Derbyshire Senior Cup 2nd Round
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 21st November 2006, 7.45pm
Rovers ease through in the County Cup
Gresley Rovers' progression into the quarterfinals of the Derbyshire Senior Cup was not made easy by some stubborn defending by their visitors Staveley Miners Welfare.
The home side had most of the chances but it was not until the second half that their pressure paid dividends.
On 5 minutes Carl Slater, who had been made captain for the night, hit a 25-yard dipping shot that just cleared the cross bar with the Welfare keeper Dave Darwent a mere spectator.
Welfare's Jamie Smith then tested Gresley keeper Tommy Whittle on 15 minutes with a rasping shot from Mark Harrison's corner but the keeper was up to the task and pulled off a good save.
Matt Millns then went close for the home side on 30 minutes connecting with Shaun Ridgway's free kick but the header went over the bar.
In time added on in the first half Ridgway's free kick from 20 yards was acrobatically tipped over by Darwent.
Gresley manager Gary Norton replaced Tony Hemmings with Aaron O'Connor after the break and his movement and touch began to change the game.
Within four minutes of coming on the striker went close putting his header over the bar from Ridgway's cross.
On 51 minutes Gresley took the lead and O'Connor was again involved. Defender Dan Douglas made a fine run down the right flank before finding O'Connor on the edge of the box. O'Connor's first time shot was well blocked by Darwent but Paul Edwards was on hand to hammer home the rebound.
Two minutes later Nicky Carter, playing in a forward position, brought out a fine save from Darwent who had to dive low to his right to grab the goal bound shot.
If the home supporters thought the game was Gresley's for the taking the visitors had other ideas.
Fifteen minutes after taking the lead Gresley were dragged back to level terms. A soft free kick allowed Harrison to get the ball into the box. The home defenders didn't deal with the loose ball and Adam Tyler fired in a shot that was blocked by Whittle but Jamie Smith hit home the rebound.
To the home side's relief they regained the lead again just five minutes later when O'Connor collected a through ball before blasting the ball past Darwent and into the far bottom corner.
A minute later saw O'Connor in on goal again after a good Gresley move but Darwent did superbly well to smother the ball at the striker's feet.
O'Connor was again denied by Darwent in an almost identical move on 78 minutes.
The game was wrapped up by Gresley on 85 minutes with arguably the goal of the match. Substitute Mark Smith swung in a corner from the right that was met by Millns. His header was blocked on the line by Darwent but the ball was then only partially cleared as far as Slater waiting 25-yards out. The midfielder didn't hesitate and hit a tremendous shot into the far corner leaving Darwent helpless.
Manager's View
"It wasn't as easy as you'd think. They got back into the game at one,one it was seventy or seventy-one minutes when they got the equaliser. I think we played them much better in the second half and we more wore them down than anything and did a professional job in the end and that's just what we asked for at the start of the night's work.
" We looked at players in alternative roles should we need that later in the season to call upon. Gary White's come back for his first game in eleven weeks so that was a big positive and he played in a slightly unfamiliar role. He's done that before for us in this competition. He played in a game away where he partnered Matt Millns in the heart of defence and I don't think either of them put a foot wrong tonight and they played very well.
"It was good to get Lewis (Gadsby) on the pitch for the last fifteen minutes or so. He's been doing very well for the reserves by all accounts and when he's trained with us he done superbly well and he's done everything asked of him, he wants to listen and he wants to learn and it's great to have players like that around.
"We looked at Tom Groves on the left and he's put some fantastic balls into the box tonight with his left foot so he's not just to play on the right hand side and we could look to switch him with Mark Smith. There may be one or two other options. We looked at Nick Carter up front in the first half and in fairness to Nick it was a scrappy game but it does give us options and food for thought should we need to play Nick there in the future. Nick, at the moment, is proving a valuable asset because wherever he plays he's putting in a good shift. We moved him inside when we brought Lewis on and again he didn't put a foot wrong for the last fifteen minutes or so. The frustrating thing for me is that Nick doesn't enjoy playing left back. When I moved him at half time his head went down a little bit because he wants a run up front but he was superb on Saturday and he's been excellent again when he was asked to play in that role again tonight. I said to him that if he continues to play like that he's going to be hard to move. Gary White coming back to fitness so there will be competition for that shirt.
"We had Mark Smith on the bench because he had a slight hamstring. He came through the warm up and said he didn't feel anything so we got him on the pitch. It's a little tight now but I expect a light training session on Thursday to be no problem for him. He's done very well in the last two games. Obviously, we've tried to protect Aaron a little bit. He put a lot of effort into Saturday's game with his workrate off the ball and he was feeling a little bit tight yesterday so we started Aaron on the bench.
"Colin Hoyle went down today with the sickness bug that's going around so he was missing tonight and it gave us the opportunity to look elsewhere.
"This was our third win on the bounce and it keeps that little run going and we'll try to build on that on Saturday."
