UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 25th February 2006, 3.00pm
Moatmen get back on track
Gresley Rovers got back on track with a 3-1 win over bottom club Bishop Auckland at the Moat Ground.
The home side set out their stall as early as the third minute when Nicky Carter fired Mickey Lyon's cross wide. The action then swapped to the other end with Simon O'Shea going close with a shot-cum-cross that also went wide.
On 7 minutes Tom Betteridge fired in a superb long-range shot that just cleared the junction of bar and post. A minute later, however, O'Shea went even closer this time hitting an upright but the rebound ended up in the arms of Gresley debutant keeper Tommy Whittle.
Gresley took the lead on 16 minutes when Aaron O'Connor latched on to a slip by Bishops defender Paul Collins. Collins failed to clear a Gary White long ball and O'Connor gladly grabbed his chance to take his total to 26 goals for the season by smashing the ball past visiting keeper Tony Davison.
On 21 minutes Gresley almost doubled their advantage when Steve Gomm met Tom Betteridge's cross with a powerful header. Davison grabbed the ball just under the bar and stepped back into the goal but neither referee Mr Rushton or his assistant saw that the ball had gone a good couple of feet over the line.
A minute later O'Connor almost doubled his tally when he spotted Davison off his line but his chip just cleared the bar.
Betteridge working hard saw another shot drift just wide on 25 minutes and O'Connor's shot just two minutes later was well held by the keeper as Gresley applied the pressure.
On 41 minutes Bishops' Stephen Winspear got on the end of Sonny Parker's cross and was unlucky to see his header fly fractionally wide of the mark.
Gresley added goal number two a minute later when a clever backheel by O'Connor into the path of Betteridge allowed the midfielder to shoot across Davison and into the net.
The home side came out looking for more goals and on 51 minutes Gomm fired a shot over and a minute later O'Connor had a shot blocked by the keeper's legs.
Gresley didn't have to wait long for their third goal, however. On 53 minutes the Bishops' defence again failed to clear the ball and Lyons was allowed to fire in a shot that squeezed through Davison's hands as he dived low to his right and into the far corner.
On 68 minutes Carl Slater tried his hand with a superb 25-yard dipping shot that Davison did well to fingertip over the bar - from the corner Matt Millns shot over.
Gresley seemed to take their foot off the gas for the last 15 minutes and they were made to pay for it. On 79 minutes a corner from the left taken by Parker found Richie Storr, totally unmarked at the back stick, who headed the ball home from close range with Whittle helpless.
The final ten minutes could have been interesting if Martin Bowes 83rd minute shot had gone in instead of hitting the post, but the final say belonged to Gresley with substitute Paul Edwards unluckily putting two shots agonisingly wide in the final five minutes of the game.
Manager's View
"That was a vital win for us today. There is quite a bit of pressure around the place at the moment and I had a sleepless night worrying how we were going to perform today and which Gresley Rovers would turn up.
"I don't think we played as well as last week or the previous game at Belper and obviously we've not got anything out of those games but, most importantly we got the win.
"There were a few positives today but there were a few negatives in the last twenty minutes. Three nil up at home and we failed to capitalise on that because two or three players stopped working. Their work rate wasn't anywhere near what it should have been for the last twenty minutes and we caused our own problems and they got themselves back into the game. They hit the post and could have made it three-two and an uncomfortable last couple of minutes.
"The most important thing is the win but better sides will pull us apart if we play like we did for the last twenty minutes. So. We've got to take heed from that and use it as a warning and make sure we batten down the hatches when we go to Kendal and Chorley in the next two games.
"It was nice to get three goals and I thought we were unlucky particularly Paul Edwards who had a couple of sublime efforts just flashing by the far post and showing bits of a sign that he may becoming back into some form. Aaron (O'Connor) took a little bit of pressure of us with his goal. The second goal was key and I'm delighted for Tom Betteridge who played very well today and deserved his goal.
"We've been on at Mickey Lyons to pull the trigger and he did today although it did bobble in. He had that little bit of luck and it's nice for Mick because that's his first of the season. It put us in a good position three nil up and I was a little disappointed after that because we stopped playing; we stopped play hard; we stopped trying to play football. It was a poor surface for both sides but the last twenty minutes was painful to watch - it was so frustrating but the important thing was the three points.
"Regardless of Bishop's position you have to give them with respect and we did that. They were three unbeaten coming into today and running into a bit of form. They've got some new faces around and it's given them some energy into the club. We knew today would be an important game. It wasn't a quite convincing performance but we managed to win the game. We created a few chances and we may have score a fourth or fifth."
