UniBond League Division One
Bracken Moor Lane, Sheffield
Tuesday, 22nd August 2006, 7.45pm
Moatmen pay the penalty
Gresley Rovers were left to rue the chances as they returned without even a point to show for their endeavour especially in the first half when they totally dominated proceedings.
On 4 minutes the visitors almost took the lead when Dan Douglas sent Paul Edwards on his way. He picked out Carl Slater on the edge of the box who smashed a volley, which was heading for the top corner, but Stocksbridge keeper Steve Hodgson pulled off a tremendous save to tip the ball onto the bar.
Edwards himself went close on 12 minutes after a fine passing move involving Aaron O'Connor who sent over a cross that Edwards put just wide of the mark.
Stephan Zoll then tested the resolve of Gresley's Colin Hoyle by trying lob the ball over Hoyle but the defender managed to nod the ball back to keeper Tommy Whittle.
Gresley were playing the better of the two sides and another move of flowing football on 29 minutes ended with Gary White picking out O'Connor totally unmarked just inside the box but O'Connor's hesitation allowed Hodgson to snuff out the danger.
O'Connor went close moments later when he turned and hit a shot just wide from David Holmes cross.
The home side came back into the match towards the end of the half with David Cockerill flashing a 25-yarder past the post.
Within four minutes of the re-start O'Connor had to leave the field after not recovering from an ankle injury picked up in the first half to be replaced by Ravi Sangha
Then on 57 minutes things got worse for the visitors when Whittle spilled what looked like a fairly routine gather of Scott Lowe's cross but unfortunately Steve Hawes was on hand to tap the ball into the net for an undeserved lead.
Gresley now had to push forward to try and get something from the game allowing the home side to create more chances. One of them came to Zoll but Whittle denied the prolific striker.
With just 15 minutes left on the clock Stocksbridge's defender Darren Schofield was harshly adjudged to have fouled Steve Gomm in the area and the referee, Mr Denton, had no hesitation in pointing to the spot. This gave Edwards a golden opportunity to get a fully deserved point for his side but his shot clipped the top of the bar as it sailed over.
Edwards had one final chance with only minutes left, but headed White's cross over the bar.
Manager's View
"It is very frustrating and it is hard to stand here following a defeat like that. We deserved at least a point, but we have lost the game and it is all about results — we had enough opportunities to come away with something.
"The first half was just what we wanted — from front to back we controlled the game. We looked threatening every time we went forward and we moved the ball around well. However, when you have such dominant halves like that you have to make it count and we failed to get the goal we probably deserved.
"Then at the start of the second half we lost Aaron and then conceded a goal from a goalkeeper mistake. It was an uncharacteristic error from Tommy; the ball just squirmed out from under his body.
"We then had a penalty 10 or 11 minutes from the end and a chance to get at least the point I thought we deserved. Eddie normally puts them along the ground, but for some reason decided to go for height this time.
"But I am not going to blame Tommy or Paul. These things happen in football and you just have to take it on the chin and move on. We have to take the positives out of it and there were a lot of positives last night.
"Aaron took a kick on his ankle in the opening 10 or 15 minutes of the match. We tried to keep it moving at half-time to try and prevent it from stiffening up, but he was unable to continue.
"Aaron and Paul Edwards had worked really well together up front in the first half, but when Aaron went off we lost the pace up front and were unable to get in behind the Stocksbridge defence.
"It has put a bit of pressure on us and we don't want to be coming away from Bamber Bridge with one point from three games."
