UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 10th December 2005, 3.00pm
Slater's cracker lights up the Moat Ground
The Moat Ground was lit up by a Carl Slater cracker in this last home game before Christmas when his 30-yard strike gave his side the lead as they went in for the half time break.
Gresley started the brighter of the two sides and were soon testing the resolve of Bamber Bridge's keeper Michael Bingham on 6 minutes when a cross-cum shot from Allan Davies needed to be tipped over the bar. From the resulting corner the ball found Aaron O'Connor and again Bingham was on hand to tip the shot over.
The home side only had a minute to wait before taking the lead. The goal came from a poor attempted clearance by Ross Bain that hit his team mate Jamie Squires before going to O'Connor who accepted the early present and slotted the ball through Brindley's legs.
Brig slowly got back into the game and Chris Brindley, the former Hednesford manager making his Gresley debut in central defence was soon busy repelling the attacks.
However, on 16 minutes the pressure told when the visitors were awarded a free kick just outside the area. James Sheppard lifted his shot over the defenders, past Gavin Saxby and into the far top corner of the net.
The goal seemed to give Brig a lift and Danny Mahoney went close firing a shot just past the post three minutes later.
On 33 minutes a superb pass from Aaron O'Connor was floated into the path of Chris Gray who unfortunately just couldn't control the ball enough and Bingham made the save.
Two minutes later a Gary White corner from the right found Mickey Lyons on the edge of the box but his side-footed shot was pushed round the post by Bingham.
With only seconds remaining of the first half Gresley took the lead. O'Connor's shot had hit the Brig keeper in the chest and the ball was retrieved by Gary White who placed it nicely for Carl Slater who hit a cracker of a shot from 30 yards out that flew over the head of Bingham and into the top of the net.
Gresley continued were they'd left off with Jamie Barrett flashing a shot across the face of the goal on 50 minutes and then having a low shot saved by Bingham minutes later.
David Holmes increased Gresley's advantage on 66 minutes when he received a glorious pass from substitute Nathan Tate before beating the keeper.
On 73 minutes Brig were awarded a penalty when Davies was harshly adjudged to have brought down Neil Spencer in the area. The linesman, who was level with the play did not flag the offence but after Spencer had gone down theatrically the referee Nigel Murphy pointed to the spot. However, justice was done when Gresley keeper Saxby stuck out a leg to block Mahoney's shot.
Gresley had the better of the play for the remaining 15 minutes or so and could have increased their tally by several more. On 80 minutes O'Connor put a shot from the left just over and then had a shot bravely blocked by the onrushing Bingham and had another saved two minutes later.
Lyons went close on 89 minutes when his shot was grabbed by Bingham diving full length to his right and then in time added on Slater almost caught the Brig keeper out when, after seeing Bingham off his line, tried a cheeky chip that just cleared the bar.
Manager's View
"In terms of the quality of our football we've played better in recent games and lost. But, today I felt it was important for several reasons to get the win and we ground one out. We looked a lot more solid defensively than we have been and we still managed to play some really good football as well so it was a pleasing day all round.
"When they scored it seemed to take the wind out of our sails because up to then we'd been the better side and looked the most threatening offensively in terms of chances but their goal knocked the stuffing out of us for about fifteen minutes or so which was frustrating then we got the lift to go in leading at half time. It was a fantastic strike from Carl (Slater) - we've been on at him all season to try his luck from distance. He scored a cracker at Mossley last week but to no avail but this week it proved to be a vital goal for us. It didn't change what we wanted to say at half time but obviously the mood in the dressing room was a little bit better because we went there defending a two-one lead.
"We were all delighted for Nathan (Tate) who came on and showed his composure to lift the ball through to David (Holmes) who stuck the ball away well so yes, we were pleased. Nathan had one or two other bits and bobs were he was involved with Baz (Jamie Barrett) and Aaron (O'Connor) towards the end as they were pushing bodies forward and we may have got a couple more on the break but I certainly settle for three points.
"With regards to the penalty, from where we were we thought it was a nailed-on penalty but one or two of the players are saying their man went down in stages but we thought three-two with ten or fifteen minutes left, especially how things have gone recently, we could have found it tough. We've got the likes of Chris Brindley in there now so we still may have coped with that but we didn't have to because Gavin brought off a great save and fair play to him.
"Chris Brindley was fantastic and I can't thank the guy enough for coming. He's had a stressful week, this time last week he was in the Conference North and for him to agree to come and play for us is, first of all, it's an honour for me because he's a cracking guy and he's managed at a high level and to have a player like that to come in and offer his help in terms of his experience and composure that he gave is great. He was my man of the match just shading out Carl. His arial presence and composure on the ball was fantastic and his chat and organising for saying he doesn't know many of the players, except for Chris Gray and Jamie Barrett who played for him at Hednesford, was great. I am absolutely delighted with him.
"Chris Gray came off due to a slight tightness in his hamstring so we took no risks and put on the ideal replacement in Nathan."
