East Midlands Counties League
The Riverside, Stoke Lane, Stoke Bardolph
Saturday, 24th October 2009, 3.00pm
Lyons At The Double
This game wasn't helped by a strong wind blowing the length of the pitch but by and large it was the visitors who better adapted to the conditions.
However, it was Gedling who went close to opening the scoring after just 9 minutes. Gresley defender Mark Blount attempted to head the ball back for his keeper Gary Hateley but aided by the wind the ball flew goalwards and it needed a good save from Hateley to spare the defender's blushes.
Gresley slowly got into the game with Slater firing wide but again it was the wind that helped a speculative long-range effort from Graham Epps whose shot whistled just wide with Hateley well out of his goal.
Mickey Lyons had the first of his chances on 27 minutes when Royce Turville held the ball up well before laying the ball back for the midfielder but his effort went wide.
Six minutes later Gresley's skipper Carl Slater warmed the hands of home keeper Scott Mills with a shot and minutes later Lyons once more made space but couldn't finish his move firing off target.
Gresley continued to make the better of the chances with the first half ending with another attack on the home goal. This time it was Turville firing just wide from Jordi Gough's cross from the left.
In the second half Gresley had the wind at their backs and began to take advantage. A cross from Slater almost caught home keeper Mills out as the ball flew fractionally past the far post.
On 51 minutes Gresley took the lead when Mills very poor kick found Brian Woodall who saw Lyons alongside him and he passed to the midfielder who launched a wind assisted 40 yard shot that flew into the net with the keeper still outside his area.
Gresley's lead lasted just over 10 minutes when Gedling were handed a goal by referee Mr Hume. A shot into a crowded area clearly struck Blount in the midriff but another poor decision by the official, unfortunately one of many throughout the game, saw the referee unbelievably point to the spot.
Blount was protesting so vigorously that the Mr Hume added to the visitors' anger by booking the defender. Gill took the spot kick and sent Hateley the wrong way for a thoroughly undeserved equaliser.
Gresley to their credit seemed to draw strength from this and pressed forward looking to take the lead once more with Woodall having a tremendous shot blocked in the area.
A long punt from out of the Gresley half almost caught Mills out as the wind helped the ball to bounce just in from of him and go over his head but also past the far post.
Minutes later Matt Weightman fired a screamer just wide as a second goal for the visitors looked odds on.
The goal almost came on 75 minutes when Turville got on the end of a cross from Blount but the header went over the bar. However, the goal was breached a minute later. Woodall hit a shot that was desperately blocked in the area, Turville hit the rebound which was also blocked but Lyons reacted quickly and this time rammed the ball home from close in for the deserved lead.
Gresley had two further chances to add to their score late on with substitute Adam Betteridge scooping Gough's corner from the right over the bar and Lyons cracking a shot that Mills spectacularly saved diving to his left.
Manager's View
"Mark Blount is adamant that he didn't handle the ball for the penalty. In fairness the distance we are from the bench it's difficult to say but Mark wouldn't lie and we asked him after the game and he's adamant it hit him in the nether regions and his hands were nowhere near it. In fact he's got a mark right at the top of his thigh that could prove that.
"It (the decision) was harsh but we have to accept it and we did accept it and obviously they put it away.
"It's been a hard ninety minutes and a ground out result. We've not played any particularly nice football today. Most times we do play some good stuff in patches but today I'm quite happy with that because it shows we can grind it out against a well organised and physical side.
"The wind was a huge factor in the game and if I'm honest I'm not sure if anybody appreciated how strong the wind was until the game got going.
"I was very pleased how we defended in the first half obviously we were limited attacking wise because with the wind because a lot of goal kicks and things from deep were coming back but I was delighted with the guys defensively and we said that it was going to be as tough a game in the second half because we could easily try to over play and let things run out.
"We tried to get the ball down and we tried to play. Mickey Lyons popped up and we are always criticising him this season for not having enough shots and he could have had five or six today. He got in some great positions and he stuck one in, wind assisted obviously, for the opener and he proved poacher for the winner in the end.
"Matt Hill wasn't one hundred percent fit. Again we've had a lot of late cry offs and a lot of late decisions on lads and we thought we'd have a full squad here today but it hasn't turned out to be the case. Matt at best would have had fifteen twenty minutes in him with a tight hamstring.
"We decided to start with Tom Betteridge as right back, something we've been meaning to have a look at for a while. JD (James Davies) has come back into the side and we spoke to him about it and we think that when he's got the ball he's not making the best use of it and felt as though he was giving it away a little bit cheap.
"We've had it in the back of our minds to have a little look at Tom Betteridge there for a while. He played a lot of his games last year in the Borrowash side in this position and he's played left back for us as well. He's a very capable defender and I don't think people give him credit for that. He played left back for us last week and he's played right back today and he's put in two very decent performances. Nobody's gone past him and he used the ball very well.
"Chris Gray got a phone call from Grantham saying they wanted him to come back. Chris doesn't think he's had enough football before going back and he spoke to them and they weren't having any of it and he went back. From our point of view we wanted Chris to stay but I've got no agreement with Grantham be it verbal or otherwise. The deal to sign Chris was nothing to do with Grantham he approached us and as far as I'm concerned if Chris wanted to stay here then Grantham could have argued all they wanted.
"This is the first time I ever had a club not get involved in a deal like this where you take a non-contract player on a loan basis and from our point of view if Chris had have decided to stay and Grantham had kicked off they had no agreement with me to take Chris back when they wanted.
"Jack Coulson, for example, when he came from Mickelover Dick Pratley said it was a gentleman's loan agreement and should he need him back I'd call him back and he did and you have to honour that
"We were disappointed that Chris got called back at such short notice having spent just two games with us and I know he's having a chat with them this afternoon to see how the land lies it's not dead yet.
"We've got seven days in for another player in that area of the park with a physique that we think will improve us in midfield area so if Chris does remain at Grantham then that's not too much of a problem.
"We'll have to have a look who is available for Tuesday's match against Radcliffe. Rob Spencer who was missing today is close. We'll have another little look at Stef (Marshall) and we'll see how Simon (Baldwin) has gone on today for the reserves. We may bring Simon in and give him an opportunity. Jamie Barrett who was away on holiday today - he'll be pleased we won the game today - will come back into the fold so we should have some extra bodies around.
"Adam Betteridge is unavailable through college commitments but we'll have a look at what bumps and bruises we have tonight and make our plans tomorrow for Tuesday.
"We've not practised penalties. If I'm honest we gave the players the night off on Thursday after the Grantham game but if the game on Tuesday goes to penalties it goes to penalties. We've got some capable guys in the side. We've not done some particular work on penalties as such - you're making me feel nervous now thinking about it! It'll be a tough game, the fourth time we've played them and we hope we can keep the run we're on going as we've not been beaten for a while now.
"The league is our priority but having said that I always say that the priority is the next game but there'll be no way come Tuesday that in the middle of that game I'll be thinking about the league game. We will win, hopefully, the next game in our path."
