UniBond League Division One
New Buck's Head Stadium, Telford
Saturday, 30th April 2005, 3.00pm
Rovers bow out
Well that's it for another season. A season of rollercoaster proportions but it ended with an experience that will be difficult to repeat in the near future. Unless, however, our hosts for the afternoon fail to gain promotion or we manage to make the first round proper of the FA Cup or the latter stages of the FA Trophy.
In superb surroundings, in front of a massive 3774 partisan crowd and in glorious warm sunshine Gresley played out their final league match of the season. Telford desperately required all three points to have at least a hope of automatic promotion depending on other results going in their favour and the Moatmen the need to shake off the effects of their poorest home performance in midweek.
Telford began as expected pushing forward and within three minutes took the lead. A long throw by Duane Courtney was flicked on to the feet of Damien Charie who turned and smashed the ball into the net to the delight of the supporters and team mates.
Gresley looked shaky and were lucky not to have been further behind five minutes later when Charie inexplicably fired wide of an open goal after receiving Kyle Perry's pass.
The Moatmen were handed a gift on 19 minutes to bring them back on terms. A long ball from Jamie Hood looked to have been dealt with by Courtney as he headed it back to Steve Taylor, the young stand-in keeper. But, the header was short and neither Courtney nor Taylor took charge of the situation allowing Aaron O'Connor to nip in and tap the ball into the unguarded net for his 28th goal of the season. That was the only mistake the impressive Courtney was to make for the rest of the game.
The goal was, to be honest, against the run of play and on 22 minutes the lead should have been restored except for a superb save from Gresley keeper Dale Belford playing his last game for the Moatmen. The dangerous Charie hit a vicious shot from close in that Belford did well to tip over the bar.
The visitors at last began to find their feet and playing some good passing free-flowing football started to put pressure on the Bucks defence. Liam Hebberd was unlucky not to get on the end of a move of at least seven passes but the final ball was just inches too far in front of him.
On 26 minutes Nathan Tate made good headway down the left before firing over a glorious cross that Paul Edwards put over the bar with a volley.
Two minutes later it was the turn of O'Connor to put the home supporters hearts in their mouths but this time the striker put his shot wide of the post.
Telford's second goal was somewhat fortunate for a couple of reasons. After giving the home side advantage which ended in a couple of passes and a final shot on goal the referee Mr Keane bizarrely dragged play back for a foul just outside the box by Gresley skipper Matt Smith which was hotly disputed by both Smith and the Gresley bench. Sean Parrish took the shot and it crashed off the post and Belford managed to get a hand to Charie's shot from the rebound but the ball managed to roll into the bottom corner of the net.
Gresley supporters have seen a number of 'special' goals scored against their side this season and Saturday added yet another one to the tally. The ball was only half cleared by the Gresley defence and seeing Belford off his line Neil Howarth volleyed a 25-yard screamer, which went over the keeper before dipping under the bar and into the net. Was a spectacular goal going to clinch the promotion Telford and supporters were yearning for? Only time would tell.
Telford almost got a fourth on 41 minutes when Niall Hudson allowed Perry to rob him of the ball. Perry skated around the diving Belford only to see his shot blocked on the line by Tate.
In time added on in the first half Gresley had a couple of chances to reduce the deficit. First, Taylor denied O'Connor by blocking his shot with his legs and then Edwards putting a headed just wide from another good Tate cross.
The Bucks continued to look for goals in the second period and it need Belford to deny them when he superbly blocked Roy Jordan's shot on 58 minutes.
Steve Farmer went close for Gresley on 69 minutes but put his header from a Gary White corner into the hands of Taylor. Two minutes later Taylor again collected a header directed straight at him this time by Edwards.
Bucks' substitute Alfie carter should have done much better on 84 minutes when in acres of space managed to fire his shot well over the bar. A minute later it was Belford again to the rescue as he bravely blocked a shot from Dean Craven who had left a couple of Gresley defenders in his wake.
Belford, by far the busier of the two keepers, yet again denied Telford a fourth goal when he superbly managed to push Jack Cudworth's low free kick away for a corner. Courtney almost capped off his man-of-the-match performance by almost heading home the resultant corner but his attempt landed on the roof of the net.
The referee's final whistle caused a thunderous round of applause for both teams as they made their way off the field. The vast majority of supporters remained to watch the score board flash up the scores which, they hoped would see their side gain automatic promotion. It was not to be as first it showed Ilkeston had beaten Chorley and then in deathly silence it pronounced North Ferriby as champions having beaten Mossley. Still there was the chance of promotion for Telford albeit through the play-offs!
Manager's View
"Without a shadow of a doubt I'd love to play in games like this again. It was a fantastic and unbelievable experience.
"My only disappointment is that for except for a 20 minute spell when it almost seemed we were in awe of the situation and the surroundings. Aaron battled well and got us back in the game. His hard work resulted in him getting his 28th goal of the season. And then for a little spell we took control of the game and we looked comfortable and got the tempo going but the second goal killed us. Again we've had a little bit of bad luck really. The play developed and they had a shot but the linesman flagged saying that during the build up to the shot Matt Smith had pulled someone back. It was an unbelievable decision. From my point of view foul or not the phase had gone, the advantage had been played and they'd had a shot and the referee pulled it right back after he'd signalled to the keeper to take a goal kick - simply amazing!
"Going back to the first goal we have a man stand on the line for a long throw in. Our player is on the pitch and their player off the pitch and we've been penalised. How can that be a re-take? However, we didn't defend it very well and we were two down.
"The second half was disappointing because we sat really, really deep. There were some very tired boys out there but we really didn't penetrate - we just went deeper and deeper and it was just one tempo. It's a disappointing end to the season particularly because we'd come here to spoil the party. A lot of our players will not play in front of 3,800 people again with a great atmosphere and at a superb setup. Telford have no right to be in this league with these facilities and good luck to them. The support they've had this season is unbelievable and I wish Bernie and his team all the best.
"I think we showed a bit of character today which was pleasing. We've been on the end of a few goals like their third. But, we could have folded in front of a atmosphere like that and gone into our shells and the defeat could have been even larger. But, we battled away and I'm a little disappointed that in the second half we didn't get at them a little more causing them more problems. We did it against Willenhall when they sat off us a little bit. Telford are a side that are never going to sit off you and went looking for another goal. With this level of support they are never going to sit on things and I was disappointed we didn't exploit that."
