Bass Charity Vase
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Monday, 18th July 2005, 7.45pm
Brewers have the edge
This game was 100 percent improvement to the one witnessed at Edge Hill on Saturday.
Gresley fielded two triallists in defence and that made a distinct improvement to the back line as both players impressed.
Burton Albion made the first effort on goal on 10 minutes with Darren Stride blazing well over from 20 yards.
The same player saw another shot sail towards Church Street 10 minutes as the Brewers struggled to find their aim.
Gresley's first real attempt on goal came on 27 minutes but Albion's keeper Dan Crane easily held on to a shot from Nicky Carter.
Perhaps the best chance for Gresley in the first half fell to David Holmes a minute later on the right but instead of chancing his arm and firing in a shot he chose to send a low hard driven cross through the danger area that was missed by Albion defenders and Rovers front men alike.
Burton took the lead on 33 minutes after the Gresley defence had apparently thwarted an attack. A fortunate rebound fell to Jon Shaw who volleyed in well from the edge of the box.
Right on the halftime whistle Terry Henshaw gave away a clumsy freekick as he brought down Paul Edwards on the edge of the box but Holmes' kick was easy for Crane to deal with.
Within 3 minutes of the re-start Carter put a shot wide of the target and Matt Millns a header wide just a few minutes later.
However, Burton began to get on top and a free kick on the hour mark by Chris Hall found the head of Barry Miller but the resulting header went wide.
A minute later another chance fell to Hall who was in acres of space but he fired his shot wide of the mark.
Jon Shaw then threatened after being a yard offside he ran onto a pass from Nigel Clough only for Gresley keeper Gavin Saxby to smother the ball at his feet. And Saxby pulled off another good save on 67 minutes this time denying Hall.
However, three minutes later the Gresley keeper could do nothing to prevent Hall his moment of glory. The midfielder collected Shaw's pass, cut inside before shooting a low drive past Saxby and into the bottom corner.
Saxby had one more save to make before the end of the game this time he denied Dale Anderson blocking the shot with his legs.
Manager's View
"I think there will not be a supporter who was not impressed with the performance of one of our trialists Matt Millns who played at centre half. The other defender also on trial is Mark Strzyzewski who also impressed us.
"It's unfortunate that we've picked up a couple of injuries tonight. Gary White took a bang on his shin and he may have a chipped bone but we will not know until he's had an x-ray. Tony Hemmings pulled a groin which was a shame because he was just getting into things and both players will be out for Wednesday.
"Overall I'm disappointed to have lost the game but I was very disappointed on Saturday and not just with the result. We were fragmented, disjointed and some of the players didn't put in the work rate. But tonight there were lots of positives to take from that game. Hopefully, it's been a good workout for Burton and they haven't picked up any injuries. We certainly enjoyed it and the players in our dressing room can hold their heads up high as we weren't disgraced. With the patterns of play and the overall chances Burton deserved to win but, I felt the goals had a little bit of luck about them but at the end of the day we couldn't complain about the result.
"I was pleased with the performance. There are little bits and bobs for us to work on and we will be looking to build on that performance against Notts County on Wednesday and try and get a result from it."
