East Midlands Counties League
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 30th January 2010, 3.00pm
Hard Work But Three Points
On a freezing afternoon this game hardly warmed the cockles of the hardy supporters who turned up at the Moat Ground especially the dour first half.
However, two goals in three minutes early in the second kept Gresley unbeaten run going but it was hard work.
Gresley manager was forced yet again to make changes with injuries biting deep into the squad. Paul Edwards had been drafted into the squad and Tom Land the son of Gresley legend Gil, was handed his first team debut after joining the club from league rivals Borrowash Victoria.
The first period had very little of note but what there was came from the home side. On 14 minutes a cross from the right by Gareth Langford picked out Royce Turville but the ball was just a little too high and the striker's headed effort went wide.
A minute later Mickey Lyons tried his luck from distance but his effort went over the bar. On 19 minutes Town's keeper Wayne Smith had his hands warmed as he pushed a shot from Jamie Barrett away for a corner.
The rest of the half became a stalemate with neither side carving out a chance.
The second half saw Gresley more determined and after eight minutes of the start they took the lead.
A move down the left saw Lyons touch the ball back for Turville just inside the area and he accepted the chance firing a low shot across the goal and into the far corner.
Seconds later Barrett went very close to doubling the lead but his shot flashed across the goal mouth and agonisingly past the far post.
Gresley's second goal was inch perfect. The home side was awarded a free kick out wide on the right taken by Lyons. The match sponsor Greenbank Group UK's man of the match laid the ball back to Carl Slater 22 yards out and the skipper looked up and saw a space around a yard wide in the crowded Gedling area and sent a torpedo like low shot perfectly through the gap and into the bottom far corner of the net with the visiting keeper rooted to the spot.
The only attempt on goal by the visitors came on 65 minutes. A corner from the left was swung into the area by Aaron Large where it was met by Ashley Dyce but his powerful goal bound header was superbly tipped over the bar by Gresley keeper Gary Hateley.
On 75 minutes Town were down to ten men when Robert Mawer went down injured in the Gresley area and had to be stretchered off the field. Unfortunately, the visitors had used one of their two substitutes but the second didn't appear so they had to complete the match with one man short.
That virtually ended the game but Gresley continued to press looking for more goals. Rob Spencer flashed a shot across the face of goal that scrapped the wrong side on an upright and then moments later Gresley substitute Edwards had a shot blocked and fellow substitute Stefan Marshall shot wide when in acres of space.
One last attempt on Town's goal came from Martin Gadsby but a good save from keeper Wayne Smith denied the midfielder from getting on the scoresheet.
Manager's View
"Today's game was a job done. It was very similar to the other night at Ibstock. We didn't really get out of second gear and I must admit that I hadn't appreciated until I just walked across the pitch at the end just what a difficult surface it was.
"The game was in doubt really. I was surprised when I looked out of the window this morning and hadn't appreciated that it was that cold. I rang Reg Shorthouse about something at midday and he said we've got a referee in at moment doing a pitch inspection which surprised me but when I got here, because we had a few lads in for fitness tests at one o'clock and I walked across the pitch and there were areas that were questionable but I think the right decision was made.
"It was a half decent game, a competitive game of football if not the type of football we're used to seeing with both sides trying to get the ball down and play.
"We were nervous at half time. We'd not really got going and we were disjointed in the first half and we told the lads to keep patient and the chances would come and fortunately we've got two goals close to each other and saw the game out.
"It's a huge concern (all the midweek games) even before today I said to Reg (Shorthouse) you can't call a game off at twelve o'clock with all the sun we had on the pitch even if it was borderline and in fairness I put a bit of pressure on Reg but at the end of the day the decision was up to the local referee that came in.
"He (the referee) said that in his opinion, although there were some areas of the pitch at twelve o'clock not playable, with the sun on it and it was four or five degrees I think common sense prevailed and we got the game on and managed to get it out of the way.
"I don't know if we've picked anymore injuries up. Richard Butler has picked a bit of a tight groin up now so we'll have to see.
