East Midlands Counties League
Lenton Lane Ground, Lenton, Nottingham
Tuesday, 24th August 2010, 7.45pm
No Lark In The Meadow For Gresley
Any Gresley supporters who ventured to Nottingham on a damp Tuesday evening would I'm sure agree that on the night the best team won.
The writing on the wall came with less than a minute on the clock when a move from deep in Meadows' half was allowed to race down the pitch unchecked and end with Ryan Miller firing past Gary Hateley even though the keeper did get a hand to the ball.
Matters went from bad to worse on 30 minutes when Jordan Prance doubled his side's advantage which gave Gresley a huge mountain to climb which, unfortunately, they were unable to do.
After being rocked back onto their heels by a disastrous start Gresley began to carve out a few chances but the finishing seemed out of sorts and the chances went begging.
Jack Coulson fired over the bar from a Mickey Lyons corner and Oliver Hancock volleyed beautifully but the rising ball again flew over the bar. Hancock managed to get on the end of a quick Lyons free kick but his shot was deflected away from danger by some solid and resolute home defending.
The visitors almost got on the score sheet on 26 minutes when a Lyons cross found Adam Betteridge on the left and his shot beat keeper Paul Farnsworth but skipper Kieron Walker was backing up and cleared the ball off the line and straight into the keeper's arms.
On 30 minutes some more sloppy defending gave Greenwood what was in the end an unassailable lead. With the ball not cleared Jordan Prance with his back to goal was allowed to turn and pick his spot beating Hateley from the edge of the area.
Chris Atkins then went close for the home side flashing a shot just over the bar and then a long punt from Hateley saw the bounce beat the defender and although Royce Turville managed to get his head on the ball it was not powerful enough and went into the keeper's arms.
Liam Hebberd, making his Gresley debut as a replacement for Hancock, was involved in a good move almost with his first touch. He received a short corner from Brian Woodall and returned the ball to Woodall who then put in a cross that Coulson should have netted with his header but amazingly the ball flew past the far post.
With seconds of the first half remaining Woodall flicked a header into the area which Turville collected but his shot on the turn went wide.
If the travelling faithful thought they would see a revival in the second half similar to the one against Holwell on Saturday the were to be bitterly disappointed because instead it was the home side who could have added two or three further goals as Gresley pressed forward and frustratingly insisted in playing the long high ball instead of keeping the ball on the deck and playing the football the supporters and management know they can play.
The first chance of the second period came within a minute of the re-start when Miller was left in acres of open space totally unmarked but his shot was poor and went wide. Atkins then hit a shot that Hateley had to tip over the bar.
Greenwood were well on top as Gresley found it difficult to cope with the two wide men and it was a cross from the right that almost produced dividends for the home side. The ball flew over the area and with the Gresley backline static Miller ghosted in at the back post but his header was well blocked by Hateley but the ball didn't go over the bye line and was retrieved and fired across the face of the goal and Miller was inches from scoring with a touch at the far post but a deflection took the ball out for a corner.
Jordan Prance then had a good chance to add to his tally but he scuffed his shot wide when very well placed.
Unfortunately, Gresley seemed unable to unlock a very solid defence and resorted to launching long high balls which were meat and drink for the big lads at the back and with the ball coming back the visitors looked very vulnerable to a quick break and from one such break it looked like Jordain Blair would take advantage but was denied by a fine block from Hateley.
The very rare moments of good Gresley play came when they played the ball to feet and it was from one such move that they were awarded a free kick for a late challenge on Lyons who took the kick quickly to Adam Betteridge whose cross was a little too high for Hebberd who headed over the bar. On 71 minutes the same players almost duplicated the move but unfortunately for Gresley with the same result.
With Gresley players all pressing forward they were almost undone once more when a route one ball from Farnsworth saw Miller race forward but his shot took a deflection and out for a corner and with 10 minutes remaining another quick break down the left ended with a cross to the unmarked Blair over on the right but a poor finish saw his shot fly well over the bar with the goal at his mercy.
Gresley had one more chance as time ran out when substitute Lee Sutton headed Lyon's freekick towards the net only for Farnsworth to push the effort away for a corner. But, to be honest a goal would have been more that Gresley deserved on what was a disappointing performance that quickly needs to be improved upon when the face Quorn in the FA Cup if they have any hopes of progressing in the competition.
Manager's View
"All credit to Greenwood. They battled for ninety plus minutes tonight and made us look, particularly in the second half, a very ordinary side.
"It's frustrating because away from home last year that probably cost us a lot of points. The warning signs have been there in previous games. Saturday for example you can't start the game in the manner that we did, so far off it defensively as a team.
"Forty seconds on the clock and we've given the ball away very cheaply up front and they've come through midfield on the break and put a ball through my centre halves that you could get a bus through. You want one of them to clear it out but none of they did and he put it in via Gary Hateley's hand.
"Forty seconds and you're on the back foot against a side who will run all day long and will press and harry all day long and before we know it we're two nil down.
"The way we defended tonight and one or two in particular were unrecognisable and we've got to get to the bottom of that quickly and identify whether we can fix it with the players we've got or have we got to address it by bringing fresh faces in.
"We had three gilt edged chances in the first half. They've had two shots in the first half and scored with both and we've had five or six opportunities three of which - I was never the best of players in my time but I'd have hoped to have put them in and many of the supporters would have as well they were that clear-cut chances.
"Their keeper made some good saves in the first half and at half time and because we had made some chances and tried to play bits of football to create those chances, I was very confident at half time and I tried to instil belief in the lads and tried not to be too negative about the situation we were in we'll deal with that at training on Thursday how we got into that situation, we were still trying to be positive that get an early goal in the second half and try and build on that and try and get something out of the game.
"But, unfortunately we seemed to panic a little bit in the second half. Some key players who you would want to try and get on the ball and try and get us going and try to play our football panicked as well and went long. That's not the way we're conditioned. If we are in a physical battle with sides and look to scrap with sides we're not going to win.
"We try and play football and even if we're losing two nil I still want us to try and move the ball around and create chances even on difficult surfaces like tonight.
"There's no shortage of effort from the lads in there but obviously things weren't dropping for us and in fact Greenwood created some really good chances in the second half on the break as we were obviously pressing at the other end and it could have been even worse for us in the end.
"Fair play to the Greenwood lads, I've congratulated every single one of them and they deserved it on the night because we didn't turn up."
