UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 5th February 2005, 3.00pm
O'Connor hits two
After 60 minutes of this match it looked as if Gresley Rovers had turned the corner and got back to winning ways - alas that was not to be. Two events, one unfortunate the other a moment of total stupidity turned the game around.
Things could have got off to a dreadful start for the Moatmen as Rossendale had the ball in the back of their hosts net after just 19 minutes. A linesman saved the home side's blushes flagging an arguable offside decision and the goal was disallowed.
Neither side could get into any sort of flowing, passing football as the pitch got rapidly heavy due to constant rain with divots Jack Nicholas would not have been proud of and goal mouth action at both ends was down to a bare minimum.
The nearest Gresley got was on 28 minutes when Jamie Barrett did well to fire in a low pass across the area that Aaron O'Connor just failed to connect with.
Two minutes later O'Connor again failed to get on the end of a corner from Karl Brown.
It looked as if both sides would go in at the break on even terms. However, on 44 minutes Liam Hebberd beat a defender to Gary White's long ball and as ran in on goal United's keeper Andrew Robertson brought him down and referee Mr Law pointed to the spot. O'Connor made no mistake as he blasted the ball into the net to bring his tally for the season to 17 goals.
An almost carbon copy of the first half started the second period. Before the sound of the referee's whistle had chance to die away Rossendale were given a golden chance when Dean Cooper put Chris Brooks through. Gresley keeper Dale Belford made a superb block but Stuart Tulloch could only fire the rebound wide of a gaping target.
Gresley badly needed another goal to settle the nerves and they got it on 58 minutes. A cleverly taken quick free kick by Brown to O'Connor enabled the striker to make his way past a number of tackles before smashing the ball into the net from just inside the area.
Just as they as had grabbed the two goal lead Rovers gave away a needless free kick just outside the penalty area. The ball was swung in by Tulloch White got a touch to it with his head and was unfortunate to see the ball sail past Belford and into the net.
What followed just four minutes later can only be described as a moment of utter stupidity. Gresley had been pushing forward with Hebberd on the ball when Brad Clegg tackled him. The tackle looked a nasty one but instead of allowing the official to deal with the incident Hebberd head butted the defender. And, although Brad Clegg put on an Oscar winning performance rolling around on the ground, Hebberd got his just deserts as Mr Law showed him the red card. The only mystery was why Clegg was not yellowed carded for the bad tackle.
Down to 10 men Gresley sat back and defended very deep allowing the Rossendale front line to put almost constant pressure on the Gresley backline for the rest of the game.
However, on 71 minutes a deflection almost increased the Gresley lead. In one of the few ventures forward Ashley Dodd's shot deflected off his team mate Brown but the ball went just past the upright with the keeper helpless.
With just seven minutes remaining United got the equaliser. A rash challenge by Andy Simpson in the area allowed Brooks to grab a share of the points from the spot putting the ball past Belford.
Both side had chances at the end to grab an unlikely three points. On 88 minutes a fine header from Simpson was well saved by Robertson and at the other end a long range shot by George Clegg narrowly cleared the angle of bar and post. In time added on Brown had possibly the best of the latter chances when White's cross fell invitingly to him but he could not accept the chance.
Manager's View
"I can't really put my feelings in to words at the moment. I'm gutted. We won't get a better chance than that to kick-start our season after getting ourselves in a great position, two-nil up.
"It wasn't a pretty game with difficult conditions and a difficult surface. We got the bit of luck just before half time with the penalty then Aaron took a superb strike to put us two-nil up and we were in control of the game really. Our lack of professionalism has cost us two points today, which is the frustrating thing.
"It feels like a defeat. Yes, we've got a point but against a side like that you need to be taking all three, it's as simple as that.
"They are a good side. They broke well and they had one or two really good opportunities and I thought we'd weathered that and we got ourselves in the driving seat two-nil up and then just after our second goal we gave away a soft free kick and put ourselves under pressure. I've spoken about that a number of times this season.
"We were a bit unlucky with the first goal - I think it was an own goal. But having said that if we'd have kept 11 men on the pitch we'd have won that game. I was a bit disappointed with their penalty - it was a reckless tackle and a blatant penalty.
"It was difficult for Gary the new signing to come into a side low on confidence. The conditions were not the best on which to make your debut. He looked a little tired when he came off and it will take him three or four games to get into things. He's got quality and a good pedigree and there's more to come from him."
