F A Trophy (Preliminary Round)
Noose Lane ,Willenhall
Saturday, 7th October 2006, 3.00pm
Town put Moatmen out of Trophy
Gresley Rovers' rollercoaster season continued at Noose Lane in the preliminary round of the FA Trophy. Hoping to progress in this season's competition they were brought back down to earth after their surprising league win at high flying Bradford Park Avenue on Monday.
Played on a pitch that bordered the unplayable - very soft after the recent deluge and with extremely long grass - the game was never going to a classic as either side struggled to come to terms with the conditions and had to be content to lumping the up-and-under ball cutting out the midfield for long periods of what was in all honesty a dour affair.
Willenhall were the first to have an early chance on 10 minutes when the former AFC Telford striker Kyle Perry put a shot straight at Gresley keeper Tommy Whittle.
Two minutes later they should have opened the scoring when Matt Barnes-Homer got behind the Gresley defence but he couldn't control the ball and the chance was gone.
On 14 minutes it was Luke Findley who found himself through on goal but with only Whittle to beat fired an awful shot that was well over the bar.
The home side did take the lead two minutes later and what a goal it was. Awarded a free kick on the left just outside the area Mark Briggs curled his shot over the wall into the top far corner with Whittle clutching at thin air.
Town were determined to put the game out of their visitors' grasp and on 20 minutes really should have done so. Barnes-Homer again got behind the Gresley defence but with Whittle his only barrier embarrassingly screwed his shot so wide it almost went for a throw in.
Gresley were finding the game difficult and were struggling to come to terms with the conditions but one glimmer of hope came on 26 minutes when Aaron O'Connor cleverly back heeled the ball to strike partner Paul Edwards who hammered a first time shot low to Town keeper Dean Coleman's right but the keeper did well to get down and hold the shot.
The attempt on goal seemed to lift the visitors somewhat and on the half hour O'Connor went close putting a shot just wide of the far post.
On 38 minutes Edwards shot looked on target but the ball was deflected for a corner. Edwards slung over the flag kick and although the keeper clearly touched the ball over the bar for another corner the linesman bizarrely gave a goal kick.
Gresley got back on terms three minutes before the break with what was their best move of the game. A great ball out of defence by Dan Douglas found Edwards in midfield who in turn found O'Connor who ran forward and slipped the ball past Coleman and into the net.
Town regained the lead six minutes into the second half as a result of a keeping error. Findley fastened onto a long cross-field pass from Danny Hughes and pushed the ball under the body of Whittle at the near post - the Gresley keeper later admitting his error.
On 56 minutes Gresley almost got back on terms when O'Connor got into the box before laying the ball on for Edwards whose first time shot was well saved by Coleman.
Tony Hemmings then had a half chance but didn't hit his shot hard enough to beat Coleman just three minutes later.
With Gresley pushing forward Town almost added to their lead when on 69 minutes a driving run by Perry ended with a pass to Findley who smashed his shot over the bar when well placed.
O'Connor looked the most likely to strike for Gresley despite the close attendance the Town defenders were giving him and on 72 minutes he managed to turn his marker but fired wide of the post.
A minute later Town almost got the ball in the net when a clearance from a Gresley defender cannoned back towards the goal but went just wide of the far post for a corner.
A long throw from Matt Millns caused panic in the Town defence with two or three shots being blocked in their area in quick succession.
On 85 minutes Nicky Carter, back after illness, blocked a vicious goal bound shot from Perry but the defender knew very little of it as the ball appeared to hit him full in the face, thankfully with no ill affects.
Gresley's defensive frailty was again in evidence when they backed off and backed off Briggs allowing him to make yards of distance before firing wide.
Town's final goal came in time added on. Gresley had thrown caution to the wind and were pushing forward to try and grab the equaliser and were caught by a quick break that finished with Barnes-homer firing home to put Town into the next round.
Manager's View
"The first six or seven minutes of the second half was our best spell of that period of what was a scrappy game. We looked to try and get the ball down and work it a little bit more then obviously when the goal went in we only had one or two half chances.
"Their keeper's made a blinding save from Paul Edwards and Aaron had one or two little half chances but for a big chunk of that second half we couldn't get it down and work it - a very difficult surface but it was the same for them - and we seemed a little bit lethargic today from the high of Monday night when we absolutely ran our socks off but for large parts of that second half we were very lethargic.
"We threw caution to the wind and when you throw bodies forward you are always going to leave yourselves exposed at the back and they've got through on several occasions and missed the target. But, what do you do in a cup game when you are two one down? You keep it tight and try and do something positive to try and get back into it. Yes, it could have been more and we got caught with the last kick of the game.
"Full credit to Willenhall, they worked their socks off today. It was always going to be a scrappy game on that sort of surface and there wasn't going to be much pretty football played from either side. They won the battle today. We were second best in most departments.
"I was relatively pleased for the majority of the game with the two centre halves. Dan Douglas looked a little bit sluggish today because he's been out for a while. He came back Monday night and put a great ninety minutes in and we thought missing the five games hadn't affected him but today he looked very, very sluggish.
"It's frustrating to go from the low of last Saturday to the high of Monday with a threadbare squad and then come here and be back down again - it certainly is a roller coaster at the minute.
"Carl Slater wasn't as effective today. No, even on a poor day Carl is one of the front-runners throwing himself in everywhere, closing down and I can't put a finger on it but he didn't get going. First you've got to match sides for work rate and battle and we did that on Monday. We rode our luck a bit on Monday and we were magnificent after that but today we just couldn't get it going - no close enough to people, our selection in the final third in terms of passing the quality wasn't there even when we were looking to go a little more direct we were just dropping balls in for their back four instead of trying to turn the defenders and stretch them just a little bit. So it was disappointing because I wanted to progress in the Trophy but not today.
"Tommy held his hand up to the bench straightaway - he knows it was a mistake. Full credit to Tom for accepting that responsibility straightaway. But it was one of those that you'd expect him to keep out. It didn't have too much pace on it and obviously he just mistimed it and it snuck in at the front post. That's the story of our season so far. It was a tight game up until that point and it was a tight game for ten or fifteen minutes after that. Then as we went for it a little bit we left ourselves open at the back. But we always seem to be chasing games through individual errors or sloppy goals at the minute and it's frustrating but we've got to have the personnel in and the guts and the determination to dig ourselves out of holes but it's not quite happened today.
"We are disappointed today but we've got a hell of a lot of games and we are six or seven points off the play off places. We've had a slow start to the season but if we had won today we'd have won four of our last five games. That's the fine line we are on at the moment but there's a hell of a lot to play for this season. I'd have loved to go onto a little trophy run. Every club at our level aims to be in it after Christmas when the Conference clubs come in it and hopefully get one of the bigger clubs at home but it's not to be and we've got to be positive and move forward."
