Gresley Rovers vs Gloucester City
Mark Hurst's moment of inspiration at the Moat Ground on Saturday kept the Gresley bandwagon rolling towards a successful climax to Rovers first ever Beazer Premier campaign.
Hurst struck in the 66th minute to provide a timely lift to a game that had threatened to sink into a morass of end-of-season tedium.
Manager Steve Dolby summed things up perfectly afterwards when he said: "Both teams struggled to come to terms with the temperature and the surface in the first half and there wasn't much in it, although to be fair they probably shaded it. In the first 10 minutes of the second half they had chances and could have scored, but after that we were the better side."
Rovers had started as if about to carry on where they left off the previous Wednesday evening against Nuneaton Borough, with David Holmes' pace and persistence and Martin Devaney's trickery posing City early problems.
But Gloucester are made of sterner stuff than Nuneaton and, as Rovers early threat faded, the Tigers began to show their teeth.
Kevin Willetts forced Bob Aston, shaking off the patchy form of recent games, into a tip-over save with a 20-yard free kick, then fired a first-time shot just over the bar from Murray Fishlock's left wing corner.
The Willetts released full back Mark Saunders for a run at goal but his measured chip just cleared the crossbar.
Rovers fans had to wait until the 37th minute to see their own side's first shot at goal, Richard Denby bringing a good save from Steve Crompton after Holmes and Devaney had done the spadework.
There had been little else to set the pulses racing thus far but as the second half got under way the tempo quickened as the two sides traded attack for attack.
Gloucester had the better of the early efforts, and should have taken the lead after 55 minutes when a flowing move left Kasey Johnstone with an open goal but the striker mis-hit his shot straight into Aston's arms. It was a miss City were to rue for suddenly Rovers began to assume control.
Hurst was just over with an angled drive from Richard Wardle's pass and Holmes was similarly unlucky from Devaney's prompt but it all came right for Rovers when Hurst finally found his range.
Nick Stanborough was the provider with a free kick from deep on the right and Hurst wriggled away from his marker before firing an angled shot across Crompton and into the far corner.
Gloucester tried to battle back but the effort was beyond them and suddenly Rovers were running rampant.
Stanborough and Holmes saw efforts blocked on the line before Hurst finally crashed the ball into the side netting, then Holmes did the same after Denby's superb crossfield ball and Devaney's pass inside.
Holmes was then inches away from a goal of the season contender when he met substitute Ian Straw's pass with one touch and crashed the ball inches over with the second.
In fact, it was Straw himself who had the final word, chasing an Aston clearance almost to the corner flag before bustling past a lone defender and beating Crompton with a cross-cum-shot that the despairing attempts of Paul Bywater on the line could not prevent from entering the net.
Gresley Rovers (0) 2
Gloucester City (0) 0
Scorers: Hurst 66, Straw 88
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Dick, Swainston, Denby, Evans, Stanborough, Wardle (Straw 66), Rigg, Hurst, Holmes, Devaney (Elliott 85).
Gloucester City: Crompton, Saunders, Willetts, Buckland, Bywater, Kemp (Bloomfield 83), Callinan, Crouch, Johnstone (Cook 66), Webb, Fishlock.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Richard Denby.
Referee: M Dexter (Thurmaston).
Attendance: 574
