FA Trophy 2nd Round
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 27th November 2004, 3.00pm
Greenbacks see red as Gresley win
Gresley went into the hat for the 3rd Round of the FA Trophy after beating Bedworth United two-nil.
The visitors open brightly and were soon testing the Gresley keeper. A free kick just outside the box on 2 minutes taken by Martin Crowley was pushed away for a corner by James Pemberton.
Two minutes later Gresley took the lead when Aaron O'Connor did well to cut the ball back from the bye line to Ashley Dodd. The midfielder's attempt came back off the bar but Emeka Ejiofor was on hand to force the loose ball home.
Gary White then tested the Greenbacks' keeper Lee Evans but he was equal to the task saving well down to his left.
Play was swinging from end to end and Bedworth went close again on 27 minutes. Former Moatman Leon Doughty fired a free kick straight into the wall but the rebound found Lee Moore but again Pemberton managed to make the save.
On the half hour Gresley almost doubled their advantage when Ejiofor headed a fine cross from White back towards goal and Andy Simpson was unlucky to see his header go wide of an upright.
On 31 minutes the first of the two Bedworth players saw red after reacting to a tackle by Chris Gray. Scott Hadland kicked out at the midfield who was lying on the ground and while the players were barging each other like dodgems on the local fairground, referee Mr Dexter had no hesitation in showing a straight red card for the offence - Gray was yellow carded for the initial tackle.
As things settled down Dodd had a half chance but his shot flashed across the face of the goal and at the other end Moore went close putting his header wide.
As the halftime whistle approached Evans had a rush of blood to the head when he charged out of his area bringing down Ejiofor on the left touchline. A yellow card looked inevitable but to everyone's surprise Mr Dexter again showed red and Bedworth were down to nine players.
The half time was a chance for both sides to cool down as tempers were threatening to boil over during the first period.
From the re-start Gresley put the visiting defence under pressure but White's knock back was fired over by Andy Simpson.
Simpson went close again on 54 minutes but again he failed to get his header on target.
Ejiofor was having one of his best games for Gresley and was unlucky to see his shot go wide after turning his marker on the hour. A minute later Bedworth were extremely lucky not to have seen the already booked Martin Crowley also leave the pitch when he blatantly kicked the ball away after being penalised but Mr Dexter chose to ignore the petulance.
One of the two solitary Bedworth chances came on 75 minutes when Doughty's free kick was well saved by Pemberton. A minute later the visitors went close again but Lee Ross somehow managed to put his free header, from Paul Spacey's cross wide of an empty goal.
That was it for any Bedworth pressure and Gresley went looking to finish the game off. The goal they'd been looking for came on 80 minutes and it was again Ejiofor who was on hand to get his second of the game. A long-range shot by White was only parried into the path of the striker who coolly slotted his sixth goal of the season into the net.
Four minutes later an almost carbon copy chance fell Gresley's way by this time Liam Hebberd put his shot just wide of the post.
Manager's View
"It was not a memorable afternoon for the football but we won the game and are through to the next round.
"The game was forgettable and I was disappointed in Bedworth's approach to the game - I'm not going to say much about that because that's for them to sort out. I can't believe what I saw out there this afternoon.
"There was no pretty football and they were down to nine men at half time and to be fair to them the goalkeeper getting sent off was very harsh. But, some of the stuff that went on this afternoon was nothing short of a disgrace - I've just got to look after my own boys.
"It wasn't the prettiest of games. It's a difficult situation to be in, one-nil up and against nine men. I said we should keep our shape and let them break us down. They were reduced to two attempts both from free kicks we'd given away. We were lucky with one of them were they nearly equalised but we're through to the next round and that's what it's all about in cup competitions. It's nice to play attractive flowing football, I'm all for that, but in the heat of the battle there is a lot of pressure on today's result - some big rewards not just financial but because of the big boys coming in the next round.
"I was a little disappointed with our performance in the second half - you're at home one-nil up against nine men and I felt we forced things at times, we went a little too direct, we didn't take care with the ball, we didn't get the tempo going and we didn't pass it around. But, I've just said to the lads at the end of the day we've won the game.
"Perhaps if we'd have got the ball down we could have created two or three more chances and won more comfortably - it was a little more tight than it should have been.
"Emeka's first goal was a case of being in the right place at the right time. It was a scrappy one but he got himself into a good position after working hard to get there and he reacted to bits for the second goal. I'm delight he got us two goals today.
