UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 27th January 2007, 3.00pm
Sangha saves the day
Gresley Rovers had substitute Ravi Sangha to thank for a share of the points as bottom club Bridlington Town looked certain to claim a shock three points at the Moat Ground.
The home side were caught off guard straight from the kick off and could easily have gone behind when Andy Farrell collected a throw in before hitting a low shot that Tommy Whittle did well.
On 13 minutes Gresley had their first chance when Tom Groves volleyed Nicky Carter's cross over the bar.
Mark Smith then had the next chance five minutes later for the home side but instead of taking the ball another few strides forward hurriedly fired his shot over the bar.
On 21 minutes Town's keeper Mick Clarke was tested when Shaun Ridgway's pass was flicked on out wide to Smith by Paul Edwards. Smith returned the pass to Edwards who took too long and his shot was closed down by a defender. The ball fell to Liam Hebberd who hit a first time shot on target that was well held by Clarke.
The action switched up to the other end where Gresley had a narrow escape when Town's Tom Greaves' shot was deflected onto the post by Andy Simpson with Whittle beaten.
On 37 minutes Farrell, who was yards offside, made a run down the flank and sent over a cross to the far post where Dean Douthwaite was waiting. However, the Town man hit a shot wide when he should have hit the target.
With the halftime whistle about to blow Gresley were, for the third match running, denied another 'nailed -on' penalty. A shot from Ridgway was parried by Clarke but Edawards challenged for the loose ball and the keeper managed to push the ball away. Hebberd collected the ball but was bundled to the ground by Clarke. Referee Mr Thompson waved away the appeals.
This lead to a few moments of heated arguments between the players with Groves, Hebberd and Clarke each receiving a yellow card for their trouble.
The first period of the second half was a drab affair with neither side creating anything of any note. Just after the hour mark Gresley manager Gary Norton mad a change bringing on Karl Brown for Groves and the switch almost paid dividends.
Smith sent over a cross that Brown went to head in the penalty area but was clearly held down by Douthwaite. Again, much to the annoyance of the home crowd, the referee waved away the appeals.
To add insult to injury Bridlington took the lead just thee minutes later. A free kick from their own half found Jack Wilkinson wide on the left. Wilkinson put a superb pass to Greaves who smashed a low shot across the diving Whittle and into the far bottom corner.
Gresley seemed to liven up for the last ten minutes and Carter's cross was almost chested into the net by Edwards.
Deep into time added on and with Gresley looking at defeat substitute Sangha, on for Dan Douglas, saved the day and his team's blushes.
Smith fired over a low cross from the left that Clarke looked to have covered but somehow he let the ball slip through his hands and under his body to the waiting Sangha who had the simplest of tasks to tap the ball into the empty net.
The drama didn't end there however, because Town almost grabbed the lead once more when Whittle failed to deal with Douthwaite's corner and needed Edwards help to clear the ball off the line.
Gresley almost grabbed an undeserved winner right on the final whistle but Clarke denied Hebberd with a fine save down to his right.
Manager's View
"I'm a little frustrated because that's the second home game on the trot that we haven't got going. It was a little bit of a relief because we snatched a draw from the jaws of defeat so we have to take that as a positive.
"We just didn't get going all game. We warned the players beforehand that Bridlington are somewhat rejuvenated. They've had a reshuffle in the back room and signed several experienced quality players this week to add to a good blend of young promising players they have in the squad.
"I felt we got into a battle today and that is what I was trying to warn the players against. It was a difficult pitch; it is heavy to get the ball down and pop it about like we would like to how we did last week at Woodley.
"I said to the guys that if we got into a battle it was going to be tough and so it proved. If I'm honest, the way the second half went I felt we were lucky to get a point in the end.
"I try not to be too critical of the officials but it is frustrating because we felt we had another nailed-on penalty again and to be fair Ash Berry their joint manager on the bench straight away said it was a penalty. Liam (Hebberd) got brought down but we are just not having that luck at the moment with those sorts of decisions. Overall I seem a lot worse this season referee wise and they tried to keep the game going. I felt once or twice he blew up a little too early on things he could have let go because of maybe an advantage - that was the same for both sides. I'm not going to make excuses. We had a definite good shout for a penalty - we didn't get it and we have to move on from that.
"What was more of a concern for me was the level of performance that we put in. We are missing Aaron (O'Connor) but he's gone now. We've got a pattern of play and we need to, maybe, make some adjustments to that whereby we try to isolate one of our front men Liam (Hebberd) who's got the pace and we are trying to get him isolated against defenders and try and get in behind them. Liam likes the physical confrontation, he like's the ball to feet and he like to feel the defender around him and hold it up so the make up of strikers we've got at the club is very much those who like the ball to feet. What we are looking for is that sort of player who can play on the shoulder of the defender, get in between defenders and make positive runs behind and that's the guy I think we are missing at the moment if I honest.
"It's nice to have Ravi (Sangha) back and to be fair that goal today was typical of Ravi. We sent him on and we needed to get something and he's got a tap in and I remember a game here earlier in the season when he got us one-nil up and then Wakefield equalised then he popped up with a poachers goal in injury time to get the winner. That's very much how Ravi is. I remember in pre-season he was coming off the bench and scoring goals for us. He's done his job today and he's in our thoughts.
"Liam and Paul Edwards are both working very, very hard. Liam scored on his debut but he hasn't had too many clear-cut opportunities since then. It's something that we are working on and we have plenty of thoughts on it but we haven't got that player with the pace that can trouble defenders since Aaron's gone so that's something we are looking at and we are concerned about.
"I thought the central defenders did well. Matt came in early to do a bit of work on his timing because he's only played three minutes of football since very early December and Simmo (Andy Simpson) has only got ninety minutes of reserve team football under his belt since Skelmersdale in the middle of December. So yes they both did quite well. If I'm being ultra critical I felt as a back four unit, not picking either of those two out, but as a unit we were a little deep for the goal and we could have put more pressure on the guy before he got his strike. We sat off a little bit but they've done well baring in mind they haven't had football on a very, very heavy pitch. Apart from a few early situations where maybe Matt's just mistimed one or two things and sliced one or two things I thought those two battled and scrapped well.
"Some of the more established guys in the side, because it has been quite a settle side just recently, have put in a below par performance. We may need to think about shaking up a little bit because one or two need that kick up the backside if you like to spur us on and go and make something happen. There were two many players today who were waiting for things to happen and we need players out there, as we were earlier in good run, who want to go and make a difference and we didn't have that today."
