Sudbury Town vs Gresley Rovers
The path that Gresley Rovers have followed to the Dr Martens Southern League Cup final may have been paved with gold – but the Moatmen and their faithful fans found nothing at the end of it other than a barren wasteland at The Priory Stadium last night.
Rovers had hoped to emerge with a glittering new jewel in their crown of achievement but all they got was a painful kick up the backside from a Sudbury team whose performance did for football about as much as Dr Crippen did for medical health.
It was a game of boot, blast and blunder from which Gresley emerged considerably the poorer as Sudbury, their eyes ever heavenwards in search of a rapidly ascending or descending ball, put one had firmly on the cup.
The Southern League may pride itself on its footballing tradition but watching league secretary Dennis Strudwick must have cringed at the sight of the game being dismantled and dismembered before his eyes by a side that made Wimbledon seem like Real Madrid.
All this is no excuse for Gresley. They were ill-prepared before the start thanks to the late loss of striker Mark Hurst through flu and the barley credible absence of midfielder Richard Wardle, who was unable to get time off work at the 11th hour.
And their makeshift side proved poorly equipped both physically and tactically for the challenge not so posed as hurled at them by the home side.
Straight from the off Sudbury showed their intention by hoisting long balls over the top of Rovers' defence at every opportunity, aiming to use the pace of the pony-tailed Jamie Reilly on the left and the physical presence of strikers Steve Parnell and Paul Smith to disrupt their visitors.
On a hard and uneven pitch that surely had not seen a heavy roller this side of the demise of the leather football, tasselled caps and nail-on studs, the ploy worked a treat. It soon became a question of who could be first to the loose ball and who would get the lucky bounce.
Gresley had set out to defend, leaving Martin Devaney and David Holmes to plough lonely furrows in attack, and there was a suggestion that they might settle to such a game plan when, after an uncomfortable opening quarter, they began to exert pressure of their own.
Holmes nearly caught out Paul Catley in the Sudbury goal with an audacious lob from 25-yards when space for once presented itself. He then almost wriggled into a shooting position after a determined run down the left.
That, though, not only summed up Rovers' attacking efforts for the period, but virtually for the whole game.
Sudbury, for all their huff and puff, did little better, with Bob Aston called into serious action only once before the break to divert Reilly's fiercely driven cross.
After the interval things got even worse, with Devaney withdrawing into a midfield role, leaving Holmes to run himself into a shadow as the lone attacker.
Even worse, Sudbury were allowed to dominate more and more territory until their opening goal after 65 minutes illustrated the Gresley folly.
Referee Paul Roberts – a strange appointment if ever there was one as he hails from Swadlincote – deemed Aston to have got a touch to Paul Smith's close range header even though the effort seemed to have passed narrowly over the ball unaided and when Smith met Stuart Low's corner with a firm header down Mark Farthing leapt spectacularly to volley the ball just inside a post from close range.
It was simply a case of damage limitation thenceforth although Tony Marsden almost fashioned an unlikely equaliser when he blocked a poor goal kick and flashed a cross past the face of the net with no Gresley attacker near enough to divert the ball goalwards.
Rovers had the look of a side happy to accept a narrow defeat and even the home side's ardour subsided. But in the final minute of normal time they were handed the goal that will very probably win them the cup.
Clive Stafford hurled in a long throw from the left touchline and with Gresley's guard inexcusably down and Nick Stanborough, for once unable to get a decisive header, the ball fell perfectly for substitute Nigel Wallis to side foot home.
Even then there was nearly catastrophe to follow disaster when Martin Dick appeared to handle in the penalty area but referee Roberts, perhaps deciding that Rovers had taken enough punishment already, charitably waved play on.
Sudbury Town (0) 2
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Scorers: Farthing 65, Wallis 90
Sudbury Town: Catley, Low, Osman, Stafford, Tracey, Reilly, Farthing, Cutmore, Parnell (Wallis 79), Smith, Barker (Williams 83).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Dick, Rigg, Denby, Evans, Stanborough, Elliott, Venning, Devaney (Land 89), Holmes, Marsden. Sub not used: Wardle
Gresley man-of-the-match: Stuart Evans
Referee: P Roberts (Kilburn, Derbyshire)
Attendance: 540
