Derbyshire Senior Cup 3rd Round
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 18th December 2007, 7.45pm
Carter Sees Red As Rovers Go Through
Gresley Rovers held on despite being down to ten men for the whole of the second half to enter the quarterfinals of the Derbyshire Senior Cup.
Rovers dominated the first half playing some of their best football seen at the Moat Ground for some considerable time and should have been well in front by halftime but events changed that and it was some superb defending that kept Long Eaton's chances to a minimum.
The home side came out quickly and forced two corners in the first couple of minutes. The pressure paid off on three minutes when Stefan Marshall robbed United defender Marc Stryzewski of the ball just out side the area.
The striker ran on but his shot was parried by keeper Wayne White only as far as David Blenkinsopp who turned and scuffed his shot into the bottom corner of the net.
United hit back and Rovers keeper David Clarke had to make one of his rare saves to deny Scott Downie by pushing his shot onto the post.
Marshall went close again on 10 minutes when Shaun Ridgway sent him on his way on goal but the final shot went straight to White who caught the ball at the second attempt.
A Ridgway corner from the left was superbly volleyed first time by Leigh Platnauer but just over the bar.
United came back and forced three corners in quick succession but the Rovers defence comfortably quenched any threat.
Blenkinsopp almost grabbed a second goal when he met Danny Blair's corner but the header flew wide.
Alex Steadman then went very close firing his shot fractionally wide after Downie's shot had been blocked.
Rovers finished the half strongly but all their efforts were spoilt by a moment of absolute stupidity in time added on. A tussle in the corner between United's Nathan Parker and Nick Carter saw the Rovers left back hit Parker and the referee, after consulting his assistant, had no other option but to show a straight red card.
The home side knew that former Moatman Craig Weston's team would come at them and they were not disappointed.
A scramble in the Rovers' goalmouth almost saw United get back on terms. Downie made a fine run down the right and his cross was met by Mat McCall whose header was superbly turned away by Clarke for a corner.
The flag kick was hammered goalwards by McCall but his shot was blocked on the line by a defender. Stryzewski hit the rebound but again Clarke reacted magnificently punching the effort away from danger.
Just after the hour Downie collected Adam Holmes's pass but fortunately the final shot went straight into the midriff of Clarke.
Rovers almost doubled their advantage when after a swift break out of defence they were awarded a throw deep in United's half. Blair's throw picked out Blenkinsopp whose shot from the bye-line skimmed the top of the bar.
The visitors only had one more half chance when the lively Downie was allowed to shoot but well wide as Rovers' defence remained resolute and solid.
Manager's View
"Nick Carter made harder work of it for us than it should have been. I'm very disappointed with Nick. There was no excuse, a straight red and all I can do is to apologise to Long Eaton and the player concerned.
"After forty five minutes of absolute dominance in injury time of the first half and you are one-nil up and arguably should have been out of site two or three up. Some of the football was fantastic really some of the best we've seen for a long time up here - completely dominated the half then Nick goes and does something really stupid like that!
"On reflection we've won the game one-nil and it provided us with the opportunity to show what we are made of. We scrapped, we battled, we defended superbly for the second game on the trot and you wouldn't think there was a man difference in the second half.
"It was a more even contest second half and I thought Long Eaton worked very, very hard but I don't remember Dave Clarke having too many chances to save but that was because we defended in midfield and the back four were superb as well.
"So, in essence job done but I need to calm down an consider how we deal with the Nick situation because it's not the first time, it's not even the second time that he's got himself in those situations and we've got to consider how we deal with that because it's unacceptable, it really is, and it's put us in a position where we could have ended up losing the game after a really promising forty five minutes.
"I was disappointed that we were not more than one-nil up at half time. We got the nice early goal and I've been saying to Blenks (David Blenskinsopp) for a couple weeks now that he just needs a scrappy goal like that.
"It was some very good work by Shaun Ridgway to turn the defence, Stef Marshall turned it into a half chance and I think the keeper saved it but Blenks has scuffed it in and it's given us the platform.
"I thought we were going to go on and build on it. We created some really good half chances - one or two set plays we've been working on almost created a second goal for us and there were one or two other opportunities as well.
"With a bit more composure we could have been two or three nil up at half time. Obviously we were facing a tough second half in the situation we found ourselves in being down to ten men but it would have been a bit more comfortable.
"I felt that if we could have nicked the second goal then we could have controlled the game with ten men but credit to Long Eaton they kept going at it they are hard working and they've got some good individuals and technical players.
"We defended well and that was the most pleasing thing tonight. That's the second clean sheet on the trot and I can't remember that last time I could say that.
"We've got one or two knocks and bumps. Danny Blair had to come off with a groin and we will have to assess that. Tom Betteridge, a big positive, got an hour in tonight. "He's had more comebacks than Frank Sinatra of late but we'll get him in training on Thursday and probably get him some more pitch time with the reserves on Saturday and he's not going to be a million miles away.
"There were one or two players rested tonight. Chris Sleath was out of the country and got back at half past six and came straight here but he already knew he wasn't going to be in the squad.
"Jordan (Lambert) has gone abroad for a few days so he wasn't involved but we had a boost this morning being able to involve Leigh Platnauer after we'd found out about the rule change.
"Leigh and Miles Chamberlain were fantastic today as was Dan Douglas particularly when asked to defend as a back three in the second half.
"Leigh and Miles are forming a solid partnership but I got a call off Tony (Kirkland) last night saying that Leigh was eligible and I did think long and hard because I'd called Lloyd Hutchings into the squad and obviously Martyn (Rowntree) wasn't involved on Saturday. Would I stick to the original squad or include Leigh in it but based on the fact that they've seemed to have forged a decent partnership on Saturday, I wanted to build on that if I was honest in preparation for the league games and hopefully that was a big plus point from tonight and they looked superb together but obviously we've got tougher tests to come.
"I didn't know whether to include some of the lads from the reserves but I wanted to build from Saturday. We've been a bit erratic of late and two fairly consistent performances, particularly defensively, and we've played some decent football in both as well and again it's been a while since we've been able to say that in back-to-back games so very pleasing."
