UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 11th November 2006, 3.00pm
Millns header is enough
Gresley Rovers and Clitheroe went into this game with both sides needing the three points for differing reasons. Gresley to get their stuttering season back on track after a midweek defeat at Harrogate and Clitheroe to prevent their alarming slide down the table after a promising start.
It was Gresley who made the better chances of the early period. On 18 minutes Aaron O'Connor got the better of Owen Roberts but the final shot flashed across the face of the goal and just past the far post.
However, Clitheroe had a golden chance four minutes later when, after a good move down the right, Daryl Avery played the ball through the Gresley defence to Craig Sargeson who had beaten the offside trap. The striker had only the home keeper to beat but Tommy Whittle brought off a superb save to tip the ball over the bar.
Gresley had another half chance on 32 minutes when Mark Smith fired over a cross from Tom Groves from the edge of the box.
The play swung to the other end and again Clitheroe had a chance but Ian Johnson hit the ball straight at Whittle.
On 40 minutes Dan Douglas played the ball across to O'Connor but after beating his marker his shot was well blocked by Paul Horridge.
A minute later Gresley had a decent shout for a penalty turned down when O'Connor had collected Smith's cross he was pulled back by defender Greg Anderson in the area only for the appeal to be waved away.
The home side finished the half strongly and almost on the half time whistle grabbed a goal. O'Connor did well to hold up the ball before sending Smith off on a run down the left. Smith then found Shaun Ridgway but the final shot went straight at Horridge.
Gresley came out for the second period and immediately put Clitheore under pressure the Barry Woolley having chances to open the scoring putting an attempt wide from Groves' cross and then a header that hit Horridge with the keeper hardly knowing anything about it.
On 56 minutes Ridgway played the ball to Paul Edwards but the striker fired his shot just wide of the far post.
Gresley took a deserved lead just three minutes later. Awarded a free kick in the centre of the field, Ridgway sent over a high ball towards the Clitheroe area. Horridge decided to try and deal with the ball but was beaten to it by Matt Millns who looped his header over the stranded keeper and into the net.
On 69 minutes Gresley almost grabbed a second from another free kick. Smith swung the ball into the area where Millns missed his shot. The ball ran through to O'Connor who could only put a shot wide of the post.
Clitheroe could have got back on terms a minute later on one of their rare assaults on the Gresley goal in the second period. A superb through ball by substitute Simon Garner put Will Exton in on goal but Whittle was up to the task and saved the attempt comfortably.
However, a few minutes later Whittle had his defenders to thank after he dropped a routine free kick from Steve Hussey but the ball was eventually cleared after a few anxious moments in the Gresley box.
Whittle did well with only a couple of minutes remaining when he saved a close header by Anderson from a Hussey free kick on the left.
Edwards could have doubled the Gresley score right at the final whistle but put his shot on the turn just wide.
Manager's View
"I thought we played some good football in both halves and created some good chances and didn't take them. I thought it was going to be the same old story whereby we give it away by not taking our chances and letting it slip at the end. I don't know how many one-nils we've had this year it's probably our first one. Someone might correct me but a clean sheet was really, really pleasing.
"It was a scrappy entertaining game and I felt we should have won by far more with the chances created. But, at the end of the day we've won the game and that's all that matters at the moment.
"Matt Millns and Barry Woolley played well together and it was a big decision for me because since Colin Hoyle has been at the club he's been an absolute pleasure to work with - massive heart, loads of desire and a great experience in the dressing room. But I just felt Matt's hunger and the pace he gives us, when we played these (Clitheroe) at their place and they beat us they've got good pace, they've got a big lad up front and good pace behind and at times so I went with Millns today and they played very well.
"It was a good delivery for the goal. We've been threatening that all season. Last season we managed to get quite a few goals from corners and free kicks in that similar situation. It was almost a carbon copy of the goal disallowed in the play-offs for Matt to be honest. It was the same angle the free kick came in and he just got to the ball before the keeper but this time it was more than a split second before the keeper, that time it got disallowed. To see it going into the back of the net was pleasing. I've been asking Matt for goals all season really and he should be getting a lot more with his danger in those situations.
"The situation with their bench was much ado about nothing really. We've been told to wait for a signal from the referee before kicking the ball on. Mick's waited for that signal, obviously they're chasing the game and their bench was eager to get the ball on and their assistant manager has come up and was using expletives at Mick. I stood up to try and get between the two of them and asked their guy to tone it down and that there was no need for that kind of language and obviously walked over towards the edge of our technical area and it's kicked off from there.
"Obviously tensions are high, but I've a lot of respect for Chris Stammers and we shook hands and hopefully that's the end of the matter.
"Today I thought we had a blend of both battling qualities and quality on the ball and I'm hoping we'll see a little bit more of the same. We owe it to the supporters. It was a good atmosphere today, a positive atmosphere and we defended when we needed to defend and we got the ball down and played when we could get the ball down and play and I'm sure most of the supporters have gone home happy tonight with the three points.
"Our home form is a concern. I think that is only our third home in the league this season. We've been doing better on the road which hasn't been the case for the last couple of seasons so hopefully we can have a little run of both now. But one win doesn't make things right. We are still in the situation where we are chasing to get back in that top half of the table and then we can perhaps raise our sights a little bit and look at the sides above us. We are not going to rest on our laurels we're going to have a couple of good sessions in the week and have a look at one or two little niggles and injuries we've got and try and perform again next Saturday."
