FA Vase 6th Round
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 27th February 2010, 3.00pm
Hawks Fly Into The Semis
Whitehawk came to the Moat Ground with the reputation of being 'the side to beat' in the FA Vase and it soon became apparent that that statement carried some truth.
In front of a magnificent crowd of 861 they soon had Gresley under pressure with some good passing football and threatened early on with Wes Tate firing wide on 12 minutes.
Four minutes later The Hawks took the lead. A slip by Gresley left back Richard Butler allowed a dangerous cross to be played into the area where Scott Kirkwood managed to get an overhead shot that flew through a crowded box to beat the helpless keeper Gary Hateley.
The visitors almost doubled their advantage on 24 minutes when Dan Davis found himself though on goal but his lob over the advancing Hateley went wide.
Whitehawk continued to have the better of the first half with Jamie Barrett having to clear a shot from Josh Jones over his own bar as the visitors pushed forward.
As the first half drew to an end Gresley began to get back into the game and in time added on managed to force a corner. Matt Hill swung the corner in from the left and the ball flew into the net over the heads of the defenders.
Gresley came out for the second half looking far more determined and soon had their visitors on their heels.
Just two minutes had elapsed when Brian Woodall fired a free kick that just clear the junction of bar and post.
Barrett then provided a tempting cross but Royce Turville couldn't get on the ball enough and put his volley over the bar.
Then, somewhat against the run of the game Whitehawk regained the lead with a superb move. A great pass sent Jones flying down the left who in turn picked out Tate in the box who calmly headed the ball past Hateley from close in.
To Gresley's great credit the tried to respond with Turville firing a shot that was blocked deep in the box but with the home side pressing forward looking to level the game once more they got caught flat once more.
Playing quite high up the field a pass tore the Gresley defence apart and Tate raced forward and expertly slotted the ball past the Gresley keeper.
The Hawks Richard Carpenter almost gave the score an unjust look about it when he unleashed a low shot from the edge of the area that Hateley, diving low to his left, did well to push around the post.
With time running out Carl Slater tried to reduce the deficit firing in a shot that Lloyd Anderson saved but it was the visitors who had the last say in the game with Kirkwood forcing another good save out of Hateley.
Manager's View
"I'm devastated in a footballing sense, with all that's happening in the world, that we just didn't turn up today and given a good account of ourselves.
"You've got to hand it to Whitehawk. I thought they deserved it over the ninety minutes. They are a fine side and do the simple things very well, defend superbly and are very organised and difficult to break down and obviously they caused us problems at the back.
"That said, I was very disappointed in the manner of the goals we conceded. The first goal Richard Butler slipped and it enabled their guy to get hold of the ball and put a cracking cross in and I thought the danger had gone and then he's pulled off an overhead kick from somewhere and he seemed shocked himself when he scored the goal.
"We had a bit of luck to get back into it and we said at half time that we were giving the ball away to easily particularly from our own throw-ins and their second goal has come directly from our throw in - given away far too cheaply, bang, goal and you get punished by sides of this quality.
"I didn't see the third goal, I was working out my substitution and I'm told we tried to play offside and they got through and scored a third and we really didn't have a look in after that to be honest.
"We had a few players playing with knocks, Gareth Langford, Jamie Barret and Chris Gray had been drafted in at the last moment. We also had Tom Betteridge and Brian Woodall starting a game for quite a while as well and I thought both especially Brian looked a little bit flat. Usually when Brian gets the ball you get off your seat but it seemed evident today that either he wasn't quite fit or they played him very, very well because he didn't create too much for himself.
"But, rather than look for excuses I'd rather say well done to Whitehawk because the deserved it. It's just disappointing because we had a massive crowd here today and a lot of people may have gone from here saying what's all the hype about Gresley because they aren't very good.
"We've played some great stuff and the only disappointing thing for me and the lads in the dressing room is that we've gone out not playing our brand of football and really didn't get going.
"The support was magnificent, absolutely fantastic and I'm really sorry that we didn't make a fist of it and grab a replay or sneak through to the other round. You could only imagine how many would be here if we had have gotten through to the next round but it was fantastic support, brilliant atmosphere.
"This cup run has come to an end and we know take a step back and have a look at it. It's certainly set us up from a financial point of view - not massive - but at the end of the day we are in our first season and we've got a good financial footing and we've got to make sure we don't blow that.
"Because we've got a little bit of money behind us we won't be throwing massive wages about because that's not about us this time. We cut our cloth accordingly to the level we are at.
"I'm pleased we've got a midweek game. I've just said to the lads that we are now out of the Vase and the next challenge is to go on a long unbeaten run or drop the minimum of points as possible because we are still in with a shout of the league.
"Anstey or whoever it was I'm just pleased we've got a game. We won't be looking at it as a given looking at Anstey's league position. We've got to make sure we have no hang over or headache and I've just said to the lads be disappointed tonight and drown your sorrows but the moment you get up tomorrow you focus on the rest of the season. We've still got lots to play for. We are still one of the two or three still in with a chance of the league and we've got the league cup semi-final so as disappointed as we are, I can't have a go at the lads. They've got us this far and I'm very proud of each and every single one of them but the dream is over until at least next year.
"I won't change things for Tuesday significantly. Obviously we had no game last Saturday to asses any injuries but I don't see the need to chop and change for the sake of it. We'll put what we believe will be our strongest side out. We aren't going to draw too many conclusions from today. I don't know if the occasion got to one or two and froze a little bit but we won't be making any rash decisions and we'll put the strongest side out as possible because we can't afford to chop and change and upset the balance.
"When we lost two games on the trot earlier in the season we then went on a good run of just one defeat in seventeen and that's the sort of form we need if we are going to win this league.
"The supporters have been fantastic and I've been overwhelmed with the support we've got and hopefully we can still make this season a success for them."
