East Midlands Counties League
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 10th October 2009, 3.00pm
Points Shared
Gresley and Radcliffe Olympic once more had to settle for a point apiece after a hard fought draw at the Moat Ground.
Just five weeks earlier Gresley had taken a first half lead with Olympic levelling in the second half and the pattern was repeated at the Moat with Rob Spencer scoring on the stroke of half time only for Ashley Miles to equalise early in the second period.
Gresley were quickly out of the blocks and were inches away from taking the lead after just 3 minutes when a cross from Jamie Barrett was missed by a bootlace by Rob Spencer who was rushing into the box.
Olympic responded with Drew Hatton curling a shot that came back off the far post with keeper Simon Baldwin beaten.
On 14 minutes the home side had another chance when Spencer beat visiting keeper James Mountain to the ball and the Gresley man laid the ball back for Mickey Lyons but his lob cleared the bar as the keeper scrambled back to his line.
Brian Woodall then flashed a shot wide before Baldwin made the save of the game. Olympic were awarded a free kick 25 yards out. Wes Burke curled a superb kick over the wall and looked to have planted the ball into the top corner but Baldwin flung himself to his left and managed to get a hand to it and turned it away for a corner.
Baldwin's opposite number then almost emulated the save when Mountain pushed Woodall's shot on the turn also away for a corner.
On 36 minutes Woodall did have the ball in the net only for a raised flag from the assistant to deny the striker his goal.
The action turned to the other end where a free kick from Burke picked out James Spencer who could only plant his header wide from a good position and a minute later Phil Massingham shot wide.
Just as it looked the first half would end scoreless Woodall made a great run down the left and sent onto the box an inviting cross that Spencer slammed home from close in with the referee blowing to end the half immediately after the re-start.
Within the first ten minutes of the second half Gresley had two decent chances to increase their advantage.
Barrett shot wide and after another flowing move down the left Adam Betteridge and Woodall exchanges passed slicing the defence open but the final strike from Adam Betteridge flew agonisingly inches wide of the far post.
Those misses proved costly as Olympic levelled on 57 minutes from unfortunately yet another defensive slip. Instead of clearing the danger the defence dallied enough to allow Miles to muscle himself in to a position where he could beat Baldwin with a shot.
The home defence were rocking as the visitors sensed a win and they almost grabbed a goal when Massingham beat Gareth Langford and toed the ball past Baldwin but also past the post. Minutes later a complete mix-up between Baldwin and his defence almost gifted Olympic a goal, but thankfully the ball rolled wide.
The miss of the game came on 74 minutes and it was Olympic's No6 who was guilty. A good build up found Burke 10 yards out with the gaping goal at his mercy but he dreadfully miss kicked and instead of flying into the net the ball skewed to his left and away to safety.
Olympic went close again after Baldwin appeared to be pushed as he went to collect a corner but the referee allowed play to continue and their effort had to be cleared off the line.
A point at home was not what Gresley wanted but to be honest a draw was a fair result for two evenly matched sides.
Manager's View
"We are disappointed with the result but these (Radcliffe) have only been beaten once in the league and they've showed again today what a tough outfit they are.
"I'm more disappointed in the fact that we didn't play for the ninety minutes like we could do. Very disappointed in the final third, set plays in particular.
"We had a whole host of set plays and it just wasn't good enough - the delivery and we got ourselves offside three or four times from set plays - but frighteningly enough it was the delivery. We were over hitting it, under hitting it and these are the guys taking set plays for us regularly, it was frustrating
"Over the balance of the ninety minutes it was a fair result because we edged the first half and perhaps they edged the second.
"I was very disappointed in the goal we conceded. We had the ball and were attacking on the right, it got broken down and I think we just got muscled out of it in a couple of key areas and yes it was disappointing to concede a goal in that manner.
"But, we had enough chances particularly in the second half to maybe score another one but we didn't and we sort of fizzled out in the end and we got stretched.
"We are disappointed because we know we can play better than that. I doesn't help when the crowd get on to your back. The lads feel the pressure but people are entitled to their opinions. I was getting on their backs because we were good enough at key times. People get frustrated because they want us to do well.
