East Midlands Counties League Cup 2nd Round Replay
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 27th October 2009, 7.45pm
Gough Is Just Foursome
After the previous 300 minutes that these two well matched sides had played each other recently which ended all square, no-one would have even thought in the wildest dreams that this league cup replay would end with the scoreline that it did.
Jordi Gough ran riot scoring four goals and was ably aided and abetted by goals from Brian Woodall, Royce Turville and a brace from Matt Weightman as Gresley put Radcliffe Olympic to the sword.
In a fast and furious opening Gresley keeper Simon Baldwin did well to block a viciously struck shot at his near post in the first minute.
Olympic were down to ten men after just two minutes when an awful tackle that was both late and over the top by Drew Hatton on Chris Gray gave the referee Mr Hopton no alternative but to show a straight red card for a challenge that could have seriously injured the Gresley midfielder.
However, this seemed to spur the visitors on and they took the lead on 8 minutes when a shot from Wes Burke from the edge of the area beat Baldwin.
The lead lasted barely two minutes as Gresley hit back. Turville did very well holding the ball up on the edge of the area before laying the ball back for Gough who slammed the ball home.
Gresley then began to take charge and looked like scoring with every attack. On 15 minutes Turville beat visiting keeper James Mountain to the loose ball and lobbed the ball towards the empty net only to be denied when a defender raced back to clear the ball off the line.
On 16 minutes Gresley took the lead when a sublime cross field 60 yard diagonal pass from Richard Butler picked out Woodall racing down the right who fired across the keeper and into the far corner of the net.
Weightman then went close on 26 minutes when he headed Gough's corner just wide but the home side increased their advantage a minute later. A shot from distance was fumbled by Mountain and Turville reacted and stole the ball and despite close attention from a defender he slipped the ball into the empty net.
Gresley were in complete control and Weightman and Woodall went agonisingly close to adding further goals but just after the half hour mark Gough once more found the target. After good work from Tom Betteridge he squared the ball for Gough to slam the ball home.
Almost on the halftime whistle Gresley added their fifth when Weightman slipped Gough's corner home from close in.
The second half began as the first had finished with Olympic being pushed back on their heels with Weightman flashing a shot just wide of the far post with only five minutes gone.
Gresley did add the sixth on 52 minutes and it was the result of some great football as Turville once more held the ball up superbly before laying the ball off for Gough to finish off.
The visitors were being carved open with regularity and it looked as if Gresley would notch up double figures by the end of the game.
Goal number seven came on 58 minutes when Turville made a good run down the left and picked out Weightman who scored his second goal of the evening.
To their credit Olympic, who could easily have crumbled completely under the Gresley pressure, showed they were not finished yet with Westcarr hitting the side netting.
On 62 minutes the dangerous Westcarr got his just reward for his hard work when he beat the Gresley offside trap before slipping the ball past Baldwin.
Olympic could have added another goal seconds later when the home defence were caught napping and Aaron Korol allowed to shoot but this time wide of the far post.
Gresley continued to create chances with Woodall curling a shot that Mountain expertly clawed out of the top corner of the net and Gough pouncing on a loose ball only to push his shot wide.
Woodall was denied again by Mountain as the keeper pushed the thunderous low shot away for a corner. Tom Betteridge should have added another goal when he put substitute Mickey Lyon's cross wide when well placed.
Mountain, who kept the score down to single figures, once more denied Woodall with a good save diving to his left and pushing the ball away for a corner.
Gough finished the game off in spectacular fashion with just about the last kick of the game. The man-of-the-match made a great run down the left and finished it off with aplomb firing the ball past a static Mountain to add Gresley's goal number eight.
Manager's View
"I'm delighted and if you can't be delighted after a performance like that when can you?
"The obvious talking point was the sending off so early in the game. They had a man sent off against us at their place in the first league game and they were the better side after that and finished the stronger side.
"We've always struggled against ten men so we still had a job to do and we went a goal down as well which wasn't the best of starts.
"But with eleven or twelve men on the pitch the football we played in the first half I don't think it would have made much difference if I'm honest. That sound like I'm being over confident but it was fantastic.
"For a spell of twenty minutes we moved the ball really, really well and we were really clinical. The second goal Rich Butler has played a 60 yard switch ball to Brian Woodall and he tucked it away brilliantly. That's what we need him to do just hit the target with clinical accuracy like that. It was a fantastic twenty minutes.
