UniBond League Cup 1st Round
The Bright Finance Stadium, Dronfield
Tuesday, 25th September 2007, 7.45pm
Rovers Score Five But Still Lose!
It must be quite a few years since Gresley Rovers scored five goals but still be on the losing side.
Those hardy souls who made their way to The Bright Finance Stadium to visit the 'oldest club in the world' got their money's worth as end to end football saw eleven goals scored.
Both sides had very early chances but Rovers took the lead on 11 minutes when a sublime cross from Carl Slater was headed home by David Blenkinsopp at the far post.
However, the lead only lasted six minutes as Sheffield stormed back. Vill Powell put a cross into the box and Rovers keeper David Clarke managed to punch the ball clear only for it to fall nicely for Robert Ward who looped a header over the stranded keeper.
The homeside almost took the lead on 18 minutes when a low cross found Stewart Copnell whose shot was very well blocked by Clarke with the ball flying over the bar.
This topsy-turvy game saw Rovers take the lead again just two minutes later. Shaun Ridgway's corner from the left was powered home by Chris Mawbey, his header leaving home keeper Jamie Holmshaw helpless.
On 26 minutes Rovers almost increased their lead when a good move between Blenkinsopp and Ridgway allowed Paul Edwards the chance to fire a shot that was just wide.
Minutes later back came Sheffield seeing Copnall put his effort wide and with the action now at the other end Stefan Marshall ran onto a Blenkinsopp pass but shot over the bar.
With the halftime whistle looming Sheffield got back on terms when a long free kick found Ward who placed his shot wide of Clarke and into the far corner.
Those thinking that was more than enough action for the first half were to see another goal in time added on.
Rovers made it 3-2 at the break with Mawbey again the scorer. Ridgway slung over a free kick that was headed in to the far corner.
With nerves calmed somewhat at the interval the action began for the second period. A clumsy challenge saw Ridgway off the pitch after just five minutes. Thankfully, he was okay to continue.
Sheffield made the first clear chance of the half on 62 minutes when Jamie Hood half cleared Ward's cross and Copnall hit his shot straight at Clarke who took two attempts to secure the ball.
The visitors increased their lead on 63 minutes as a result of a good flowing move. Mawbey picked out Slater down the right and the midfielder's pass found Ridgway who beat Holmshaw and into the far corner.
A bizarre piece of refereeing, one of many, came on 67 minutes when Ridgway was on the receiving end of what looked like very poor tackle that saw him carried off only for the referee to award the home side a freekick!
Copnell's free kick was superbly saved by Clarke who had to change direction before pushing the ball away at full stretch.
A two goal lead would normally be comfortable for the leading side but not in this match.
On 73 minutes Copnell scored arguably the goal of the game when he ran onto Ward's through ball before hammering a low shot under Clarke and into the net.
Just as it seemed that Rovers had hung on Sheffield drew level. A high free kick into the box by Paul Smith caught the Rovers defence ball watching and Gavin Smith nipped in behind them to put his header past Clarke.
A draw meant extra time but these two sides were not finished as Rovers took the lead in injury time. Marshall did well to win the ball before laying his pass back for Blenkinsopp to fire home.
Game finished? Not on your life as this extraordinary match still had a couple of turns to make.
Almost 5 minutes of injury time saw Sheffield draw level with the last kick of the match. Chris Dolby humped a free kick high into the box, which Clarke punched but not quite far enough because Paul Smith seized his chance to shoot back into the far corner.
Both side looked exhausted, as they'd given everything they had in this ding-dong battle but they had another 30 minutes to contend with.
Sheffield scored what ended up as the winning goal after 101 minutes time with Darryl Winters firing home Dolby's cross. Clarke did well to prevent Winters from increasing the lead six minutes later making a fine save to deny him.
Rovers looked tired and were caught on 119 minutes but Powell put his shot over the bar with only Clarke to beat.
Right on the final whistle Rovers had a clear penalty turned down when Hood was clattered to the floor in the area.
Could the supporters or the players have survived a penalty shoot out - who knows? Ninety minutes plus extra time was enough for one night one suspects!
Manager's View
"A pulsating 90 minutes of open football saw the two sides share 10 goals in a 5-5 end to end game that represented an excellent advert for semi professional football. The game went into extra time and in the end we were denied what I thought would have been a deserved battling victory in extra time but no-one connected with Gresley could disagree with the fact that we were very, very unlucky on the night.
"I'm not usually known for using officials as an excuse but as I write these notes I'm still fuming at the performance of Mr Murphy and his incompetent assistants.
"The performance of the three officials ranks up there with one of the poorest I've ever witnessed and it must have been bad as even the opposition players were in agreement at the end of the game.
"I'd have had the same opinion had we won the game but some of the decisions that went against us, particularly in the second half were that bad I was expecting Jeremy Beadle to pop out from behind the dugout after the game to tell me that "I'd been framed", especially after the linesman's award of a free kick against us that led to the equaliser in the 95th minute of normal time that the ref wasn't going to give despite being 10 yards away.
"Topping it off the usually competent Mr Murphy ruled out an absolute nailed on penalty for a foul on Jamie Hood in extra time deeming that there was no contact with the player when indeed half of Sheffield could have heard, never mind saw the contact.
"Many positives came out of the game despite the officials and bizarre nature of the score line. We played some excellent football at times and scored some good goals.
"Our defending of course needs to improve but having said that, two or three of the Sheffield goals were of the highest quality and were taken very well indeed. On the positives, young Chris Mawbey continues to grow in stature and put in a fine performance in a left midfield role even scoring a couple of well taken headed goals from set plays.
"Continuing on the positives - although they tired visibly during the second half, Paul Edwards and Carl Slater got some much needed pitch time - both lasting the full 120 minutes and hopefully benefiting significantly from that fact. Paul's performance in central midfield gave us a that bit more of a physical and creative presence that we've been missing in recent games and it certainly gives us another option to consider as we continue to look for the right blend and balance of personnel that will give us a run of decent performances and results.
"In addition, both Stephan Marshall and Dave Blenkinsopp had excellent games and set a foundation for what hopefully could be a decent future partnership up front."
