East Midlands Counties League
The Moat Ground, Chirch Gresley
Tuesday, 16th March 2010, 7.45pm
Gresley Back To Winning Ways
The game started in sombre mood as a minute's silence was impeccably observed in memory of Gresley supporter Terry Eyre who sadly collapsed and died at the Moat Ground when the Vics last visited ten days ago.
Gresley manager Gary Norton made several changes to the starting line-up at St Andrews on Saturday. Rhys Powell, Jordi Gough, Tom Land and Stefan Marshall were all given the nod along with Rob Spencer, who'd missed Saturday's game due to work commitment.
Brian Woodall, Mickey Lyons and Richard Butler occupied the substitute's bench alongside Martin Gadsby.
The Vics started determined to unsettle the home side which led to the first booking after just 10 minutes.
However it was the visitors who went the closest to opening the scoring when former Moatman Sean Gummer fired over a cross-cum-shot from the right that Gresley keeper Gary Hateley needed to tip over the bar.
Neither side could get a grip on the game and although Gresley forced a couple of corners in succession they couldn't unlock some determined Vics defending.
On 27 minutes Lee Sutton eventually got the better of Tom Land and found himself in on goal with only Hateley to beat but he hurried his shot and wildly smashed his effort well over the bar.
Gresley took the lead at the end of the first half. A corner drilled in low from the left by Jordi Gough was met by Barrett who thumped the ball home from close in.
The second half was only a minute old when Barrett scored again. Another corner this time by Powell on the right picked out Barrett who powered his header past Vic's keeper Ross Whalin.
On 57 minutes a cleverly cushioned header from Marshall gave Tom Betteridge a glimmer of a chance but the final shot was well blocked by a defender.
Three minutes later Borrowash got themselves on the scoresheet with the easiest of goals. Another former Moatman Nick Ghislanzoni collected the ball and was allowed to run into the area unchallenged before poking the ball past Hateley at the near post.
That goal seemed to give the visitors a new lease of life as them began to put the homeside under pressure for the last half hour.
Borrwash had a good shout for a penalty when Land appeared to handle the ball in the area but the referee waved the appeals away.
However, it was Gresley who had the only chance of that period when Marshall found himself racing forward but his finish was not accurate and his shot went wide.
Substitute Brian Woodall, on for the injured Royce Turville, went close but he also fired over the bar.
Manager's View
"We've not ground a result out for a long time like that. There was not a lot of pretty football played from our point of view in fact we've not created much from open play and we've managed to fashion a couple of goals from set plays.
That's as hard fought as you're going to get. They didn't give an inch or ask an inch and kept plugging away right to the end.
"It was a very competitive game as we expected. We made some bold decisions in terms of keeping some key players out, players who have been very influential in the last few weeks. But we felt in fairness to the lads who have been on the fringes that they had the opportunity tonight.
"There were one or two shouts for penalties for them which I would have appealed for if it had been my team. There were a couple were the referee got spot on but there were a couple of questionable ones that you've seen given. The handball for example. Tom Land hasn't moved his hand and the guy going through has lifted the ball and I've sometimes seen them given. The grievance from the Borrwash bench was that the referee wasn't up with the play. To be fair to him it was a kick from the keeper and it's very difficult to get up there. Perhaps we were a little fortuitous with that one but the others I'd have been appealing more in hope than expectation.
"Tom started a bit sloppy but in fairness to him he's not had much football as of late except from the bench. I thought he got far too tight on his forward and gave some sloppy free kicks away. Once he'd adjusted to that he settled in very well. I've just said to him that he started off sloppy but finished magnificently and there were a couple of big headers towards the end that he dug out because they were loading us up at every opportunity.
"We've had to dig out some balls from deep in our box and there were a couple in particular that if Tom hadn't made them they'd have had an opportunity on goal so it was a good start for him and we're pleased for him that he's had the opportunity tonight. The way we've defended in the last couple of games I fancy my own chance of pulling on a shirt! Tom's headed things that he needed to and put a foot in when he's needed to and it's been a fairly good start for him.
