Derbyshire Senior Cup Quarter Final
Christchurch Meadow, Belper
Tuesday, 30th January 2007, 7.45pm
Rovers ease into the semi-final
Gresley Rovers manager Gary Norton tried players in unfamiliar roles for the Derbyshire Senior Cup Quarter Final at Christchurch Meadow.
Midfielder Carl Slater was pushed upfront to partner Paul Edwards, Matt Millns filled the right back slot with Dan Douglas moved onto the right wing and Andy Simpson came into the midfield.
Ravi Sangha, who scored that last minute goal on Saturday, was on the bench along side Liam Hebberd, Tom Groves, Lewis Gadsby and young keeper Tom Allan.
The first twenty minutes or so was notable only for a series of corners forced by the home side. However, on 24 minutes Rovers did create a chance when Slater's long-range shot needed two attempts to grab the ball by Nailers keeper Andy Carney.
Two minutes later Slater was presented with another chance. A fine pass by Nicky Carter found Edwards who then in turn picked out Slater on the right of the area only for the final shot to be fired over the bar with only Carney to beat.
Belper's Andy Rushbury should have done much better but could only put his shot into the midriff of Rovers keeper Tommy Whittle.
Just before the break Rovers were gaining the upper hand and went close when Millns made a superb run toward goal after winning a tackle on the halfway line. He played a one-two with Edwards as he continued his run into the box but his final shot was well blocked by Carney.
Douglas went close minutes later but put his far post header over the bar from Carter's cross and Edwards flashed a shot wide of the mark as Rovers finished well on top.
Belper had the first chance of the second half when a slight mix up between Colin Hoyle and Millns allowed Chris Davies a shot that he put over the bar from just outside the area.
On 62 minutes Slater tried his luck with a 25-yard dipping shot that took a deflection and away for a corner which was taken by Shaun Ridgway. The in swinging ball found Millns who prodded the ball into the net from close in.
Eight minutes later Rovers doubled their lead when they made a swift move out of their own area. Slater's superb ball picked out Edwards on the right who then beat one defender before smashing home a low shot past Carney.
Substitute Tom Groves, on for Mark Smith, had a chance to make it three but his shot went just past the post.
In the last few minutes of the game Rovers had another couple of decent chances the first of which was Barry Woolley's header from Groves' corner that Carney needed to tip over and then from the resultant corner taken by Ridgway the ball was flicked on at the near post by Douglas and found Woolley at the far post but he could only stab his effort wide.
Manager's View
"It was a pleasing win. Any win is a pleasing win but obviously it was pleasing to get the game on and out the way. And without reaching heights of exceptional levels I thought we were relatively solid tonight and I can't really remember Belper carving any clear-cut chances out.
"It's been a workman like performance from us. We've carved out a couple of very good opportunities in the first half and a couple of good opportunities in the second half and managed to take two of them so yes it was a pleasing win and puts us in the semi-final but the main thing is that several players have got some valuable pitch time tonight notably Matt Millns continuing from Saturday; Andy Simpson continuing from Saturday and obviously we've got Barry Woolley and Colin Hoyle through ninety minutes as well after missing out on Saturday and I thought those two looked very, very solid. We've one or two slight injury concerns but nothing to warrant leaving anyone out of the squad tonight.
"I was pleased with it and we purposely wanted to put out a strong outfit out tonight to try and find a little bit of a spark and it's been a decent work out but I really wish it was three points in the league.
"Let's not make any mistake or take anything for granted from it, Belper have got two or three of their recent signings and they've gone on a really good run, they've got two or three of their recent signings out as well as Danny Hudson who's their joint manager and one of their best players. If this had was a league match it would have been a far more difficult encounter but we've still got to beat the side put out and we've done well and I'm pleased with it.
"We played a few players in different positions as we look towards the final run in, the final third of the season and we wanted to look at one or two things. We've tried Carl Slater up front; he's played up front earlier in his career. Carl has got that little bit of pace and with Liam (Hebberd) picking up his fifth booking on Saturday it was just something in mind to have a look at and he did very well in the first half. He got a very good opportunity but unfortunately at the last minute he lacked the composure to take that chance. So that's been a fairly decent experiment and he worked hard up there.
"I thought Millnsy, after a sloppy first ten minutes, did very, very well for us -a getting some valuable pitch time and b showed us that he can operate in a different position. We wanted to look at Dan Douglas further forward - we're trying to encourage him to get forward from full back - we know he can get forward, get past players and put good crosses in - whereby we didn't see much evidence of that tonight he's still worked hard up and down and it's food for thought if the need arises later in the season.
"I've just said to the guys in the dressing room that we haven't got to create ten or fifteen clear chances in every game. It was a close battle tonight and a hard fought game and we managed to carve out four very good chances and make maybe one or two half chances and fortunately this time managed to take two of them. That's all we need to do.
"We are working on things within the club to try and take more chances that we create and obviously we are still on the lookout if the right sort of striker becomes available but it's very frustrating, the harder we try the harder it seems to be to attract that right player. But having said that we have some good options at the club.
"Liam (Hebberd) was on the bench tonight. He's feeling his back slightly and once the second goal went in we felt it would be a good opportunity to get the young lad Gadsby on the pitch. He's come on and got another fifteen minutes under his belt of first team football and yes he's developing nicely. I think he deserves it as well because he's been travelling to these midweek games, the Matlock game and the Belper game and has been in every squad and they've all been off so I'm pleased he's got on the pitch tonight."