"It was frustrating because we had one or two players who just weren't at it today. But you can't take anything away from them (Radcliffe) because they worked their socks off. They were very commanding and the keeper can and took everything as well. We've helped him by putting the ball in the zone but he still had to come and take it and he's done that well whereas we looked a little shaky and uncertain at the back which is a concern but we should be doing a bit better going forward which is the frustrating thing.
"At times we are too nice. If you want a yardstick of how sides do well in this league you've just seen one. We are too nice. We spoken about the physical side of the game in the dressing room and we've got to learn to roll our sleeves up and mix it.
"Radcliffe gave a lot of free kicks away, lots and lots of free kicks away, but they gave free kicks away at good times. There are times, and it's not cheating, when you give a free kick away to allow your side to get back and organise.
"We are too nice at times. We've got a number of players who have played at UniBond level so there's no reason why we should be. We are content with trying to play football but you have to roll your sleeves up, prepare and get your body in front of things but I times I don't think we do that.
"In the past when we've conceded we do seem to have a nervy five or ten minutes and I think it was evident again today. But, we'll keep working at that.
"If anyone thinks we are going to come into this league and win it easily after ten games are mistaken. We are sat there after ten games with eighteen points. It's very compact around us one of a number of sides if they could put a run together could put some space between us.
"At the moment teams are drawing and beating each other but we knew it was going to be like that and we got to continue to respect the sides we come up against and we'll do that. But that's done, two hard games against them (Radcliffe) and I'm glad we don't have to come up against them again in the league.
"I've just said to their gaffer as we came off that we'd be sick of each other come quarter to five next Saturday after facing them in the League Cup as well. But, I'd have taken three points today and a defeat in the cup next week but it wasn't quite to be.
"There's always a temptation to change things around thinking of the Derbyshire Senior Cup on Tuesday. We've got a couple of guys who didn't get on the pitch today. We've certainly got one of those who weren't available today available on Tuesday night.
"Me and Martin will sit down and assess things and see who's available and look at the options we've got and make our decisions based on that.
"Royce Turville was injured today. We thought we'd have a full bench for the first time in a while but Royce picked a knock up in Training on Tuesday and reported some tightness in his calf on Thursday and on the advice of Sam our physio who treated him it was not wise to use him today.
"Chris Gray unfortunately went down with a bit of a virus on Thursday and wasn't at work on Friday so we'll have to delay his re, re, re, re debut until Tuesday perhaps if he's well enough.
"I don't know what the fans expectations are of Chris. He's come and offered his services to us and at the time on Monday we didn't know if we would have Jack Coulson for this weekend. We knew we didn't have Mark Blount and Gareth Langford and his wife have had a baby yesterday (Friday) as well and there was a possibility that the baby may have arrived at the wrong moment as well so we could have been without a centre half.
"We took Chris up on his offer and contrary to comments on the internet he's come to play for nothing just to get some pitch time and all we are doing is covering some of his travelling expenses for him.
"Chris is a good player and when a player like that comes knocking on your door you don't turn them away. Chris called us to say he'd give us an option at the back where we could potentially be struggling. We may or may not have had Jack Coulson for the weekend but it turned out that we have so he would have started on the bench today and we'll just react accordingly to the conditions we are in.
"Chris gives us cover at the back should we need it and we'll be talking to Mark Blount when he comes back off his holiday tomorrow (Sunday) to see if he'll play on a more regular basis. But, Chris can do us a job on the left wing, the right wing, middle of the park, up front, in the hole he can play anywhere so if we can get him some pitch time, there are no guarantees - we haven't told him he will definitely get some pitch time or we'll start you - we haven't said anything like that we'll just see what develops and take it from game to game.
"Jordi Gough was due to play for the reserves today but he was working till one and then he had a chiropractor appointment till one thirty so we got him fixed up with Stapenhill and should have been on their bench and I'll have to wait to see how he's gone on.
"Hopefully Jordan is inching himself back to fitness and he will be another good asset for us. It was pleasing to have Stefan Marshall back on the bench and fingers cross he'll now stay clear of injuries."