"We're not getting carried away and neither will Tom. It's a good performance and we've seen all the makings of what he can do for us and that's pleasing.
"When Brian Woodall came on I still wasn't happy with the level of performance because we know what Brian can give. We had a good chat with all the lads that have been left out today and they've all took it in the right spirit and I've respect for the lads coming in for them more than anything.
"Royce Turville felt his groin in the warm up and under his guidance we decided to give it a go but he felt that if he kept going it would go so obviously Brian had an early opportunity to come on from the bench and he's played most of his football from the right hand side. We didn't want to change the shape of the side too much but we were conscious that John Guy had got pace and Rhys Powell hadn't played much football since November and in a foot race wouldn't be able to match John so we wanted to leave Rob Spencer there (a) because of his pace and (b) because of his workrate and we didn't feel Brian's workrate defensively would be of benefit up there.
"So, we put Brian up front and gave him the opportunity and he did some nice things but he's got to be a little more clinical and ruthless and get hold of the ball for us. He's low on confidence as are a lot of the lads because of the recent run we've been on but you can't keep good players down and I'm sure he'll be chomping at the bit for Saturday.
"Rhys Powell's appearances have been a bit hit and miss which has been unfortunate but you can see the quality he's got. Technically he's probably one of the better players we've got. He's suffered from injuries and a bit of unavailability due to his work commitments which you can't fault at this level and he's a good player.
"Matt Hill when he was given the opportunity earlier in the season got hold of that shirt and did very, very well and proved hard to dislodge. Now Matt's picked up his injury it's a chance for Rhys although he not as match fit has he hoped because he's not been playing too much but I thought today the time he was out on the pitch he put in a very assured display. There were one or two hairy moments early on with one or two miss kicks and stuff as he got into it but I thought he did very well for us.
"Chris Gray let me know this afternoon that he couldn't make the game as his wife was not well - they've just had a baby but it didn't affect things too much because we'd already decided to pick the team this afternoon and Chris was going to be on the bench.
"I had a word with Adam Betteridge a couple of weeks ago when we were on that good run as it had been hard to leave him out of that Whitehawk game. Unfortunately it was too late to bring him in when we knew Chris wasn't available. Jordi Gough went in there and has done a cracking job for us. Adam is a great player as well. Early in the season we were concerned defensively but he's put a lot of work in to do that and he's played some good football with his college side to keep fit so hopefully opportunities will open up but it's very difficult.
"We've tried to put together a squad with balance and cover and you're always thinking what injuries you might get, what players you might need to use, what players have versatility. Jordi gives us that he can play in several positions. So we'll have a look over the next few days and we are also looking at possibly bringing one or two in before the deadline at the end of the month.
"Forget the league, we're just taking each game as it comes and if we concentrate and pick up a few more points it puts us in a position. The amount of games we have in hand if far too big for us to worry about the bigger picture. We may well have been guilty of that in recent weeks and putting far too much pressure on ourselves to get points.
"We've got a massive game on Saturday regardless of what injuries we've picked up in tonight's game we go into that with confidence and if we can manage to get a win there then we'll look forward to the next game, the league cup semi-final so we're just looking at each game as it comes. It's very difficult because Bardon have got the points in the bag and they haven't had a blip all season.
"Before our last two defeats we were averaging 2.23 points per game and we forecast that we'd need 2.25 points to win the league. Bardon have gone on a cracking run and whenever they had a little blip they've picked it up with a load of wins so they're the team to beat and they've only got six games left.
"We are pleased with the win. It wasn't very pretty and we didn't create too many chances. I wasn't too concerned with that because if we'd created chances like the last two games we'd have probably missed them anyway!
"Just a word about Royce, We had seven days in for him last Friday from Coalville but unfortunately he's picked a groin injury up tonight so we don't know if he's going to be fit for the next game or so but he spoke to us at the weekend and says he's staying at Gresley. That speaks volumes for the guy and we're delighted about that and hopefully his injury isn't a big one because he's been a brilliant player for us while he's been in the team."
