East Midlands Counties League
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 2nd October 2010, 3.00pm
Gresley Go Nap Against Ellistown
Gresley were caught napping and not for the first time this season found themselves a goal down very early on in the game
A swift move down the right on 7 minutes by Robbie Johnson resulted in a cross for Jack Lewis to gleefully slot into a gaping goal.
Two minutes later Ellistown should have been two up when Lewis beat the offside trap and with the home defence well up the pitch raced unchallenged towards the Gresley goal but the finish was dreadful putting his effort well wide.
Gresley levelled on 11 minutes when Mickey Lyons did well to push the ball out to Rob Spencer who then smashed the ball into the far corner of the net from just inside the area.
Lyons himself went close when he controlled the ball, turned but saw his shot flash by the far post. The tricky midfielder was in the thick of things again just after the half hour mark when he was brought down by Perry Johnson inside the area for what looked like a harsh penalty. Brian Woodall took the spot kick and although he struck it with some venom the visiting keeper Ben Muskin chose the right way to dive and did well to push the ball away.
Gresley took the lead with a route one ball. A long punt up field was controlled by Lyons who then fed a pass through to Royce Turville who smashed the ball home from 12 yards leaving the keeper rooted to the spot.
Lyons was in complete control of the midfield spreading passes out to his team mates and it was one such move that led to another Gresley chance. Lyons picked out Turville who returned the compliment but the final shot went straight at the keeper.
Man-of-the-match Lyons was once more at the heart of a superb move this time involving Spencer. Lyons found Spencer who returned the ball to Lyons who in turn slipped the ball to Woodall and the end result was a well controlled side footed shot around the static keeper and into the bottom corner of the net.
Gresley extended their lead on 57 minutes. Turville's pass found Lyons and his quick thinking fed Gareth Langford the ball and the midfielder strode forward and hit a stunning long-range shot that found the far top corner and left Muskin grasping at thin air.
As much as the first penalty was a harsh decision Gresley had a nailed-on penalty shout waved away on 71 minutes by the referee after Spencer had clearly been hacked down in the area.
Three minutes the hard working Turville was replaced by Richard Hanslow and the youngster almost made an impact when Gresley keeper Gary Hateley took a quick free kick straight down the middle of the pitch and with the Ellistown defence still readying themselves Hanslow raced onto the ball but with a defender racing up behind him and the keeper closing in he slipped the ball wide of the post.
Ellistown went close to reducing the arrears a minute later when Lewis received a superb long pass and hit a volley that Hateley did well to palm away for a corner.
Hanslow then went close to providing a chance for fellow substitute Tom Betteridge. After not giving up on what seemed a lost cause he won the ball on the bye line and fired a low cross into the box that Tom Betteridge was within a fraction of connecting with.
Gresley were inches away from scoring their fifth goal when Hanslow turned cleverly and hit a cracking shot that hit the underneath of the cross bar bounced down but unfortunately also bounced out.
However, the young striker was not to be denied again. With three minutes remaining a good shout for a hand ball in the Ellistown area seemed to cause panic in the defence and Hanslow not being side tracked by the appeals continued forward slipped the ball past Muskin.
Manager's View
"The way we start games has got to be better and we've got to be tighter. Today we had what is becoming our customary poor start and it's a concern. It's not the first time we've found ourselves a goal down within ten minutes and it could have been two but we had that little bit of luck!
"We tried to play the offside and Matt Hill, who is usually very reliable, started the game in a very sloppy fashion and after seven minutes I'd got the numbers out and he was ready to come off because I couldn't afford us to carry on that way.
"It was so unlike Matt but fortunately he got back into the game and we scored fairly early which was important and there was only one side in it from then in terms of going on to win the game.
"Mickey Lyons was involved in most of the goals and when he plays like that he's fantastic. He was on form today, his first touch was good, his passing was very good and all we want is for Mickey to give us that sort of performance more often than not. It's that word consistency individually and collectively and that's what we're after. Mickey put in a great shift today and we were very pleased with that level of performance and he was backed up with a few other guys who played quite well.
"We'll have a chat after today about Tuesday. We've obviously got lads that we need get some fitness. It's a game I want to win but it's not a priority to us so we'll have a little look and see what injuries and knocks we've got and react accordingly. We've got a couple of lads who aren't available Matt Hill and Rob Spencer through work commitments so we've got to make changes anyway.
"We've got one or two lads coming back from injury who came on as subs today and we may well start one or two of those guys but we won't make too many changes for the sake of it.
"David Blenkinsopp took a kick on the foot that resulted in the penalty last week and he's been struggling with it all week. He can run on it but there is some discomfort there and he's not got round to striking a ball yet so if there's discomfort there while he's running, he's going to struggle striking the ball.
"David may be fit for Tuesday if we chose to use him but the preferred option would be to give another week to get right ready for next Saturday. It's a difficult one, we think it's just bruising on the bone and it is very painful and it depends on how high your pain threshold is before it causes you problems. It's nothing too serious and hopefully within a few more days and maybe a week he'll be back fully fit."
