Derbyshire senior Cup 2nd Round
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 17th November 2009, 7.45pm
Gresley Slip Out Of The County Cup
The score line does no justice to the actual game as Gresley matched their UniBond neighbours Belper Town in this Derbyshire Senior Cup 2nd Round.
A late goal in the first half from Matt Telling and two late goals from Dean Oliver and Lee Stevenson gave the game a very flattering look for The Nailers.
Gresley started brightly with Rob Spencer heading Rhys Powell's free kick over the bar on 5 minutes in a fast and furious early period.
Belper then had two decent chances to open the scoring firstly on 10 minutes when Stevenson shot well over the bar when well placed and then 2 minutes later Tom Naylor emulated the attempt by also firing well over the bar.
The game was constantly being held up by some petty refereeing and this didn't help the flow of the game.
Gresley's Brian Woodall planted a header wide from Mickey Lyons's 19th minute corner and at the other end home keeper Simon Baldwin did well to deny Telling with a fine save.
On 28 minutes Woodall unleashed a fierce drive that Nailers keeper Martin Keaney somehow managed to push over the bar without knowing much about it as the ball rocketed towards him.
Gresley should have taken the lead a minute later when Royce Turville got on the end of a long punt from Baldwin only to be sliced down by defender Michael Harcourt. The referee didn't hesitate and pointed to the spot.
Woodall chose to take the kick but ballooned his shot well over the bar a miss that Gresley were to rue later in the game.
Nailers' keeper Keaney did very well diving quickly to his left to prevent Woodall's low shot from entering the net.
With four minutes remaining of the half Belper took the lead. Awarded a dubious free kick just outside the area Telling took a quick shot and with Baldwin and his defence still sorting themselves out the ball ended in the back of the net with the referee awarding the goal much to the annoyance of the Gresley players and supporters.
The second half began with a chance for Belper when Naylor headed fractionally wide but the half was spoiled by some very picky refereeing and a number of bookings.
Belper should have doubled the lead on 56 minutes when Anthony Wilson latched on to a route one ball but as he strode forward fired his shot embarrassingly wide of the mark.
On 70 minutes Gresley went inches from levelling when a pass from Carl Slater was superbly controlled by substitute Jordi Gough before hitting a low shot that skimmed the wrong side of the far post with Keaney well beaten.
Belper did double their advantage on 83 minutes when Dean Oliver collected a throw-in on the left beat a defender and fired a long-range shot past the helpless Baldwin and into the far corner of the net.
Things could have been even worse minutes later when Baldwin was caught well out of his goal near the corner flag. He lost the ball and the resulting shot looked to heading goalwards only for Coulson to race back and head the ball off the line.
Unfortunately, Baldwin was caught in no-mans land on 90 minutes and Stevenson lobbed the perfect ball over the keeper's head and into the empty net.
Manager's View
"I think the three nil score line is harsh on Gresley on reflection of the ninety minutes. I was disappointed at the score line, disappointed at losing our unbeaten record; the thirteenth game proved to be just too far. The challenge now is that we go on another long run. This time we go on a long run and try not to drop some sloppy points along the way.
"Over the ninety minutes we were delighted with eighty of it the way we played. Frustrated that the penalty curse has happened to us again and then the manner in which we conceded the first goal.
"A quick free kick. Stand on the ball as simple as that. Any player should know that and we've got to make sure that doesn't happen again.
"But for the most part we've competed well. I think the first fifteen minutes and the last ten minutes of the game the difference between the two sides showed.
"But in between I think we gave as good as we got. We got the ball down and played some good stuff. We were better in the first half and I must add that in the second half we didn't quite get going as well as we'd done in the first although we did get the ball in some good areas and created some decent half opportunities.
"Once they'd got their second goal you could see perhaps a little bit of fitness coming through. There were some tired legs out there.
"All three goals were sloppy. Jack (Coulson) has gambled the guy's turned him for the second and although it was a great finish and obviously we've been caught for the third goal.
"Overall there are more positives than negatives. I can't hammer the lads, there's a two league difference between them regardless of what people think of our squad and we've competed well tonight but fair play to Belper they've come and done a professional job.
"Brian Woodall's penalty miss is up there with one of the worst I've ever seen! To be honest that's not like Brian I know he missed one earlier in the season that cost us against Holbrook I think. It was a little bit sloppy but it's two he's missed in key games.
"I thought Brian was brilliant tonight and he's loving his football here. It is frustrating because he's one of those players who you can't criticise too much. We have a go at him sometimes and he'll hold his hands up and he knows he deserves it. We spend time with Brian one to one because he's a confidence guy and the guys love him and tonight in the first half he was bringing back the performance when we played away in pre-season against Belper - he was untouchable and there were elements of that in the first half.
"He stepped up for the penalty very confidently because he'd had such a good opening of the game and that's the Brian we'd love to see on a more regular basis and it's unfortunate he missed the penalty.
"I don't think any of the players wanted a three-nil result and least of all your keeper. Simon had a few hairy moments kicking tonight as Gary (Hateley) did on Saturday but overall you can't really hammer him for any of the goals.
"Everyone was at fault for the first one. He was busy trying to set his wall up and someone should have stood on the ball. The second one Jack (Coulson) got done - I thought Jack and Jamie Barrett defended well tonight - and he's smashed one into the top corner and Simon couldn't be at fault for that nor the third so it gives me food for thought for the weekend.
"What concerns me is the kicking of both goalkeepers at the moment; it needs a little bit of work. Some of it could be down to the surface but you didn't see their keeper on Saturday or tonight make those sorts of kicking errors yet again Simon is a confidence player and we'll get around him and around Gary and we'll decide on Saturday who gets the shirt.
"Mark Blount wasn't quite ready for tonight, Stef Marshall has pulled his back, Matt Weightman has a groin problem. On Saturday we were hoping they'd be fit but they're not and we may have got a few knocks tonight. We'll assess things at the end of the week and go from there.
"With Martin Gadsby it's been frustrating both for him and for us having signed him and obviously a couple of league games picked his knock up that took him off the pitch at Holwell and he's missed the last couple of games being cup-tied.
"We've got a little run of games that he's available for and we'll look at things. He certainly adds a dimension to the squad we lacked previously.
"We've got to be careful we don't chop and change for the sake of it. We do want to try and get as much of a settled side as possible and if players are playing well and unless there is a specific reason to do so we are going to try and keep a settled side but it doesn't help if you pick knocks and little niggles up as well.
"When I saw the FA Trophy draw I had a look at the fixtures and six out of the next seven we are at home. Our home form hasn't been that bad this season and hopefully we can make it count in the games.
We've got a tough trip on Saturday. They'll be smarting from the defeat at the Moat Ground earlier in the season. The scoreline was possibly a little unjustified but it's on their patch now and they will have identified some weak areas that they will work on. We'll go there licking our wounds after tonight the last ten minutes but fairly confident in the most part that we played some decent stuff.
"One of the surprising things about this league is it is very competitive. There is no side, possibly Dunkirk apart if you look at their games in hand they look to be the team to beat but Bardon has lost once recently, Heanor has lost recently although they were back to winning ways at the weekend and it's very tight in there and there are several teams who are in the mix.
"Our next target is to get to Christmas and be in and around the mix before Greenwood Meadows and the two Heanor games over Christmas. So if we can keep on the coat tails but to do that the next two games are vital.
"We've a massive one next Tuesday at home to Bardon who have had a great start to the season and it's a very important one away on Saturday at Barrow for both teams so it's very interesting for us at the moment. We've been on a decent run and we've got to start again."
