UniBond League Division One
Clough Hall Ground, Kidsgrove
Saturday, 2nd April 2005, 3.00pm
Rovers grab a point
Gresley Rovers almost had a dream start on 4 minutes when Aaron O'Connor hit a post with a header after which the linesman hoisted his flag very late indeed to signal offside.
They went even closer eight minutes later when O'Connor fastened on to a poor back pass by Anthony Kielthy. He rounded keeper Stuart Heeps before sending a low cross to strike partner Paul Edwards who, under pressure from Adam Vickers, could only put his shot over from 4 yards.
The first attack from the home side came on 20 minutes but a cross from Andy Kinsey was headed wide by Matt Rhead. A minute later Chris Gray had a half chance but after receiving a pass from Edwards could only volley wide of the mark.
O'Connor looking dangerous did well on 36 minutes to volley a shot on the turn that was held by Heeps and again four minutes later when he beat the offside trap but his cross from the right was just a fraction too far in front of Edwards arriving in the danger area.
Edwards had the last say of the first half putting a shot just over the bar.
The home side had the advantage of kicking down the slope for the second period but again it was Gresley who made the early running with O'Connor again going close putting a shot wide of the post.
The visitors took the lead on 53 minutes. A quick free kick by Niall Hudson to Gary White was sent high into the area where Steve Farmer was waiting to power home an unstoppable header past Heeps.
However, three minutes later the home side were back on terms. A ball down the right had clearly gone out of play but was allowed to carry on by the assistant referee and was being jockeyed out of play by Gresley defender Jamie Hood. The referee thought that Hood had fouled Rhead and awarded a free kick on the bye line. Paul Buckley sent over the cross to Wayne Johnson in acres of space who accepted the invitation and nodded the ball home.
Julian Ward beat Gresley's offside on 66 minutes but Dale Belford was up to the challenge and did well to block the shot. Two minutes later the action was up at the other end when O'Connor latched on to a superb long ball from Hood. The striker saw that Heeps was off his line but his lob after beating the keeper just cleared the bar.
Either side could have grabbed the points in the end Rhead heading wide and Mickey Lyons having a thunderous shot well saved by the Kidsgrove keeper.
On 90 minutes Kidsgrove and their supporters behind Belford's goal thought they'd won the game but they'd not seen that the assistant referee on the far side had been standing with his flag raised to signal an offside.
In time added on Kidsgrove were reduced to 10 men when Johnson was red carded for a violent clash with Farmer.
Manager's View
"It was a bit of a strange afternoon really and I'm disappointed we didn't win the game. I felt that over the ninety minutes, although it wasn't a pretty game I felt with the chances we created we deserved the three points.
"We've not lost the game and you can see why sides find it tough to play against Kidsgrove. In effect it's a good point but it's disappointing that we didn't take the three. The lads heads are down in the dressing room because they think we should have won the game but, I was bemused by the referee's performance - I've never seen anything like that. I've complained once or twice this year but that was comical I'm just speechless.
"Steve Farmer did well getting his first goal for the club. It was a great ball in from Whitey and Steve got round the back and put it away well. The disappointing thing was we then needed to have a solid ten minutes and not give anything away but from a situation we should have dealt with comfortably we ended up giving a free kick away which was a questionable free kick in any case because I felt it should have gone the other way. But, having said that we gave it away when we should have dealt with it a lot earlier and put the ball out and reorganised and we conceded a disappointing goal. Not to worry, Hoody knows he made a little bit of a mistake and that he should have put the ball out but that's all part of his learning curve.
"It's happened twice were we've taken the lead only to concede straight after. It happened in big games against Kendal and Eastwood. It was important that we didn't lose the game but we needed all three points today. There is still a lot of football to be played yet.
"Just after Christmas this is the type of game we'd have lost but we've dug in today and despite, agreed by both sides, very poor refereeing we should have won the game on balance."
