Gresley Rovers vs Mangotsfield United
Gresley pay for lack of invention - Andy Parker - Burton Mail
When your luck's out in football, nothing goes right. And that was surely the case for Gresley Rovers as they subsided to their third consecutive league defeat at the moat ground.
Manager Brian kenning responded to his team's dismal FA Cup showing
against Matlock Town by making three changes to his starting line-up, handing
first starts of the season to Jamie Roberts, Andy Cheetham and Steve Devine
and excluding Kevin Allsop, saying the striker needed to work on his fitness.
The ploy almost worked. Rovers were the only side in the game
in the first half but the breakthrough they perhaps deserved never came.
Then, after Mangotsfield, almost predictably, had scored just
after the hour, Kenning's team ran out of ideas to an alarming degree, dominating
possession but not once troubling visiting keeper Steve Weaver.
That was not the case in the opening minutes with Weaver soon
in meaningful action, blocking out Mick Sandar as he latched onto Cheetham's
through ball with defender Scott Hendy clearing off the line as the young striker
tried to tuck home the loose ball from a tight angle.
Devine, adding calmness and simplicity to Rovers' midfield play,
cleverly released Matt Boyles with Sandar firing over from 22 yards from the
midfielder's lay-off.
Sandar was soon shooting over from closer range after Boyles had
run out of space in the Mangotsfield box, Steve Coates having created the chance.
Such was Rovers' dominance it was more than half an hour before
Mangotsfield ventured up field with any sort of purpose, Daniel Hallett meeting
skipper Micky Brook's cross with a thumping header that flew past Ian Wright-and
his far post.
Rovers then went close again, Weaver diving to punch away Cheetham's
cross only for the ball to rebound off the back of Hendy with the full-back
scrambling the ball away as it headed towards the empty net.
Brooks fired a 20-yard effort just over but the half ended with
Rovers going close again, Roberts heading Cheetham's cross just past the post.
More of the same was needed after the break but, alas for Rovers,
they had now completely run out of attacking ideas, with the switching of Karl
Roberts into attack and the introduction of 20-year old Loughborough University
student Nick Allman from the bench making virtually no impact on a by now sterile
front line.
It was left to the still undefeated visitors to show their hosts
how to do it, Adam Sim and Darren Edwards combining neatly in the box and David
Seal getting in ahead of two defenders to slip the ball home as Rovers appealed vainly for offside.
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Mangotsfield United (0) 1
Scorer: Seal 65.
Gresley Rovers: Wright, Roberts (Allman 72), Cheetham, Reynolds, Warren, Wardle, Peters, Devine, Sandar, Coates (Doughty 62), Boyles (Bluck 77).
Mangotsfield United: Weaver, Hendy, Hallett, Barlass, Brooks, Lydon, Churchill, Sims, Edwards, Claridge (Pendry 65), Seal (O'Sullivan 82).
Sub not used: Penny.
Referee: G Stretton (Enderby)
Attendance: 332
