UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Chruch Gresley
Saturday, 24th February 2007, 3.00pm
New boys do the job
For the second week running Gresley Rovers scored four goals at the Moat Ground however this time it resulted in welcome three points.
Manager Gary Norton had made changes to his side bringing in new signing keeper David Clarke from Corby Town along with new loan signings David Blenkinsopp from Nuneaton Borough and Sam Litchfield from Ilkeston Town.
Blenkinsopp enjoyed a prolific period with the club before Christmas hitting four goals in as many games and picked up where he left off slotting in another against Belper.
The goal mouth action was sparse in the first half with the home making the better of limited chances.
On 25 minutes a fine low shot from Tom Groves was well held by Nailers keeper Adam Ogden. A minute later Shaun Ridgway tried his luck with a long-range shot that sailed over the bar.
Groves had another chance on 41 minutes when he got on the end of a superb cross from Dan Douglas but powered his header just over the bar. However, Groves didn't have long to wait to claim his second goal of the campaign.
Carl Slater picked him out with a clever ball and Groves hammered a vicious volley from 20 yards past Ogden and into the top corner of the net.
Rovers started the second period putting the Nailers defence under immediate pressure. On 48 minutes Blenkinsopp, who was put through by Slater, got the better of his marker Gary Middleton but Ogden did extremely well to block the strikers shot.
Minutes later Blenkinsopp was in on goal again running on to Sam Litchfield's pass. The young striker beat Darren Schofield for pace but again was thwarted by a fine save by Ogden smothering the ball at the frontman's feet.
Belper had hardly threatened the Gresley goal with Clarke having a fairly easy debut game but on 62 minutes Danny Hudson did test him with a shot that went straight into the keeper's midriff.
Rovers doubled their lead on 66 minutes when Litchfield made a run down the left but his shot was deflected by a defender into the path of Mark Smith on the right of the area who controlled the ball before lashing a shot past Ogden.
Blenkinsopp was working very hard harrying the Belper defence and his effort almost paid off when he robbed the ball off a defender before turning and hitting a low shot that Ogden held.
The striker's endeavours did result in a goal as Gresley were now in charge of the game. After some more hard work down the left Blenkinsopp managed to pull the ball back from the by-line to his strike partner Litchfield who gleefully smashed home the chance into the far corner.
The game was marred by an unsavoury incident on 78 minutes. Blenkinsopp was trotting back towards the centre circle when Middleton appeared to headbutt him from behind. Fortunately for the striker he was not badly hurt but as a result of his recklessness Middleton collapsed to the ground and had to be stretchered off the pitch and the referee showed him a yellow card to help him on his way.
Blenkinsopp got his revenge in the best way possible by slotting home number four. On 87 minutes Litchfield made a good run down the right before squaring the ball to Blenkinsopp who accepted the offer and beat Ogden with his shot and completed what was a very comfortable victory.
He could have added a fifth minutes later when again he made good progress down the left and slotted his attempt past Ogden but fractionally wide of the far post.
In time added on Belper went close to grabbing an unlikely goal when a cross from Hudson clipped the bar but again it was Blenkinsopp who almost had the final word when he fired in a shot that just cleared the junction of bar and post.
Manager's View
"I think the smile on my face is a smile of relief to be honest! The week I've had has probably one of the worst weeks in my four seasons so far.
"We got to the point the other night were we'd been beaten for the fourth time in a row at home with a similar lacklustre performance devoid of ideas, passion and energy and Mick (Curry) and I left the ground the other night and had a meeting for an hour or so afterwards because we were at the end of our tether wondering what to do, wondering whether we persevere with the guys who'd been fantastic for us and had got us on a good run and got us on the fringe of things only to see it fall away again in recent weeks.
"We decided to do something about it and we've gone out and made three signings this week and all of them have been involved today and they've had a big impact, two of them more so than Dave (Clarke) because Dave at the back has a quiet day and didn't have too much to do but what he did have to do he did very well. I'm naturally pleased with the result.
"I was surprised by the scoreline and particularly the quality of the Belper side we played because they themselves had gone on a really good run of late even though we beat them a few weeks ago at their place in the Derbyshire Cup Quarter Final I didn't think that would have any bearing on the game because there were one or two guys they'd recruited just before going on their good run were no eligible to play.
"But it was a surprise. I'd have taken an improved performance to be honest because some of the football we'd been playing recently has been poor; some of the individual performances they've put in have been poor and it's baffling. The new guys apart, everybody else who was selected today has had a really, really good game and that's back somewhere near the standard.
"We were a little flattered by the scoreline because I don't think Belper deserved to lose by four but I thought we were worthy winners.
"The new strikers made hell of a difference. No disrespect to the guys who have been playing. Eddie (Paul Edwards) has been working hard but has not had the best of times in terms people around him working hard. But those two guys (Blenkinsopp and Litchfield) just absolutely worked their socks off for ninety minutes and we said at half time the workrate and endeavour got us into good positive situations were we had no right to get on the end of them. We were just chasing things down.
"I think one of the goals as come from that, if not two and some other opportunities and on another day, if we can get Dave's (Blenkinsopp) range a little bit he may have had two or three today. I'm delighted he's kept his ratio up with us - that's five goals in five appearances.
"I'm also pleased for Sam (Litchfield), who has not had too much football at this level. I went to watch him two or three weeks ago play against Alfreton in the Derbyshire Senior Cup and he had to come off after an hour with cramp because he's not playing regularly at this level.
"Nigel (Jemson) has been on to me for a long time saying what a talent he is and we were pleased to tie it up and he deserved his goal today as well. I thought both the front two played very well.
"I don't think Belper should have finished the game with eleven men on the pitch. The referee yellowed carded the guy based on what the linesman saw so obviously he saw something untoward. The guy was having a few goes with Blenko (Blenkinsopp) in the first half and basically he's just run into the back of Blenko and nutted him from the back position and obviously he's caught it wrong and he's gone down like a sack of spuds himself. At first I thought maybe he was just trying to get away with it but he is actually quite badly hurt and they've had to take him away to hospital. It was frustrating but it shows how thick skinned Blenko is. It knocked him a bit but he's gone on and got the goal he deserved after that.
"I don't want to players sent off but I think the referee and the lineman missed that one."
