Pre-Season Friendly
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Wednesday, 25th July 2007, 7.30pm
Pre-season win for Rovers
Gresley Rovers played their first pre-season game at the Moat Ground beating Borrowash Victoria by a single headed goal from Tom Groves.
With last Saturday's game at Rocester postponed this was a chance to put the many triallists through there paces as manager Gary Norton begins to shape his squad for the new season in the UniBond Division One South.
Norton fielded a different team for each half with many of the established Rovers players taking to the field for the second period.
Players not involved were recent signings from Tamworth Adam Henchcliffe and Luke Edwards. Striker Paul Edwards, who also re-signed recently and midfielder Carl Slater recovering from a knee injury picked up towards the end of last season were also rested.
Rovers made the first impression on the match forcing two corners which were taken by Carl Timms.
On 11 minutes Timms fired a shot that went wide and three minutes later a superb pass from Sukhy Heer gave Morgan Hurley a half chance but his effort was well blocked by the Vics' keeper Wayne Smith.
The homeside continued to press and on 16 minutes a pinpoint accurate long ball from Paul Kelly gave Hurley the chance to make a run into the box but he was bundled off the ball by some determined defending.
On 18 minutes the Vics had their first chance of the game when John Guy's header into the box was met by Tom Leighton but he somehow managed to put his header over the bar from just 2 yards out. His blushes were somewhat spared by the assistant referee raising his flag for offside.
Heer fired a shot wide with Hurley also putting an effort wide on the half hour. Two minutes later a stinging shot from former Burton Albion youngster Karl Wayte was well held by Smith.
Rovers finished the half on top with Hurley firing a free kick just over the bar.
The second half saw a completely different Rovers side take to the field featuring nine of last season's squad and two new additions Ian Fern and Ally West.
Groves almost opened the scoring with hardly a minute on the clock firing his shot just the wrong side of a upright.
Ten minutes later the same player went close again this time putting his header just over the bar from Shaun Ridgway's corner.
Rovers took the lead on 65 minutes when after some good work down the left by Tom Betteridge his cross found Groves who's header from close range found the back of the net.
Seven minutes later Nicky Carter almost grabbed a second for Rovers but his shot went over the bar from Ridgway's corner.
On 85 minutes Carter went even closer. A tremendous ball from West sent Groves on his way down the right and his low cross into the box was met by Carter sliding in but his effort found the outside of the post. The ball found Groves on the bye line who then laid the ball back for West but the final shot went wide of the far post.
Manager's View
"That was a big step in the right direction. It was quite an enjoyable game, Borrowash helped us out because we arranged the game late last week to be honest when we recognised the number of triallists we had.
"I'm really please with the work that has gone on in recent weeks in trying to get people down to have a look at and open things up a bit. It really hindered things with Saturday's game being off because we had intended to split the squad - existing players, new players and players we wanted to have a look at though the two games.
"Tonight we've used twenty two players and there has been six or seven players who haven't managed to get on tonight. That was pre-planned, as we didn't want to complicate things. We thought two halves would give us enough of a decent look of those players we wanted to. We've seen some good things tonight and we've seen some not so good but generally things are going in the right direction.
"We've got to be as fair to the guys as possible. We were hindered a bit because we are still talking to existing players from last season that we want to try and keep and I've been very busy this week doing just that and some of the lads have agreed terms for this season.
"So you want to cover yourself and make sure you have players around and also you have to make sure you are looking for players who maybe can improve on what you've already got.
"There was certainly some food for thought tonight. One or two lads were not involved tonight purposely because we've agreed terms with them. Adam Henchcliffe is one. He's signed with Tamworth but we've got an agreement with them that he will start the season with us. Luke Edwards is another. They should have played for Tamworth last night but didn't but they will both be featuring on Friday. To be fair to the lads we need to make some decisions quickly.
"A fair number of last years squad have signed, Andy Simpson, Shaun Ridgway, Carl Slater, Chris Mawbey and Tom Allan. Add to that Paul Edwards and the two new lads Adam Henchcliffe and Luke Edwards so things are starting to take shape. Those players from last season that I haven't mentioned it's not that they haven't agreed to sign it's purely that we haven't had the time to discuss options.
"Some of the lads out there are from Parks football and one or two are showing raw talent and it's exciting to be honest and they are local lads."
