East Midlands Counties League
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 21st August 2010, 3.00pm
Late Show Hands Gresley The Points
Gresley produced a late show to take all three points in their East Midlands Counties League encounter against Holwell Sports at the Moat Ground.
It took goals from Brian Woodall, Carl Slater, Jack Coulson and Rob Spencer to send the home faithful home smiling.
For the first 60 minutes of the game Gresley didn't look anywhere like the title favourites they surely are as they looked lethargic and failed to find team mates with their passes and attacks breaking down in the final third and Sports thoroughly deserved their 1-0 halftime lead.
However two early second half substitutes gave Gresley the lift they needed with both Royce Turville and Oliver Hancock having an almost immediate impact on the game.
Gresley started very poorly and it was Holwell who opened the scoring with the only attempt on goal. Defender Tom Land was caught on the wrong side of Ash Palfryman and the midfielder was allowed to cut in before drilling the ball past home keeper Gary Hateley with just six minutes on the clock.
Lee Sutton then had the chance to score an equaliser eight minutes later but after some good work from Richard Hanslow who provided the cross the Gresley forward could only fire wide of the near post. Sutton then went close again just after the half hour with a header that he put wide of the target.
With the easily forgettable first half almost at an end Gresley thought they'd levelled things when Jamie Barrett powerfully headed Adam Betteridge's free kick home but the defender had strayed a half yard offside and the linesman held up his flag to deny his moment of glory.
Within thirteen of the second half starting manager Gary Norton made two changes that seemed to turn the game in his side's favour bringing on Royce Turville and Oliver Hancock for Lee Sutton and Richard Hanslow.
Gresley seemed to go up a couple of gears and soon had Holwell on the back foot with Jordi Gough firing in a low shot that keeper Paul Burton did well to hold onto at his near post and Slater getting his eye in with a shot that flew over the bar.
The equaliser came on 67 minutes when Hancock cut in from the right and hit a shot that was handled in the area giving referee Mr Jackson no option but to point to the spot. Woodall took the penalty kick hitting an unstoppable shot straight down the middle of the goal giving Burton no chance.
The transformation was incredible with Gresley looking a different outfit and it looked just a matter of time before they added to their tally.
Turville looked almost back to his un-defendable best holding the ball up with a defender trying to get at the ball but to no avail and on 72 minutes the popular striker managed to get onto the end of a superb pass but the keeper made a brave block to prevent the goal.
The goal the Moat Ground faithful craved for came on 73 minutes and what a goal it was. A corner from the right by Hancock was only half cleared and fell to Slater 35 yards out who hit the most deliciously curving shot that left Burton rooted to the spot as it hit the back of the net at the far post.
Holwell looked deflated and Gresley were looking dangerous with every attack. Gough went close and Turville's goalbound shot was deflected.
A free kick from Woodall picked out Gough whose fearsome volley was blocked and deflected for a corner. Woodall slung in the flag kick from the left and Tom Land at the far post headed tha ball back into the area where Coulson was waiting to loop his header into the net.
The hardworking Spencer charged down the keeper's kick but as the ball headed towards the open goal a defender managed to clear the ball off the line.
Spencer then turned provider with a superb pass to Turville who flashed his shot wide of the far post and Spencer once more tested the keeper's resolve hitting a low shot that Burton did well to palm away for a corner.
Hancock fired a low cross into the area that Woodall diving managed to get his head on the ball but not hard enough to beat the keeper.
The icing on the cake for Spencer came in time added on when he was put through by Woodall's pinpoint pass. He got the ball under control raced into the area and slammed the ball past the keeper for a well deserved goal.
Manager's View
"Holwell made it very difficult for us for the first hour and fair play to them. It was a sloppy start from us and we'd been deliberating all week whether to patch a back four up with the players we had missing or go with a back three with players who had regularly played in that role last year.
"I'd said to the press in the build up to the game that we were not quite happy with how we are looking as a back three at the moment and we hadn't had too much time to work with it. But we went with it and Tom Land has come back into the side and he's probably got caught a little bit for the first goal but that can happen. It wasn't entirely his fault - it was a bit of a long ball route one.
"We just didn't really get going today at all in the first half and that early goal gave Holwell something to hold on to and they defended very, very well for most of the first half. They were winning the first challenges and picking up the bits and bobs, the second balls the third balls and we just seemed a bit flat footed. We got among each other at half time and tried to sort it out.
"We tried to be positive, change formations from a three to a four, we switched Brian Woodall over to the left, over to the right and we tried a few things to try and have a positive impact on the game tactically but fortunately the introduction of the substitutions seemed to work and gave us that bit of a spark coupled with maybe Holwell tiring and perhaps it was a harsh scoreline in the end four-one.
"From our point of view it's more important that we got the three points having not played well and missing key players.
"I think four-one was a bit harsh on them because they defended very, very well and put a good shift in. Thier workrate off the ball was phenomenal but we didn't quite have the quality to maybe capitalise and add to the scoreline but I was happy with just the three points and the fact that we got four goals was a bonus to be honest because we didn't play that well.
"We did have some chances towards the end when in fairness to Holwell, they were very, very tired and perhaps lost some shape.
"There were some positive signs from the two strikers. Richard Hanslow has done very, very well for us and I'm liking what I see. He's inching towards fitness. Richard said at training on Thursday night that perhaps he had fifty minutes in him at a good tempo and I thought there were some positive signs from him today. He used his strength and held the ball up well and used it quite well. Maybe one or two bits on the final delivery especially with his left foot, he's got into some good positions but obviously at the moment he's not quite as fit as he could be.
"There is a bright future for him here if we can keep hold of him. We've already had an approach for him this week who have probably looked at the first two starting elevens and Richard has come off the bench. I've spoken to him and I want to keep him here and I hope he wants to stay here although he hasn't' had a run of games for us. Get him fit and we've got a very good player on our hands. He's a local lad and we very much hope he stays.
"Lee Sutton has worked hard as he always does. You always get one hundred and ten percent work rate off Lee but I felt that with the likes of Oliver Hancock and Royce Turville on the bench having come through training this week. Particularly Olly to inject that quality from wide areas and Royce needs some pitch time.
"You could see towards the end he was towing a caravan because he hasn't got too many minutes under his belt in recent weeks but you saw what he gave us when he came on. He's pinning defenders and they aren't getting such clean headers because Royce is all over them even though he's only sixty percent fit he caused problems and we are pleased to have them both come through that last sort of ten, fifteen minutes or so.
"Tom Betteridge who out of all the players Tom and Mickey we've missed big style today. We could have played Matt Hill at right back but he's had too much party time in the last week maybe and Chris Bate who also can play full back has a bit of a thigh problem but he could have done a job for us for ten or fifteen minutes but may have aggravated it.
"We were a little bit light today. Richard Butler may not have played today because he picked a bit of an ankle knock up and had some treatment on Thursday so regardless of the fact he wasn't here today he may well have not been fit enough to have played so we'll have to asses that one and then he's out for two games suspension from last year.
"We've also got Liam Hebberd in the mix having served his three match suspension he incurred from last season so we've got some cracking options and headaches to have and I've just said to the lads in the dressing room that we need each and everyone of this squad if we are going to achieve anything this season.
"The start has been okay at the moment but if we can go to Greenwood and get a positive result because they are a good side then it will be a good start for us but if we don't we'll have to look at things again.
"I won't be looking at the Quorn game until after Tuesday but if we start like we did today against a side from two divisions above we could find the hole we're in a little bit too big for us to get out of.
"Fortunately, we dug in there today and we got a positive response from the lads in the second half and we managed to get three points."
