Gresley Rovers vs Sudbury Town
Time and again this season, Bob Aston has been Gresley Rovers' hero. Last night, though he was the unmitigated villain as the Moatmen crashed to a humiliating and comprehensive defeat in the final of the Dr Martens Southern League Cup.
After Rovers, 2-0 down from the first leg, had ridden their luck and clawed a goal back through Martin Devaney's header, the stage seemed set for a barnstorming second half revival.
But a catastrophic blunder by Aston, who threw the ball straight at an opponent to hand Sudbury an equaliser early in the second half, turned the game away from Rovers.
Heaped on top of the humiliation for Gresley was the shame of seeing second half substitute Tony Marsden sent off for stamping on an opponent.
It was an unpardonable act, the more so as it was in a showcase cup final in front of more than 1,000 spectators, and the full weight of disciplinary action should be brought to bear against the midfielder, both at FA and club level.
Marsden's appalling behaviour capped what was a disastrous night for Rovers, with Aston the central figure.
The keeper, who ironically only played after passing a late fitness test, almost handed Sudbury a gift goal after just two minutes when he spilled a left wing free kick straight at the feet of Mark Farthing only for the midfielder to scoop the ball over an open goal.
Sudbury were clearly intent on taking the game to Rovers rather than sitting on their first leg lead and they were almost gifted another when Aston, clearly expecting the ball to go wide, watched Murray Osman's 17th minute shot rebound off the foot of a post.
David Holmes, watched from the stand by Ipswich Town assistant manager Charlie Woods, put two efforts off target, then Mark Hurst met Graeme Rigg's left wing corner at the near post but headed over.
Then, when Rigg and Richard Wardle combined in Rovers' best move of the night, Devaney's shot on the turn flew just off target.
Stuart Evans should have scored when he met Rigg's left wing cross with a free header at the far post but the ball again flew wide.
Sudbury went close again with Aston and Dave Swainston both blocking efforts from Paul Smith on the line but Rovers then went straight to the other end and scored, Devaney rising at the far post to head in Rigg's corner from the left.
It was all set up for Rovers to win the cup in the second half – but Sudbury were having none of it.
They attacked straight from the off and Dean Barker was close to a goal when he headed just over with only a minute gone.
Then Aston tried to set up a counter attack with a quick throw out but the ball went straight to Barker 30 yards out on the left. Sudbury had men forward in number and when Aston failed to cut out Smith's cross Farthing stooped to score with an angled header.
Rovers could see the tie slipping away, although it took a headed goal-line clearance by keeper Paul Catley to keep out Barker's sliced clearance, the keeper then producing a brilliant save to keep out headers by Evans and Devaney.
Aston was then harshly penalised after chasing the ball out of his area before disappearing into a scrum of Sudbury players, referee Paul Roberts awarding Sudbury a free kick 20 yards out that Barker buried with a fearsome right foot shot.
Five minutes later there was more plain for Rovers as Smith arrogantly backheeled the ball over the line after Steve Parnell and Farthing had easily dismantled the remains of Rovers' defence.
Then came the disgusting scenes, which prompted the dismissal of Marsden after a clash with Barker, the Rovers player being shown the red card for retaliating to a challenge for which the Sudbury midfielder was booked.
Gresley Rovers (1) 1
Sudbury Town (0) 3
(Sudbury win 5-1 on aggregate)
Scorers: Devaney 37 (Gresley Rovers); Farthing 53, Barker 65, Smith 70 (Sudbury Town).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Dick (Marsden 62), Swainston, Straw, Evans, Stanborough, Wardle, Rigg, Hurst, Holmes, Devaney. Sub not used: Elliott.
Sudbury Town: Catley, Low, Osman, Stafford, Tracey, Reilly, Farthing, Cutmore, Parnell (Wallis 72), Smith (Williams 80), Barker.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Martin Devaney.
Referee: P Roberts (Kilburn).
Attendance: 1089
