UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 1st March 2005, 7.45pm
At last!
This was not one of the prettiest games to watch and looked to be heading for a stalemate until one piece of genius from Aaron O'Connor grabbed all three points and Gresley Rovers their first win of 2005.
Nathan Tate, playing his first game since returning from neighbours Shepshed Dynamo, almost made an immediate impact on 6 minutes. Belper's defence failed to clear the ball and Tate dispossessed the hapless defender, turned but fired his shot just over the bar.
Belper's first attack on 10 minutes needed a superb save from home keeper Dale Belford tipping over a vicious dipping shot from Joe Carter.
Tate was giving the visiting defence the run-around down the left side and on 21 minutes Rudi Coleano cynically pulled the youngster back by his shirt after being left for dead. Coleano received a deserved yellow card for his trouble.
Six minutes later Tate again went close when he received a pass from O'Connor but the shot was blocked by a defender and spun away for a corner.
The first petered out with neither goalmouth really being threatened.
The second half didn't start well for Gresley as they saw their skipper for the night and centre half Andy Simpson limp off with a knee injury after stretching for a ball after just 15 minutes of the half. Ashley Dodd came on as his replacement.
The Gresley defence looked a little jittery as they adjusted to the change and Karl Brown almost gave Town a gift. Laurie Wilson blocked his attempted clearance with the ball finding Jason Maxwell whose first time shot narrowly missed the target.
Within a minute the ball was with O'Connor down at the other end but Town keeper Lee Wilson came off his line quickly to block the shot.
Wilson saved his team mates on 67 minutes this time when Tate ran in on goal. He was again quick of the mark to get to the ball before the on-rushing Tate.
Substitute Emeka Ejiofor should have done better on 75 minutes after making good headway down the right he blazed his shot well over the bar.
O'Connor was looking the most likely of either side to break the deadlock. On 77 minutes he ran after a through ball that was just too far in front of him and then three minutes later collecting the ball down the left his blasted a shot just wide of the upright.
On 83 minutes O'Connor got the goal he his efforts fully deserved. The striker collected a high ball from Mickey Lyons on the edge of the box, shook off the attention of a couple of defenders before turning and hammering a shot past the helpless Wilson for his 20th goal of the season.
Jamie Barrett had the chance to make the points secure five minutes later but his shot went just past the angle of post and bar.
Belper had just one more chance to salvage something from the game in time added on. A harsh decision by referee Mr Day gave them a free kick 20 yards out. Coleano's shot took a slight deflection off the wall and Belford did extremely well to get down to a ball that was heading into the bottom corner of the net and push it away for a corner.
Manager's View
"I'm relieved -it's been a while coming and I had some sleepless nights! With the problems we had in the game it was indicative of the luck we've been having just recently. We are down to the bare bones at the back and then Andy Simpson had to come off injured and we had to drop Ashley Dodd in there.
"It was a scrappy game and there was not many clear-cut chances but I felt we had what chances and half-chances there were.
"I always thought we might nick a goal but I was not that confident with the way we've been defending in recent weeks that we'd keep a clean sheet so I'm absolutely delighted with that.
"Aaron was outstanding again tonight and always looked likely to score. He seemed to be getting fouled every time he got near the ball and when he got past people they were tugging at him and chopping at him and I said to him at half time 'just keep your discipline and composure because you're a good player.' That's going to happen to him in games but he's done well. He was head and shoulders above all the other forwards on the pitch tonight and if anything was going to come it was going to come from him and he created the goal himself - his twentieth of the season.
"Nathan Tate was fantastic tonight. He got at people, he made things out of nothing by closing people down and he got one or two decent balls into the box and he could even have had a goal or two tonight as well. He suffered with cramp towards the end and he had to come off but I was very encouraged with him and I'm very excited to have him back. I think he will give us a bit more going forward.
"We need to build on this win now. It wasn't convincing but it was deserved. Belper are a very hard working side and we had to work harder tonight than we did when we went to their place earlier in the season."
