UniBond Presidents Cup 2nd Round
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 14th October 2008, 7.45pm
Rovers Make Cup Exit
Gresley Rovers saw another cup run evaporate as Willenhall Town came back to knock them out of the UniBond Presidents Cup 2nd Round.
Many of the home supporters who made the trip to the Moat Ground will still be wondering how they lost this game after dominating proceeding for much of the game.
If chances had been taken the home side would have had the game won by the break but again Rovers couldn't apply the killer touch when the opposition were on the rack.
The game didn't really get going until the 25 minute when David Blenkinsopp picked out debutant Luke Edwards who fired a stinging shot that Town keeper Luke Tilt did superbly well to get a finger on to the ball and tip it onto the bar.
Town were put under further pressure when Carl Slater found Tom Liversage who shed the attention of two markers before hitting a low shot that was unfortunately straight at Tilt.
Town's first attempt of note came on 37 minutes as Justin Nisbett threaded a ball through to Scott Stevenson who somehow managed to send his shot sailing well over the bar.
Tilt proved once more to be the saviour of his side when again he pulled out a top drawer save pushing away Slater's goal bound shot.
However, the pressure did tell with just three minutes remaining of the first half. Rovers were awarded a free kick some 35 yards out and Gavin Saunders's screamer of a shot was yet again tipped onto the bar by Tilt but Miles Chamberlain was quick to react and nodded the ball home.
It was no more than the home side deserved and they could easily have gone in for the break three or four goals to the good except for the heroics of Willenhall's keeper Tilt.
Within nine minutes of the re-start Edwards should have opened his Rovers' account but he somehow managed to put his shot over the bar when it looked easier to score after Jamie Barrett had put in a fine cross from the left.
Rovers were to rue all their misses, as almost immediately Willenhall were level. Stevenson made a good run down the right and saw team mate Lee Chilton completely unmarked at the far post. His cross was accurate giving the diminutive wide man a chance he duly took volleying the ball into the roof of the net.
Saunders tried his luck with a volley just on the hour mark but was inches wide of the mark, but it was the visitors who took advantage.
On 66 minutes Rory May, who had until then been largely anonymous, fed a fine ball through for Nisbett who sidestepped Chamberlain before slotting a shot past Baldwin and into the bottom corner.
Things got worse for Rovers as a minute later Willenhall had all but wrapped up the game as a contest. Again some slack marking from Rovers allowed May far too much room and the big striker needed no encouragement as he fired past the static Baldwin and into the net.
It should have been four just a few minutes later but Baldwin produced a fine block to deny Nisbett another goal.
Town's goal then proved unassailable when at least four attempts at breaching it proved futile. On 82 minutes Jamie Hood had his header from Mickey Lyons' corner blocked on the line by a defender and the ball returned to him and his shot was blocked again on the line by Tilt who didn't know much about the block.
Rovers had one more chance to reduce the deficit but Kevin Lock could only head Edward's left wing cross fractionally wide.
Manager's View
"We said to the players at half time that they shouldn't take the foot off the pedal and I think second half we went out with that kind of attitude.
"Nevertheless we had a lot of possession, we caused them a lot of problems, we had a lot of balls go across the near post but we never had the runs tonight and the desire to score a goal.
"Like the gaffer said before the game we've got a young team but we've got a young team that's played a lot of football at this standard or above and for us that wasn't good enough.
"We can defend better and collectively we just didn't defend properly and also we just didn't commit ourselves to scoring goals.
"I'm as frustrated as the fans because we should be beating sides like this. You could see the football the lads are playing getting the ball down we pass the ball and we get it out wide and get it in the box and we play some really good football but it's no use playing nice pretty football and not winning games.
"The biggest disappointment for me is that we created like we had done in several games this year and created enough chances to win five or six games and we've just not taken them. We haven't had the composure in front of goal and it's so disappointing that one ball splits our defence or we don't defend crosses properly and it's really frustrating to be quite honest.
"It's very difficult for us as a management team to realise why some players are not playing to a consistent level. We train right the things we do are match specific and we organise the team and to be quite honest for possibly seventy minutes today we looked very organised but in between you had lapses in concentration and it just can't keep on happening.
"A lot of people have said we need some experience in there but to be quite honest we had Lee Mellon in the team and he gave us nothing at all. The lads we've got here are good lads and I think it's just a matter of time now before they start performing consistently how we want them to do so. All we've got to do is to keep working at them in training and doing the things we know are right.
"You can see out there that we've had big changes. We don't just hoof the ball up front we get the ball out to people who can play and we play football but we've got to be a bit more clinical in front of goal and also we've got to defend better.
"The worse thing for me is that that's something we work on all the time. They (the players) do know what they should do at any given moment but they're just not carrying it out at the moment.
"Jamie Barrett was absolutely fantastic tonight. He worked his socks off, he got up and down, he got balls into the box and he showed Brian Woodall what he should do when he's out there. I thought Luke Edwards played well tonight especially when he got out to the left side which is his natural position and he put some cracking balls in the box for us but once again you've got people not running across the near post or not being clinical in front of goal.
"I thought Gavin Saunders played well tonight. He was a driving force for us in the middle of the park. He got hold of the ball and passed it well and that shot from which we scored was absolutely fantastic.
"We've had some good performances tonight but they've let themselves down and it angers me. After Saturday's game I was livid and I said to them tonight that I wanted a better performance and to be quite honest they did give us a better performance but once again lapses in their concentration caused us to lose the game tonight.
"Barry Woolley will be playing ninety minutes hopefully for the reserves at Coventry Sphinx tomorrow night and if he gets through that he will be in contention for a shirt on Saturday.
"It will take him a couple of games to get into the swing of things because first team football is a lot different to reserve team football but the main thing for Barry is to get through the game unscathed and then obviously get his shirt back and play his football.
"The disappointing thing for me is that we've got good centre halves, good defenders here but when the going gets tough they start dropping off and start doing things that they're not supposed to.
"First half I thought they were absolutely fantastic, closing the space down, getting stuck into the centre forward and the centre forward didn't get a sniff. But second half I'd said to them keep your concentration and do the things you were doing first half but they didn't they've gone out and done something else."