"No, we didn't get going today. Our wide men, which are normally our strength obviously we are missing three wide men who would normally play. In fairness to Adam Betteridge and Rob Spencer they are not first choice wide men but they did a job for us the other night but they didn't quite get going today and there were one or two others who were not at the races today as well but we managed to see it through.
"Rhys Powell was named in the starting eleven and we knew he had a bit of a calf a couple of weeks ago and he'd recovered from that and he's not been in the sixteen the last two games and got his chance today and in the warn up it flared up again so at the moment we're not having the rub of the green in terms on injuries but we've just got to get on with things.
"We had Brian (Woodall) in for treatment today and Jordi (Gough) in for treatment, Tom Betteridge in for treatment. Obviously Rhys has added to that now and Matt Hill we may have to send him away to have a look at his knee to see if it's anything cartilage related. We were hoping he'd be fit today but he's not and the injury list is lengthening.
"People like Tom Land who has just joined the club at his own request has had the opportunity to come into the squad and has just been there for us. Paul Edwards has been there as cover and obviously we are working on next week as well because added to the injury list we have Jamie Barrett suspended for Long Buckby and Martin Gadsby cup-tied so it's not ideal. We could have probably put a very good team out of the players not available next week.
"It's too early to say if any of the injured players will be ready for Tuesday night against Heanor. I probably need another twenty four hours and I'll be talking to some of the lads tomorrow. But, of those injured tonight I'd be surprised if many of them make Heanor maybe one or two of them have a chance for the game next week but we'll have to see how they respond to treatment next week and strengthening work they've got.
"It is frustrating because we've only been back playing two or three games and to accumulate some of the injuries in two or three games four if you count the first Dawlish game, it's frustrating but it's part and parcel of the game and we're not moaning about it we've just got to get on with it but people have got to appreciate that with so many top people out, key players out that we are not, and this is not making excuses, going to play the flowing football that perhaps we've got the trade mark for.
"I'm hoping Tom Betteridge's injury isn't long term. He gave me a call and said he'd been for an x-ray and it's just bruising on the foot. When you've got bruising on the foot it's very delicate because it's very bony and obviously there isn't much meat around there to manipulate and to try and get the blood flow going to try and clear it away. He was a bit despondent because it could be a couple of weeks or a couple of months. In my experience with bruising on the foot a couple of months sounds extreme but it's a difficult one and hopefully it's sooner rather than later that he's back.
"It's ironic that you get Tom injured and then Jordi Gough is injured as well because he'd have been revelling in the opportunity down the left and the same with Brian (Woodall) on the right. He's done well for us this year and Rob Spencer hadn't had the best of first halves but in fairness to him he showed character and had a better second half but we need to get them back as soon as possible.
"We had Long Buckby watched on Tuesday - their game was postponed today - and I called a favour in from Stuart Cox, bless him, who helped us out in the last two round and he got somebody.
"We know a fair bit about Heanor and good friends Craig Hopkins and Glen Kirkwood who are really good lads. They are in the mix as one of our title rivals. It's coming down now to five or six and it's going to be a keenly competitive game and one that I'm looking forward to but I would have liked to have been looking forward to it with a bit stronger team.
"Having said that, that's no disrespect to the lads that have come in and have ground out two results on difficult surfaces and hopefully we can do the same on Tuesday.
"It was a good gate today and hope they haven't gone away feeling a little flat. Hopefully they've considered the conditions and people who have been here regularly and have seen the type of football we're playing and we're going to have off days and that's when you need the crowd behind you.
"We've been averaging on Saturday's two twenties, two thirties fairly regularly this season so getting to nearly two fifty for a league match on a Saturday is not bad. I'd have liked it to be a bit higher maybe a few more from last week come back but it's promising.
"We need to be realistic, we are not going try and do things over night and turn ourselves into a club who are getting massive crowds but in respect to the rest of the league they are very good numbers so I'm really pleased and hopefully we'll get a few more back on Tuesday."
