UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 8th January 2005, 3.00pm
Dismal!
Gresley Rovers' title hopes were dealt a blow on Saturday when they suffered a home defeat in a dismal match against Spalding United.
Against an ordinary looking outfit Gresley failed again to capitalise on their numerous chances, which should have seen them two or three goals up in the first 20 minutes.
On 11 minutes a free kick taken by Matt K Smith found the head of Jamie Hood but his attempt was grasped at the second attempt by visiting keeper Ian Pledger. A minute later, Gresley really should have taken the lead when Aaron O'Connor was put through only to see his shot blocked by the onrushing keeper. Liam Hebberd was quick to react to the rebound putting his pass to Ashley Dodd but Pledger saved the resulting shot.
O'Connor was involved again on 14 minutes when he collected a poor back header from Tulips defender John Bell. Reaching the bye line he passed to Marc Laws but his first time volley flew just over the bar.
Gresley were still pressing forward and a corner by Hebberd found David Holmes but his shot also flew over the bar. On 24 minutes a Holmes cross was headed across the face of goal by Chris Freestone.
A minute later, and completely against the run of play Spalding took a shock lead. In their first attack of the game Oliver Ryan took advantage of some indifferent defending when both Jamie Hood and MK Smith failed to clear the ball, beating home keeper Gavin Saxby.
Gresley were struggling to get back into the game but should have done just before the break. A free kick by MK Smith caused pandemonium in the Tulips' box with the ball landing eventually at Holmes' feet but somehow he managed to put his shot wide of the target.
The majority of Gresley supporters still felt that their side would at the very least get back on terms and go on to win the game. How wrong they were!
A glimmer of hope came just 8 minutes after the restart. Laws, having his best game so far in a Rovers shirt, put a superb through ball into the path of Freestone who made no mistake lifting the ball over Pledger for his first goal for the club. It looked then that there was only going to be one winner with both Freestone and O'Connor going close but it was not to be. On 75 minutes, what looked a harsh decision, gave the visitors the chance to take the lead again. Skipper Matt Smith's innocuous looking tackle on Robbie Harris was at first ignored by the Willenhall referee Mr Dawes who was only a couple of yards away. But, his attention was drawn to his assistant who stood with the flag across his chest. Pointing to the spot Mr Dawes gave the penalty that was converted by Lee Sowerby.
Gresley were then forced to throw everything at their visitors for the final 15 minutes. On 77 minutes an O'Connor shot went over and on 86 minutes Matt Smith went close to redeeming himself but his header from MK Smiths corner went agonisingly wide with Pledger beaten.
Two minutes later O'Connor had a shot cleared off the line after Pledger had failed to hold a high cross.
With all the pressure at Spalding's end it was almost inevitable that Gresley could be caught on the break and so they were. In the seven minutes of added time a shot from Liam Nimmo beat Saxby and found the net to give the Tulips a surprise victory.
Manager's View
"We've gone, we're in free fall at the moment. There is no other way to describe it - I'm speechless. It's the second successive home game where the opposition has had two shots, three if you count the penalty today, and we get beaten. We managed to grab a point from Shepshed. It was the first league defeat at home since Telford and what can you say - it was a disappointing performance all round.
"We had plenty of chances and you can't keep giving away opportunities and missed chances. Aaron had another one-on-one and failed to find the net again. There is a lot of pressure on him because every time we get forward we expect him to be on the end of it. We had two or three really good opportunities before they'd even got in our box. The first time they did there was a ricochet and they had the bit of luck in the box and bang we are one down. I'm not looking for excuses we've got to roll our sleeves up and try and break teams down.
"Second half we started OK and got the equaliser, got the momentum going and I really thought we were going to get something from the game but we got the sucker punch with the penalty and we were always going to struggle then. Matt Smith is an honest player and he said he put an arm up and their player went down like a sack of spuds and the linesman gave the penalty.
"I don't think playing three at the back undid us today. The third goal came when we were pushing up and they caught us on the break in stoppage time. The three lads at the back did reasonably well but it's the other end that concerns us because we are not taking our chances when we are on top and you're not going to win matches like that.
"Chris Freestone's goal was a tidy finish. He looked a little off it in the first half and we were considering making a change and he went and got us back in it. We then had some momentum going but we didn't capitalise on it. It's a cruel game and we found ourselves two one down.
"For the first time this season we had supporters criticising us - they pay their money and have a right to do so. I'm not sure it's the right thing to get us out of this rut - it's up to me, Steve and Alan to pick the players up. We have a big game next week but it's a bit of a distraction because I'd swop the prize money and the game next week for three points, which is what we're desperate for at the minute. That's four points out of a possible fifteen and in my opinion we've blown any chance of the title because there are other strong sides. They've had bad runs but none as big or as long as this. At the minute we are in free fall and even our target of a play-off place is looking at risk unless we can get ourselves out of it. I'm just wondering where our next three points are coming from."
