UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 5th March 2005, 3.00pm
Colwyn kept at bay
This game was won in the first 45 minutes as Gresley opened up a two-goal lead by the interval.
The second period was a completely different game as Colwyn Bay pushed forward aided by the stiff breeze and Gresley having to defend for large periods.
Gresley forced a succession of corners in the early few minutes before Nathan Tate opened the scoring for the Moatmen on 6 minutes. Emeka Ejiofor sent Gary Browne down the right with a great ball. Browne then sent over a pinpoint cross that Tate met with superb header past Matt Parry and into the top corner of the net.
More corners followed as Gresley pressed forward looking for more goals and they could easily have doubled their advantage when Paul Wardle's header took a slight deflection off a defender giving Parry the chance scramble the ball away to safety.
Bay's first attempt of any note came on 23 minutes when Lee Madin fired wide of an upright.
A corner from the right three minutes later gave the Bay another half chance but this time Neil Coverley headed John Boardman's corner over the bar.
Aaron O'Connor got on the end of Gary White's corner on 31 minutes but his header lacked any power.
However, two minutes later Gresley did double their lead when O'Connor managed again to get his head to another Gary White corner this time beating Parry from close in.
It took a fine last ditch tackle from Wardle to deny Calvin Davies as he ran in on goal as Colwyn pressed forward.
Colwyn had the advantage of a stiff wind for the second half and almost made it pay. On 49 minutes an in swinging high ball from the right was aided on its way and needed to be cleared off the line by Gresley defender Niall Hudson.
O'Connor did well to skip the attention of two defenders after he had collected a Gary White throw-in but the final shot went just past the post.
Gresley keeper needed to be at his best on 57 minutes when he was called on to make a fine block to prevent Alex Kevan from getting on the score sheet.
At the other end a shot from Tate just after the hour mark was well blocked by Parry pushing the ball away for a corner.
Belford was in action again on 76 minutes. Gresley conceded a free kick in a central position about 25 yards out. The kick by Boardman kept low and Belford did extremely well to get down to make the save.
The home side were not helping themselves by defending too deep allowing Colwyn to push them back with every attack. The pressure paid off when on 85 minutes when the Gresley defence seemed all at sea, failing to clear the ball and allowing substitute Carl Furlong to smash the ball home. This led to a frantic last few minutes but the home side hung on for all three points.
Manager's View
"These two back-to-back wins have put us back into the promotion shakedown. We played really well in the first half and got two good goals. I wondered what Nathan was doing in that position but his header was perfect from a superb cross from Gary Browne on the right.
"The second goal came from a Gary White corner again from the right and Aaron was in the right place to put the ball away.
"We were well on top in the first half and forced a number of corners and went close to adding a third but Aaron put his shot wide.
"At half time I had a word with the lads and told them to not go chasing the game now we were two up. But they didn't do that and went out to try and score more and Colwyn almost caught us. They managed to grab a late goal and the last few minutes were a bit frantic.
"It didn't help with us playing into a stiff wind. The ball was being cleared only to come back to us. Belford had to make a couple of smart saves but in the end I think we deserved the win.
"Paul Wardle deserves a special mention as he was very nervous before the game. I more-or-less forced him to play. We had a chat before the game and he said if we have anyone else to play them. But I know what Paul can do and he did it very well today - he was magnificent for saying he hasn't played much."
