UniBond League Division One
Cantilever Park, Warrington, Cheshire
Saturday, 29th January 2005, 3.00pm
Away day blues
Lady Luck seems to have abandoned the Moatmen at the moment as they failed to break the dismal league run at Warrington Town.
Creating chances does not seem to be a problem; it's the taking of them that is causing concerns to Moat boss Gary Norton.
Although missing four regular first teamers Gresley had enough chances to have won the game. The defeat now sees them slip to fifth in the UniBond Division One.
The home side were quick out of the starting blocks and could have grabbed an early lead when Michael Heverin was given far too much space on 3 minutes. With only Gresley keeper Dale Belford to beat Heverin's hooked shot went wide of the mark.
Warrington went close again on 14 minutes when a poor back pass from Matt K Smith needed to be cleared by Belford before Heverin could capitalise.
The visitors eventually found their feet and had their first chance two minutes later. Lee Smith fouled Jamie Barrett and the free kick from Karl Brown found Chris Freestone who was unlucky to see his shot come off a post and out for a goal kick.
David Tickle beat Gresley's offside and ran onto Stephen Latham's through ball but the final shot should at the very least have tested Belford but went wide.
The game swung to the other end when Andy Marlowe did well win possession before finding Barrett down the left but the final shot went sailing over the bar.
Warrington's opening goal came from a set piece. A corner from Iain Dyson found Paul Clarke 15 yards out who hammered in a volley. Belford did well to get a hand to the ball but not enough to prevent it from finding the net.
The lead only lasted six minutes as Gresley hit back. Marlowe's corner kick was flicked on by Matt Smith to Emeka Ejiofor whose shot was blocked. The rebound came to Barrett and the midfielder made no mistake beating Colin Flood.
Warrington could have regained the lead just before the break when another poor back pass this time from Ashley Dodd's header let in Heverin but a superb last-ditch tackle from Paul Wardle denied him.
Gresley came out for the second period determined to take the game by the scruff and for long periods were in control of the game. Another free kick from Brown found Freestone but the header went past the upright.
The visitors had a gilt edged chance of taking the lead on 64 minutes when a fine pass found Ejiofor in acres of space. Looking odds on to score the big striker hit a woefully weak shot that was very easy for Flood to deal with.
Gresley were to rue that miss as eight minutes later Warrington re-took the lead and it was yet another set piece that was Rovers undoing. The home side was awarded a free kick which Latham sent over to the far post were the waiting Clarke headed goalwards. Belford managed to parry the ball but only as far as Heverin who put his header past Belford.
With the confidence clearly drained from Rovers the home side had the chance to rub in the salt but the visitors' blushed were spared when Matt K Smith cleared Dyson's header off the line in the closing minutes.
Manager's View
"We created lots of chances again today and we've lost! It's a bit like Ground Hog Day at the moment. The disappointing thing was that we've conceded two soft goals from set plays.
"Generally, our defensive performance, regardless of the personnel missing, deserve some credit today. Paul Wardle has come in and done a great job for us. But, again, we've created chance after chance and we've had a massive chance to go two one up and then we got hit with a sucker punch at the other end. So it's the same old story at the minute.
"Overall, our performance after going one down to a sloppy goal was good. We recovered well and got ourselves back into the game and before they scored their second there was only one team in it. It was just a case of if and when we would get a break through. Then they got a goal from a set play and you could see the confidence drain out of us because of the run were are in at present and it was very, very disappointing.
"I'm not going to use as an excuse the personnel we had out because we had enough chances to win the game today. That performance warranted a minimum of a point but, in my opinion all three.
"We did very well at the beginning of the second period. It was if the confidence had come back into the lads. Two or three of them who have been struggling for the last six or seven games were having particularly good games which was pleasing. One of the positives to take from the game was that we were first to the bits and bobs and we were creating stuff but you've got to take your chances and we haven't been doing that for a number of weeks now.
"Emeka apologised for missing his big chance but, to be fair to him we've been missing big, big chances for weeks to put us the driving position in games and we haven't been taking them and we've been punished for sloppy defending at the other end. It was a similar story today.
"We haven't become a bad side overnight. Generally our overall play is good - offensively we are creating chances but we are just not taking them. It's as simple as that. As good as our defence was in the first half of the season we've been found out a bit now. We haven't had a settled back four out for eight or nine games now. Having said that the goals we are conceding are cheap and if you're not converting chances at one end and giving cheap goals away at the other you are always going to struggle to win football games.
" It's a big week for us coming up. We've got a home game against Rossendale next week and we have a number of players to come back in and it gives us a lot of food for thought because there were several players out there playing fantastically well until the goal went in and then you could see the confidence drain away. Earlier in the season we were coming away from home and getting results until we lost our away record and since then we've struggled."