"It's very difficult when you go down to ten men. It was such an open game in that opening phase after the red card. Jamie and his staff will have a view of the red card. The referee was close to the spot and from where we were standing he's dived in one footed granted. It did look a little harsh but the referee was just five yards away and he got his red card out straight away so I suppose that will be the talking point of the game.
"The score line does not reflect the difference between the two sides, we've had a good night tonight and they've had a tough battle going down to ten men so early but over the four games I said to them after the game with all due respect I'm glad we haven't got to face you again. I even checked to see whether they were still in the Vase should we be fortunate to go through because we've had four cracking battles against them and from their point of view tonight will be one to forget.
"Where's Jordi (Gough) pulled that from? Absolutely fantastic. I've been talking to Martin (Rowe) how good Jordi is as a youngster. That one was for Hemmo (Tony Hemmings) who didn't rate Jordi on the left wing and we've just got him back - it's fantastic. The level of performance bearing in mind that this time last week it was his first start against Grantham I believe.
"Jordi came on at Radcliffe in the first tie which we drew three-three but I don't know where he's pulled that from. He's been fantastic all night and very, very clinical and I'm delighted for him and it was almost like signing a new player because I didn't know when we were going to get him back.
"We'd had all sorts of people seeing him but he got off his backside and went to see a chiropractor and it seems to have done the trick fingers crossed!
"I've not thought about the game on Saturday because we're very much taking each game as it comes at the moment because there is so much team news like unavailability's, is Chris Gray going back to Grantham have we got any more injuries hopefully we haven't. We took Royce (Turville) off near the end - he was magnificent tonight.
"My only complaint about the officiating tonight was that they (Radcliffe) were literally ripping the shirt of Royce's back in the first half and the ref was giving nothing. Royce was fantastic when under pressure on the ball and even when he was hauled to the ground he was pulling passes off.
"On the back of that performance there will not be too many changes. Carl Slater got a nasty knock on his ankle but the adrenalin got him through. He got kicked by one of their players and we'll see how that shapes up. We'll give him the night off on Thursday as a reward.
"It was a great result for us but we need to keep our feet on the ground because many a time you've seen sides have big results and then fall flat on their faces the game after.
"I'd have rather this would have been a league game if I'm honest but it puts us through into the quarter finals but it's gone now, it's done and dusted and we can't reflect on it too much because we've got a big game on Saturday.
"Simon (Baldwin) played tonight and I want it widely know that I spoke to him at length on the phone about what I believe are areas of improvement for him. His attitude has been spot on and I've explained to him that he is very much part of the plans.
"If we are to achieve anything this season we need two top drawer goal keepers pushing each other all the way and Simon has done okay tonight, he's done very well for us and that'll give him some confidence.
"I've said previously that every position on the pitch we now have competition for places even though we are still carrying a few injuries and that's a good position for a manager to be in. We are hopefully reinforcing the squad a little bit more, later in the week with a player with attributes we don't have in the squad at the moment and I've just said to the lads that we need a squad because we've a big batch of games coming and it could be a defining part of the season with some important cup games coming up and a nice run of league games as well.
"Inevitably we are going to lose one or two players along the way that happens all the time. At the minute we are managing to keep people ticking over but there were some disappointed faces from those not involved tonight but we picked a side that we believed could win on the night because we thought they'd got certain strengths in areas of the pitch.
"We were pleasantly surprised not to see Alex Haughton on the team sheet - suspended tonight. That was a big miss for them and a big boost for us because he was very influential player going forward for them.
"But you saw in spells of the game, when we dropped off a little bit, what sort of football they are capable of. They are going to cause a lot of upsets in the league and they're going to be right up there.
"We are a little disappointed that we're not a little higher in the league. When you look back at the points we've dropped - we dropped two points at Blackwell, the only game Radcliffe had lost before tonight was against Blackwell so there are surprise results out there.
"Radcliffe beat Gedling Miners Welfare on Saturday and looking back at our defeat at Gedling, we had ninety percent of the game and didn't manage to put the ball in the net like we have tonight. It's frustrating but you get results like that.
"We are tucked in the league and we said that if we could get to Christmas tucked in behind the leading pack then we'd be happy with that because obviously the league isn't won in October so if we're in touching distance that's great.
It looks like Heanor Town, we tipped them earlier in the season, who started slowly are now on a right good run at the moment. Greenwood Meadows are right up there and we play those sides around Christmas time so we've got to make sure we keep churning points out. We've got a big game on Saturday and that's the thing we're focusing on now."
