UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 11th December 2004, 3.00pm
Mossley mauled
The scoreline does not reflect the full story. Gresley could have been in double figures; such was their total domination of the match.
Rovers manager Gary Norton had, had a hectic week trying to pull together a full squad for this game. He'd already lost Chris Gray to Redditch and towards the end of the week found himself without skipper Matt Smith (back injury), Matt K Smith (hamstring), and Justin Rowe (hamstring). To add to Norton's woes both Emeka Ejiofor and Jamie Barrett had missed Thursday's training session due to the flu, Jamie Hood was struggling with a knee problem that will require a scan and Andy Simpson had not fully recovered from an ankle injury.
John Branch was brought back into the squad and loan signing James Fox made his debut. Also making his debut as substitute was former Crystal Palace midfielder Steve Taylor.
Gresley started as they meant to go on when Aaron O'Connor went close after just two minutes putting his shot just wide of the upright.
Three minutes later Ejiofor flicked on a Gary White throw to Ashley Dodd whose first shot was well blocked by Mossley keeper Phil Melville and again he blocked the rebound.
O'Connor was getting closer to opening the scoring. This time the frontrunner jumped on a mistake by the visiting defence but again put his shot just wide.
On 10 minutes O'Connor made no mistake having beaten an offside trap he ran onto White's through ball almost walked around the keeper before coolly slotting the ball home.
Gresley continued to apply pressure with Ejiofor meeting a cross from Liam Hebberd but the header went wide.
Barrett went close on 19 minutes after some good work by Ejiofor but the final shot sailed over the bar. Seven minutes later O'Connor put a fine ball through to Hebberd but his first touch put the ball a fraction too far in front allowing Melville to grab it and prevent any further danger.
It was almost on the half hour when Mossley made their first real attempt on goal and a good one it was too. Jordan Goodeve got the better of White down the left side before sending over a cross that found Rory Patterson. His attempt looked goalbound but he was denied by a first class save from Gavin Saxby flinging himself to his left and pushing the ball away for a corner.
O'Connor was causing the Mossley defence all sorts of problems and had another chance on 32 minutes and despite having the close attention of three defenders managed to put a lob over Melville's head but unfortunately also over the bar.
Debutant Fox almost grabbed a goal on 41 minutes but Melville denied him and the keeper did well to block, with his legs, Jamie Hood's attempt from the rebound.
One of Mossley's rare attempts on the home goal was wasted on 46 minutes when Patterson seemed to scuff his shot giving saxby an easy save to make.
Straight from the second half whistle Gresley were in the Mossley area. O'Connor spooned up a shot that was grabbed by the keeper. Two minutes later after O'Connor had been upended White fired in the resultant free kick that was well held by the keeper.
On 51 minutes a fine flowing move by Gresley ended with a one-two between Branch and Barret but didn't get the reward it deserved with the ball going over the bar from Barrett.
Melville was having an inspired game and had been fully responsible for keeping the score at just one nil. He again denied O'Connor by blocking a shot with his legs.
Gresley thought they'd increased their advantage on 55 minutes but Ejiofor was adjudged to have been offside when he headed the ball home.
Fox again had a chance to open his account with Gresley two minutes later but Melville who had been going the wrong way superbly saved his header.
The home side's second goal came on 67 minutes. Ejiofor flicked on a White corner at the near post and Barrett was on hand to ram the ball home from close range.
Gresley wrapped the game up on 80 minutes when Ejiofor's good work on the edge of the box ended with his shot being deflected. Hebberd was quick to react and hammered the ball home.
Manager's View
"I think we put some things right this afternoon. Some players who were off it last week responded well this afternoon and I'm delighted we got the three points.
"It's been a traumatic week even to try and get 14 bodies to name in the squad but after the event it was all worth while and we kept another clean sheet - so I'm delighted.
"We talked at halftime about the fact that we weren't killing sides off. We'd had a number of chances in the first half and to come in one nil up was frustrating. We've been in that situation many, many times before this season. During the second half we continued to create chances and we were pulling our hair out at times because as the game continued at one nil anything could happen. So, to get the second goal made it more comfortable for us.
"It was a concern that we weren't putting the chances away but what would have been a bigger concern was if we weren't creating the chances. Aaron is getting a lot of chances at the minute and that's fantastic. Maybe we should work on the one-on-one situations but he got us the crucial first goal. He took it well and he keeps on scoring and I'm delighted for him. I'm happy that he keeps getting the chances to miss but we've definitely got to start to put sides away.
"I was delighted with the result especially because we had to patch the side up. I've been working hard this week to patch things up. Jamie Barrett has been ill all week and is nowhere near fit, Emeka didn't train this week because of the flu and he looked a little sluggish at times but he worked hard for us, Jamie Hood's still struggling with his knee and requires a scan so he was struggling. Matt K Smith has a hamstring injury and skipper Matt Smith pulled up at training on Thursday, Andy Simpson, who I felt had a magnificent game, has an ankle that's black and blue so it was nice to get the points knowing we had those problems.
"John Branch came in for Matt K Smith and was up there for man-of-the-match. He was very assured and didn't give the ball away - he used the ball well putting it in some good areas. John's kept his fitness level up playing at university.
"Steve Taylor, who signed for us recently, came in as cover and found himself on the bench but the one or two touches he did have when he came on showed that the class was still there.
