Pre-Season Friendly
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 27th July 2010, 7.45pm
Honours Even At The Moat Ground
Gresley concluded their penultimate per-season game at the Moat Ground with a draw against Midland Combination Premier club Nuneaton Griff.
The home side welcomed back Gareth Langford and Jack Coulson into the squad and Billy Nugent was given a start.
In a proverbial game of two halves Griff, who had the better of the first took the lead through Dave Barnett and early in the second half Brian Woodall levelled for Gresley.
Griff took the lead again with five minutes remaining through Steve Flavell only for Richard Hanslow to level once more almost on the final whistle.
The first twenty minutes or so was a cagy affair with neither side carving out a chance of any kind but on 23 minutes the visitors were the width of the bar from scoring. Nuneaton were awarded a free kick 22 yards out taken by Alex Naughton but his very well taken shot cannoned back off the bar.
Two minutes later it was Gresley's turn to go close when Oliver Hancock served up an inviting cross from the right but Lee Sutton planted his header just wide.
Sutton had another chance minutes later when he beat the Griff defence only to fire his shot straight into the midriff of keeper Paul Grears.
For all the visitor's possession they could not capitalise on the fact and it was Gresley again who carved out a chance. It was Hancock on this occasion who fired straight at the keeper.
Griff took the lead as the first half drew to a close when Barnett somehow got his foot to a ball in the area and managed to slid it past home keeper Gary Hateley.
Gresley managed made several changes at halftime bringing on several players and it seemed to give them a lift as they began to take control of the early stages and the pressure paid dividends after five minutes of the restart. Woodall made a good run into the area and hit a shot that Grears blocked but Woodall reacted and although he miss hit his shot the ball ended up in the back of the net.
Woodall again tested the keeper from a free kick which Grears could only block and frustratingly the ball eluded two Gresley players running in.
One of the substitutes Jordi Gough was having an effect on the game and went close after making a good dribbling run into the area only to fire wide.
A corner from the left by Mickey Lyons found Woodall who then put over a cross the fell agonisingly short for Jack Coulson at the far post and the ball hit the defender at the top of his chest.
Griff tok the lead again somewhat against the run of play. Langford was beaten for pace down the left but Jamie Barrett closed in to assist the Griff player appeared to stumble onto the ball. The ball then seemed to squirt out to Flavell who managed to push the ball past Hateley and into the far corner of the net.
With only minutes remaining and to Gresley's credit they didn't give up and kept pushing forward with Chris Bate having a shot blocked by the keeper and from the resultant cross Gough putting his header over the bar.
Just as it looked as if Gresley would have to settle for another home pre-season defeat as the ninety minutes were up, they managed to get back on level terms. Griff were caught flat when two Gresley players were trotting back from an off side position but Richard Hanslow ran through onto a pass but his first attempt was well blocked by Grear only for the striker to react quickly and slam the ball home much to the annoyance of the visitors.
Manager's View
"I was really frustrated with the first half and to be honest I can't think of too many positives to come out of it which on the back of four very promising performances going forward - still a lot of work to be done at the back.
"Going forward we've played some great football in the four previous friendlies. Three of those games were against opposition above us.
"It seemed tonight, and I know a lot of the guys are going away on Thursday, that three or four of them had their minds on the big weekend they've got ahead and it was so frustrating to see.
"There was no fluidity, no communication we were giving the ball away for fun and it was very patchy but credit to those who remained on the pitch and the changes at half time the five who came on made a huge contribution and it was like chalk and cheese.
"The second half performance was a lot more controlled going forward. Lots of good stuff getting the ball wide to wingers who where far further up the pitch because they had two full backs behind them who were talking to them and allowing them to push on and the whole shape of the game looked better.
"But, the frustrating thing was that although we played better in the second half we still gave a really silly goal away and that's starting to become a concern now so lots of work to do.
"In fairness to the officials they tried to keep the game flowing and they've shown common sense at times as well. Jack Coulson should have been sent off and in anything other than a friendly he would have so I've no complaints against the officials tonight.
"In the first five or ten minutes of the second half you could see the change. We tried to get the ball down and we were moving it about to both sides. Ollie Hancock was a revelation in the second half. We never got him the ball in the first half as he was sat on Jack Coulson's toes for much of the time.
"Jordi Gough was a huge improvement on the left and that's no disrespect to the lads who played in the first half but we made some changes and they were all positive and the second half was encouraging.
"But my concern is that we've got to start doing that from the start of games. We are trying new systems out with three games left and half the squad missing for one of those games we've now got to be thinking about the side that we're going to put out on August 7thin just over a week's time.
"We were approached about the game on Friday and those players who are not away will get some valuable pitch time. Ideally I wouldn't want the lads going away at this stage. It would have been better two or three weeks ago but I live in a real world and it's not easy at this level of football for the players to get time off work but I wish I was going with them to be honest but I don't think my wife would be too happy with that!
"Royce Turville went out for a light run on Sunday and could still feel the calf problem so we are getting a little concerned. He's come in tonight for some treatment so maybe the Shepshed game in a week's time he may take some part in that but we may err on the side of caution and just give him that extra rest to see if he'll be available for August 7th . If he is he going to be a little bit short of match fitness and match sharpness so at the moment he may have to come off the bench.
"It's not a massive concern because Royce didn't start the season at all last year through injury and ended up picking five trophies up and ended up having a really good season. It would be ideal if he had his fitness up but we can't do much about it. We'll be patient and not rush him back because if we do there is a chance it could go altogether so we'll see where we are next Tuesday and we'll asses him then and go on from there.
"I've got some commitments from other managers that should Gary Hateley pick an injury up there are favours I can pull in if I need to as there are a lot of keepers sitting on benches out there. If we need to bring a keeper in we will do but sometimes it's easier said than done so I hope I'm not put in that position but if so we'll be working hard to try and make it happen but I would like to have a keeper like Simon Baldwin at the club and have two genuine first team keepers would be ideal but it's difficult to do that because lads want to play.
"We've got a couple of young keepers who we're going to have a look at but if they are not quite at the level we need them to be at we will continue looking over the next few weeks."
