FA Trophy 1st Round
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 6th November 2004, 3.00pm
Easy for Rovers
Any neutral watching this game may have been forgiven if they though it was Frickley Athletic who were the UniBond Division One team and their hosts the Premier side. Such was the ease in which Gresley moved into the second round of the FA Trophy.
Athletic, struggling towards the bottom of their league, showed why they are in that lowly position with hardly a meaningful attempt on goal and just one corner to their name during the whole game.
Although Gresley did not seem to get out of second gear they were just too much for their visitors. As early as the second minute Gresley had forced a corner and a chance on goal when Jimmy Turner played a fine through ball to Jamie Barrett but the final shot went straight into the arms of keeper Marc Shackleton.
The home side took a deserved lead on 11 minutes although in fortuitous circumstances. Athletic defender Chris Fawcus's attempted clearance was blocked by Liam Hebberd and rebounded to Emeka Ejiofor who made no mistake slotting the ball past Shackleton.
Gresley trying to increase their advantage went close to doing that but Gary White's long-range shot flew just wide of the upright.
Athletic clawed their way back into the game on 39 minutes when former Gresley player Matt Moran was allowed far too much space to run into and then feed the ball through to Adam Oldham who gave James Pemberton in the Gresley goal no chance as he curled the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the box.
On 41 minutes Frickley's defence almost gifted Gresley another goal when a defender headed Ejiofor's cross narrowly past his own goal post.
Gresley came out looking in a more determined frame of mind and immediately put the visiting defence under pressure. Shackleton came out to claim a high cross in his box but missed the ball and had to depend on his defender Steve Woodford to put the ball away for a corner - from the flag kick Matt Smith put a header just over the bar.
On 51 minutes a looped shot from Ashley Dodd was almost put into his own net by Steve Kennedy has Frickley came under intense pressure. Three minute later Barrett went close putting a shot past the post.
Aaron O'Connor turned his marker on 56 minutes and was speeding towards goal only to be grabbed by the last defender and held back. Much to the amazement of the home supporters (except one who was in Florida!) the referee saw nothing wrong and waved play on.
One of Frickley's rare second half attempts on goal came on 61 minutes but Pemberton easily dealt with the shot from Oldham.
Gresley went back into the lead on 67 minutes. O'Connor's shot was well blocked by Shackleton but the re-bound came out to Ejiofor who fired the ball goalwards only for Dean Foley to block the shot with his hand. Referee had no option but to award a penalty and send Foley back to the dressing room - O'Connor scored from the spot.
O'Connor could have doubled his tally on 72 minutes when he hammered in a volley on the turn but a superb save from Shackleton denied him.
Ten minutes later Hebbered went close after turning a defender but his shot shaved the upright.
The last chance for Frickley came on 85 minutes when from a corner they could only lift the ball over the bar from 8 yards.
Two more chances fell to Gresley has the match drew to a close. The first when Hebberd fired straight at the keeper from an O'Connor corner and Ashley Dodd putting a header over the bar.
Manager's View
"I'm delighted with the result - performance apart I'm delighted we are through to the next round.
"I did say to the lads that despite Frickley's league position they are a tough proposition and I was more concerned with ourselves and the way we were playing at halftime because we didn't have the best of halves.
"I don't think we were at the races today. Not just footballing wise but off the ball our work rate, which is normally quite high, was a little bit off it. So at half time I wasn't too happy with things. Second half we improved slightly and we got ourselves in front with the penalty and with the man being sent off the pitch opened them up a little bit and we had one or two chances near the end with Liam Hebberd. The important thing is that we are through to the next round and I'm delighted with that.
"Emeka worked hard and he took his goal well - he obviously had a little bit of luck and found the ball at his feet but you've still got to put it away. I think that's Emeka's first goal from open play this season so that will be a boost for him.
"I think one or two of the players were a little off it today and I think the speculation surrounding the players like Aaron has got to them slightly and now we need to get our heads down, regroup and go forward again. But having said that, Aaron was a handful for them the more the game went on especially when they went down to ten men. He took his penalty very well, it was very decisive and he wanted to take the penalty himself and it was the winning goal for us.
"Sean did OK today for saying he's not really played at this level for a while. He's had little bits and bobs he played 70 minutes against Rocester and then 90 minutes for Mickleover last week and I thought he did ok today. There were little bits of quality but he's not quite there were he was earlier in the season. He was flying then and the quality was evident but he made some good runs today but he's got a little work to do match fitness wise. Obviously Chris Gray coming to the squad puts pressure on him but he certainly didn't do himself any harm and he knows he's got a little bit more work to do. I brought him off because he looked a little tired and put Liam on the other wing and Liam nearly came up with a couple of goals for us.
"We are still looking for a left footed option to give balance to the side but while we're searching we have the quality in terms of Sean and Chris Gray who can play on the left.
"James Pemberton didn't have much to do today. His handling and kicking was good and what he had to do, which wasn't much, he did well. He didn't stand any chance with their goal. I think we stood off key players and allowed Matt Moran to slip the ball through and the guy took it well.
"Jimmy Turner has been a revelation this season and he goes from strength to strength at full back keeping a good mate of his, Matt K Smith, out of the side but Matt was back in the squad today."
