UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 16th November 2004, 7.45pm
Athletic beaten
Gresley Rovers found themselves joint top of the UniBond Division One league after what manager Gary Norton called ' an entertaining match'.
Kidsgrove Athletic had only lost once on their travels and the Moat Ground faithful where expecting a tough encounter.
The visitors started with a flurry of corners in the first ten minutes but the first half chance fell to the home side on 11 minutes when Aaron O'Connor run into the area and resultant cross was grabbed by keeper Stuart Heeps before any Gresley player could get their heads to the ball.
Chris Gray making his first start since returning to the Moat Ground went close but his shot on 15 minutes flew over the bar. And he went even closer nine minutes later when he got on the end of a superb cross from Jimmy Turner but his header was deflected by Bradley Sandeman causing Heeps to pull off a fine save.
Gresley's pressure told on 26 minutes when a flicked header by Emeka Ejiofor found Ashley Dodd who had made himself space to nod the ball home.
A minute later O'Connor went close but his shot flew wide of the target.
Kidsgrove were extremely lucky to have 11 men still on the pitch on 31 minutes. Turner had robbed Patrick Shaughnessy and as the Gresley defender turned away he was scythed down from behind but the referee in a forgiving mood only waved the yellow card.
The home side continued to turn the screw and on 35 minutes went close to doubling their advantage but Hebberd was unlucky to see his shot cannon back off an upright.
Athletic were the authors of their own downfall just before the break. Another deep cross from Turner seemed to be going nowhere but Sandeman unexplainably hammered the ball past his own bewildered keeper.
Gresley came out still looking for goals and as the poppy red shirts flooded the Kidsgrove half O'Connor tried his luck with a shot that went wide. O'Connor was involved again on 51 minutes when he flicked on a free kick that found Andy Simpson but his header went wide.
Three minutes later Athletic had a chance to reduce the deficit when Matthew Rheade put his header over from a free kick.
On 58 minutes Kidsgrove were down to 10 men when Glynn Hancock was deservedly red carded for elbowing Dodd. Hancock, who had been cautioned earlier this time was shown a straight red card for the totally unnecessary bad tackle.
The visitors' could have been further punished just minutes later but Ejiofor could only put his header over the bar from Gary White's cross.
On 62 minutes the crowd at the Moat Ground witnessed what could arguably be described as the goal of the season. A high ball from Matt Smith found O'Connor on the edge of the opposition box who expertly in one movement brought the ball down with his chest and unleashed an unstoppable volley into the top corner of the net with Heeps reduced to a mere spectator.
O'Connor was causing the visiting defence all sorts of problems and his run into the box needed a good tackle to deny the frontrunner another chance.
Perhaps it was a case of taking the foot off the pedal but Gresley conceded a sloppy goal on 70 minutes. Turner had denied Julian Ward but the ball found Andy Kinsey who slotted the ball into an empty net.
The goal seemed to give Athletic a renewed, albeit brief, confidence and could have reduced the deficit even more but Ben Matthews embarrassingly headed wide when scoring would have been easier.
On 79 minutes Gresley almost got another goal when a deflected shot from Hebberd left the keeper stranded but to Heeps' relief the ball went wide.
Two minutes later Simpson having another fine game, got on the end of a White free kick from the left and was unfortunate to see his header come back off the cross bar and away to safety.
It could only be a matter time before Gresley breached the Kidsgrove defence again as wave after wave of attacks hit the visitors.
In the space of two minutes Jamie Barrett had a shot blocked, Sean Gummer was denied by a fine last ditch tackle and Hebberd put a shot just past the post.
Almost on the final whistle Kidsgrove should have been down to nine men. Gray had beaten the attentions of the defence and was one-on-one with the keeper. Heeps ran to meet Gray and floored him and to everyone's amazement the referee only showed a yellow card, contrary to what many in the crowd thought - last man etc, and awarded a penalty. Barrett chose to take the kick but the very fortunate keeper easily dealt with his tame shot.
To put the cherry on the cake, Gummer who had been brought on to play up front, easily beat Kidsgrove's attempt at an offside trap in time added on, skipped around the keeper before slotting the ball home.
Manager's View
"It was an entertaining game. Kidsgrove are a very good side and to be fair to them the sending off affected things.
"Aaron O'Connor scored a magnificent goal for the third and I'm absolutely delighted with the result and that we scored a few goals.
"The back four are gutted that they conceded a sloppy goal. We are not perfect and we are going to make the odd mistake. Our success this season has been built on the defensive unity and we will allow the odd mistake or two.
"The game at Belper highlighted the problem we have that we create a lot of chances but are not putting them away. The second goal tonight was the bit of luck we needed and it gave us a good foothold. It's the first time, I think, that we've been two up at half time and the first time since Rocester that we've won by at least two clear goals.
"First half at Belper the lads were fantastic but in the second Belper threw everything at us and it was a case of digging in and I couldn't fault the lads for their workrate. But, tonight it was fantastic from start to finish and some of the football we played was good. Yes, we made mistakes and these are things to work on - we wouldn't be playing at this level if that weren't the case.
"I'm thoroughly delighted with the three points. Kidsgrove have only lost one at home and one away this season so this was always going to be a tough game so to get the win was the main thing but to get score some goals was even better.
"I knew that this league was going to be tough so I took some advice from one or two experienced guys and tried to set ourselves up tactically very tight defensively - not just the back four although they are taking all the plaudits at the moment, bit it is genuinely a team effort and we defend from the front man, work hard in midfield and try to keep our shape.
"I don't like to see players sent off, but it that would have been us we would have lost our keeper. Chris Gray was in a goal scoring opportunity and the keeper brought him down so in fairness the keeper should have been sent off. The referee gave him the benefit of the doubt but I can't understand how he gave him a yellow instead of a red card.
"Sean Gummer looked good up front in training. When we got the third goal I was going to put Sean on the right and move Liam Hebberd up front but I liked what I saw in training so I put Sean in that position and he showed he can finish and he took his goal well and deserved it.
"Chris Gray, I thought, had a fantastic game and he was unlucky not to have scored with his header at the end of the first half.
"We are joint top tonight with a couple of games in hand and it's an nice place to be."
