East Midlands Counties League
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 5th September 2009, 3.00pm
Woodall Double Helps Gresley To All Three Points
This was not as easy as the score line may suggest as Dunkirk put up a good display at the Moat Ground playing some decent football.
However, three goals in the final 15 minutes broke that stubborn resistance as goals from Brian Woodall and Tom Betteridge saw the home side claim all three points.
Dunkirk started brightly forcing a corner in the first minute but I was Gresley who fashioned the first chance four minutes later when James Davies curled a free kick just past the far post.
Seconds later a poor piece of officiating by referee Mr Thistlewood, unfortunately not his last in the game, saw Gresley denied a clear cut penalty. Tom Betteridge had made a good run into the box only for Darren Garmston to take the wide man's legs from under him but the referee waved the appeals away and bizarrely awarded Gresley a corner when the last person to touch the ball was Tom Betteridge as he was felled.
From the resultant corner new signing and former Moatman Mark Blount headed narrowly over the bar. Mickey Lyons then provided a cross that Matt Hill headed wide.
On 19 minutes Gresley skipper Carl Slater was unlucky to see his 25 yard volley crashed against the junction of bar and post as the home side threatened.
The first chance of any note for the visitors came on 38 minutes when a good run down the left by Lavell White whose cross then picked out Jarrod Westcarr but the final shot went well wide. They also had the last chance of the first half with Anthony Gregory heading Garmston's corner wide.
The second half started with both sides forcing early corners and again it was Gresley who had the first chance of the half when Tom Betteridge made a good run down the left and his shot was scrambled away by the Boatmen's defence.
Although the visitors had plenty of possession they lacked a cutting edge to capitalise on the chances they were making and it was Gresley who looked the most dangerous going forward.
On the hour mark a flick from Woodall landed invitingly for Rob Spencer who fired a first time shot over the bar.
Ten minutes later Slater had another long range effort but this time it went straight to keeper Nick Ivanov who made the save but on 75 minutes Gresley made the breakthrough. Woodall had the ball and strode into the area where he was brought down and the referee didn't hesitate and pointed to the spot.
Gresley had missed the last two penalties they'd been awarded and with the manager Gary Norton not daring to watch, Woodall sent the keeper the wrong way to give his side the lead.
On 82 minutes The Boatmen almost levelled. Westcarr, who looked suspiciously offside, ran on but keeper Simon Baldwin made a fine block with his legs.
Gresley increased their lead five minutes later when Tom Betteridge made a good run down the left and slid the ball across the area to Woodall who smashed a low shot past Ivanov.
A minute later Dunkirk was undone again this time it was Woodall who provided the chance for Tom Betteridge. Woodall did well down the right and sent a low cross to the far post where Tom Betteridge was waiting to knock the ball home albeit at the second attempt.
Manager's View
"We are delighted with the result. We knew before the game that it would be a tough one and we hadn't done too much work on Dunkirk but one or two people I've spoken to in recent weeks speak very highly of them and obviously we've not clicked yet.
"I was really, really pleased with the clean sheet first and foremost and I must admit that we said at half time that we felt that one goal was going to settle it.
"I think the score line flattered us a little bit if I'm honest but I thought we were worthy of the three points overall but having said that it was a very hard fought game and these are the games we've got to get used to.
"We've picked up a couple more injuries which is a concern particularly in the centre half position. Fortunately we had Mark Blount to help us today and I thought he was superb for saying he's not played too much football recently.
"All the way through the first half Jamie's (Barrett) hamstring which saw him come off at Ellistown has been troubling him and we thought we were going to get away with it. We sent him out a little early before the second half but he came into the dressing room and said no so we've had to put Gareth Langford out there and we hadn't got a clue how long he was going to last because he's had a twisted knee. He didn't take full part in training in the week and if I'm honest I was expecting Gaz to last maybe twenty five minutes or so if that.
"We haven't got another centre half in the squad so the plan then was to drop Matt Hill into the back four like we did at Ellistown. Fortunately Gaz has come through it although there is some soreness in the knee, Jamie Barrett's hamstring hasn't fully gone so hopefully we can recover that but we are still a week away from getting Paul Edwards back so we are potentially working on something with Mickelover for Jack Coulson.
"Having said that, we have managed to persuade Mark Blount into playing for us next week which he's indicated he will do so that's one headache sorted but injury wise we are struggling.
"Rob Spencer had to come off with a bit of a twisted hip which he picked up in the first half. We think it was an impact injury and hopefully, although there may be a bit of stiffness and soreness, he'll be back available for next week.
"Fortunately we haven't got a midweek game so we can treat them that we need to and everyone's got a chance to be fit for next week.
"I wanted to put Stefan Marshall on the bench today but I had to take the advice of my physio who said to give him one extra week as insurance but we had him very close to coming back before so in hindsight it was great not to have to use him and hopefully next Saturday he'll have a fitness test and be fit enough to be in the sixteen.
"Royce Turville will train this week and build on his thigh problem and if not Saturday the following week we hope to have him back. Again, Royce is one we do not want to rush as we thought we'd got him back last Saturday only for his thigh to go again after just twenty five minutes or so.
"We are keen to get players back because we need them anyway because we are light on numbers but we've got to err on the side of caution with key players like that because there are fifty, sixty goals a season sitting in the treatment room. If we can get one or both of them back in the next couple of weeks that will set us up nicely.
"Brian Woodall's had a quite game. He got the penalty and it was brave of him to take it because last time he had a penalty at that end he missed it. It was delicately poised at nil-nil and the game could have gone either way if he'd have missed it but thankfully he put it in and was told he put it in the same corner as I could watch.
"He's popped up with a second goal as well. I was about to give Mark Blount a rollicking for taking a quick free kick at that period of the game but Tom Betteridge set the ball back for Brian who got a nice goal.
"Overall we're happy that Brian is getting the goals but we just want to work on him with his overall work rate and contribution. He's a talented player and in the first half he just walked past their players and had a really good effort.
"You need players like that in your side as long as they're not a luxury and what we're trying to get Brian to do is work a little bit harder with Mick Curry and Simon Van-de-Broucke on the training pitch as part of a unit defensively and then when we've got the ball to sort of allow him to do his own thing."
