UniBond League Division One
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 3rd March 2007, 3.00pm
Eastwood find it easy
A rampant Eastwood Town side that showed why they are up with the best of this league's teams cruelly exposed Gresley Rovers' defensive frailties at the Moat Ground.
Almost at will, the Badgers cut through a largely ineffective back line with Leon Meikle running them ragged all through the ninety minutes.
Rovers' front two Sam Litchfield and David Blenkinsopp worked very hard without much service and had to try and carve out what chances they got from the meagre scraps that fell their way.
The game went downhill almost from the off as once again Rovers gifted their opposition an early goal lead.
On 5 minutes a long high punt down field by Badgers' keeper Ian Deakin left Rovers keeper David Clarke and a defender leaving the ball to each other to deal with only for Leon Meikle to capitalise from the mix-up and slot the ball into the exposed net.
Rovers did rally slightly with Karl Brown putting his header just wide from Shaun Ridgway's cross two minutes later.
A good move down the right flank almost paid dividends but Ridgway put the final shot wide.
The visitors' second goal came on 22 minutes and was again a result of a long high ball from Chris Shaw that this time caught out Matt Millns. The defender badly misjudged the flight of the ball and it flew over his head to the awaiting Peter Knox who gave keeper David Clarke no chance with a superb volley.
It could have been three just four minutes later but Clarke made a fine block at his near post to deny Craig Swinscoe after the Rovers defence had failed to deal with the danger.
Eastwood deservedly scored their third goal on 31 minutes when Knox's through ball sent Lindon Meikle on his way beating the offside trap and after rounding Clarke slotted the ball into the net.
The nearest Rovers got to scoring came from Eastwood themselves. Two minutes before half time, Ridgway sent a free kick into the box but Deakin's kick hit the back of one of his own defenders but with the keeper beaten the ball flew just wide of the post.
If there were any glimmer of a hope of seeing some sort of miraculous recovery from Rovers was extinguished on the hour.
Shaw's free kick from the right flew into the box and Clarke totally missed his attempted punch and the ball found the head of Knox to nod home an easy chance.
Rovers were giving the visiting keeper possibly his easiest afternoon of the season with a tame long-range shot from Ridgway going straight into his arms.
Eastwood capped off a convincing performance by scoring a fifth goal on 73 minutes. Leon Meikle's cross from the left found substitute Jay Smedley in acres of empty space on the right of the area and he took the gilt edged chance by hitting an unstoppable volley into the roof of the net.
Litchfield, who'd run his heart out, made a superb run down the left before sending a low cross into the box but agonisingly just behind Blenkinsopp who had made a run into the area.
Manager's View
"But for one player that was exactly the same side that turned out against Belper last week and I'm stunned at the contrast from one Saturday to the next.
"There was definitely green shoots of encouragement from last week for the rest of the season but any slim, faint grasp of reaching the play-offs have just been trounced upon by a very workman like effective Eastwood side. On the day they did everything we didn't and they do good things well - the basics they do it really well.
"How we can turn in two contrasting performances of that stature dumfounds me it really does. Words fail me at the moment.
"The defensive problems have resurfaced with major impact. Every single goal was avoidable. Every single goal there was things as units, as individual players we could have done to prevent them.
"The situation leading up to the first goal was basic communication. There was no call from the keeper, he's backed off, the defender has decided not to do it and not clear the lines a big mix-up just from a route one ball down the middle and that set the scene for the afternoon for me.
"There were very, very similar things, basic things from the guys for all of the goals really.
"The two players to come out of that game with any credit are the two new lads up front, Dave Blenkinsopp and Sam Litchfield who worked tirelessly for ninety minutes with next to no service of any note and anything they did create they created themselves. They chased things down and I've had to apologise to them and the players in the dressing room have as well because they've turned up today but the other nine colleagues haven't.
"Their keeper hasn't had anything to do because we haven't created anything and that wasn't down to the front two it was down to everyone else within the side. When we did have opportunities to put good deliveries in from countless free kicks in good areas we've hit the front man, we've shanked it, we haven't got it off the deck, we've ballooned it over, we've just kicked the ball straight out of play countless times.
"It's about time some of the individuals started standing up and taking responsibility and going away and looking at things as Mick Curry, Tony Hemmings and myself do. We batter ourselves when we've been on the end of performances like that almost to the point that you don't want to get up the next day.
"Some of those guys will have quite quickly forgotten about that but we won't be. We will be sat at home wondering how on earth how we can get us out of this situation."
