East Midlands Counties League
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 12th December 2009, 3.00pm
Gresley Run Continues
Gresley continued their fine league form and pressure on the leading teams with a comfortable win at the Moat Ground. Goals from Brian Woodall and Martin Gadsby earned the Moatmen all three points.
Woodall soon tested the Blackwell keeper Jermaine Judson with hardly a minute on the clock and further pressure saw a long shot from Tom Betteridge well saved after 7 minutes.
Gadsby then forced another good save from Judson with a shot on the turn before Richard Butler ran through the midfield before firing a shot well over the bar.
The action was largely in the opposition half but Gresley were finding it difficult to make the breakthrough because of a mixture of dogged defending and some wayward passing in the final third.
On 34 minutes a corner from the right by Matt Hill found Jack Coulson but again the chance went as the defender planted his header wide.
The goal Gresley were looking for came on 41 minutes when a headed ball found Woodall who hammered a shot past Judson.
The second period started as the first ended with Gresley applying all the pressure and after eight minutes they doubled their lead.
An inviting free kick from the left by Hill picked out Gadsby at the far post and the midfielder powered his header past the keeper and into the top of the net.
Judson was by far the busier keeper and he did well to push a stinging low shot from Jordi Gough past the far post for a corner.
A rare attempt on the Gresley goal came on 70 minutes when Christian Harrison ran through the home defence but fired a low shot just past the near post.
The action returned to the other end with Coulson's header being well held by Judson and a good run down the left by substitute Stefan Marshall ending with a pass to Mickey Lyons who side stepped two defenders but put his low shot past Judson but also the far post.
Blackwell almost gifted Gresley a third goal on 78 minutes when a low shot from distance by Gadsby went through Judson's grasp but rolled agonisingly the wrong side of the upright.
The second attempt on target from the visitors came on 80 minutes when a well struck free kick from James Pearce from just outside the area clipped the outside of the post.
But as for most of the game the action returned to the visitor's end with Marshall shooting wide but with one minute remaining Woodall grabbed his second goal after making a fine run down the left before slipping the ball past Judson.
Blackwell's best chance came in time added on when Nick Hewer beat the offside trap only to put a dismal attempt past the far post with only Gresley keeper Gary Hately to beat.
Gresley almost added a fourth but Marshall's shot unfortunately went the wrong side of the far post.
Manager's View
"As far as I'm concerned we are just trying to win the game and if one-nil had been offered me I'd have taken that as long as we won the game.
"We know that Blackwell are a very hardworking organised side and we know from experience because we dropped two points against them and we were lucky to get a point out of that game with our skipper equalising in extra time. We are a little bit more aware of banana skins like this now.
"I thought the lads to a tee, every single one of them did a professional job today. I was getting a little bit frustrated on the bench in the first half. We had some good opportunities - Jordi Gough's chance I think I could have stuck that in! With all due respect to Jordi he may have snatched at it and that one might have settled one or two nerves because we did look nervy.
"We didn't move the ball with any tempo or at the tempo we wanted to. We were giving it away a little bit although we were creating on a fairly regular basis some decent half chances.
"To get the goal just before half time just settled us down a little bit and then to get a goal fairly early in the second half I thought we controlled the game after that and limited them to one or two half opportunities so we are just pleased with the three points and a clean sheet.
"At halftime I just wanted to confirm with the linesman who he gave offside. I personally thought he was onside but obviously I'm on the half way line and I just wanted to check it wasn't Jordi following it in that he gave offside against. The linesman confirmed that Martin Gadsby was offside when the ball was kicked. I'm not convinced that that was the case but I just wanted to confirm either way.
"It was hard to leave Gareth Langford out and we saw the disappointment on his face when we spoke to him before the game. It was one I slept on last night. Gareth has done a very able job for us in the last couple of games and tired at the end of both. He's not as fit as perhaps we'd like him to be since he's come back from injury.
"It was a very difficult decision and we'll be missing Martin Gadsby in some key games so we wanted to get Martin back in the team as he just gives us something. He scored a goal and had one disallowed and he gives us that aerial presence.
"The one thing we did say to Gareth was that although we knew he'd played in midfield at other clubs we'd yet to see him play in midfield prior to last Saturday's and hopefully he wants to fight and get back into the side from a starting point of view whether that be as centre back or centre midfield.
"The one thing we did say to him today was that he gives us a very real option in the centre of the park that potentially we weren't aware of because we'd not tried it. In the two games he scored a goal and did very well for us so it was a difficult one for us (to play Martin) but we made it in the best interest of what we felt was the right thing for the team in this particular game knowing that Blackwell are quite combative in the middle of the park and aerially he gives us that little bit more.
"Royce Turville came off during the Barrow game as a precaution with a bit of a calf knock, we thought it was a calf, but he called yesterday to say it was still a little bit tight and he was still a little bit concerned about it after he'd been out for a run. We had him in early today for a little bit of treatment and we gave him a little test. He could have probably started but we erred on the side of caution as we didn't want to risk it because he's a big player for us and fortunately we've got away with it today.
"Rob Spencer was due to play in the role Jordi Gough played but he fell out of a tree this morning. I was awakened by a text message this morning, it was Rob just indicating he'd just fallen out of a tree and he's going for an x-ray later so we gave Jordi an opportunity up there and he did okay. He put himself about a bit but clearly he hasn't got the qualities in terms of holding the ball up that Royce has got but he works hard.
"We did consider whether to start Stefan Marshall or Matt Weightman up there who we pulled back from the reserves after hearing about Rob Spencer's news but we feel that those two players are better suited in a two. But, having said that Stef has gone on today and got hold of the ball which we've want him to do if he does play up front, and he's caused a lot of problems. Matt Weightman has put himself about as well so it was a decent day all round."
