a thin squad and I was literally down to our last player tonight to fill the bench with three subs.
"We wasn't going to risk Any Cheetham so we had him on the bench just in case and it backfired really because there's a doubt he'll be fit for Saturday but we'll have to wait and see.
"All the injuries are worrying but we won the game and are through to the next round but we are counting the cost.
"We've got a big game on Saturday at home to the top of the league then a League Cup game on Tuesday and we will need to bring players in just to try and see us through.
"I thought Carl Slater had a good game. He showed us on Saturday what he could do although he only played for 20 minutes. He worked very hard and drove us forward and I'm delighted for him and he's now got himself in the frame for the big games coming up.
Gresley Rovers (1) 1
Belper Town (1) 1
(after extra time – Gresley won 5-4 on penalties)
Scorers: Doughty 28 (Gresley Rovers); Evans 6 (Belper Town)
Gresley Rovers: Belford, Everitt, G White (Alexander 64), Smith, Haynes
, Walshe (Pitt 78), Doughty, Slater, Barrett (Cheetham 90), Lenagh, Wardle.
Belper Town: Ingham, S Carter (Rouston 78), J Carter, Crooker, Astley, Butler, Gummer (Rhule 50), Callery, Evans, Roberts, Simpson (Jones 86).
Rovers Star Man: Leon Doughty – worked hard in midfield.
Referee: B Coward (Chesterfield).
Attendance: 167
