East Midlands Counties League
Leicester Road, Ibstock
Saturday, 23rd October 2010, 3.00pm
Stalemate At Ibstock
Looking at the state of the pitch this game was never going to be one for the footballing purists and so it proved. A boggy and uneven surface due to the heavy rain earlier in the day proved to have a large say in the proceedings.
A debut goal from Gresley's Danny Holmes levelled things after going a goal behind early in the second half with Ibstock's first attempt on goal.
The game started under threatening skies and Gresley went close almost from the kick off with Liam Hebberd firing just wide but it was the home side who had the best chance to take the lead on 8 minutes. A good cross from the left from Dean Smith found Craig Leonard in space but he should have done better heading the ball well wide of the target.
It was then the turn of Gresley's David Blenkinsopp to go close but after struggling to control the ball on the sticky surface he hit his shot straight at United keeper former Moatman Tom Allan.
Gresley were pressing looking for the opener against some stubborn and resolute defending with Rob Spencer firing in a low shot that Allan did well to hold on to but the best chance of the half for the visitors came on 22 minutes.
A corner from the right by Hebberd eventually came to Mickey Lyons who fed the ball to Barry Woolley but the big defender blazed his shot over the bar from the edge of the area.
Gresley went close once more at the end of the first half when Spencer hit a thunderous shot that looked to be heading goalwards but a deflection took the ball over the net.
United took the lead within four minutes of the second half starting. A long punt up field was not dealt with by the Gresley backline and Leonard was on hand to slip the ball past keeper Gary Hateley.
Gresley deservedly got back on terms on 56 minutes. The visitors were awarded a free kick 20 yards out and debutant Homes hit a terrific low shot that beat Allan and nestled into the bottom corner of the net.
Blenkinsopp made a good run down the left, cut inside and let fly but his effort flew past the far post.
The homeside to their credit were still trying to go forward and their efforts almost paid off. A free kick by Chris Lewis picked out Mark Chamberlain but his shot was a wild one and went well wide.
Spencer then had the chance to give Gresley the lead on 81 minutes when Blenkinsopp's cross from the left found the hardworking winger but unfortunately his header from the edge of the box went straight into the midriff of the grateful Allan.
Gresley were then very unlucky not to have been awarded a penalty. The referee Mr Smith had managed to spot the slightest of touches and indeed some imaginary in the Ibstock box awarding free kick after free kick as the Gresley players legitimately challenged for the ball. However, on this occasion he managed to miss the most blatant two handed push in the back of Woolley as he got himself into a shooting position to deny the visitors a clear opportunity for a spot kick and possibly all three points.
That rejection of the penalty appeals was almost followed by United taking the lead with just a few minutes remaining of the game. A back pass to keeper resulted in Hateley making a very poor clearance passing the ball to Lee Bailey but Hateley made up for his dreadful mistake by then blocking the shot superbly.
Manager's View
"It was a frustrating performance for differing reasons. We knew it was going to be a tough place to come. They were difficult conditions in terms of a heavy pitch and very bobbly that clearly doesn't suit our style of football - when you're running along with the ball and it stops dead and bobbles all over the shot it's frustrating because we do want to try and play our football. A lot of the time it breaks down when you try to chip a ball down the line and it bobbles in front of you.
"You can't do anything about that as a player or a manager. It is frustrating but these are the sorts of games where you have to roll your sleeves up and come and grind a result out. Unfortunately, we've got a draw and not quite managed to get the three points that we desperately wanted.
"Despite creating six or seven very good opportunities in the first seventy five minutes of the game, clearly for the last five or ten minutes when we put Barry Woolley up there to try and get the winner we were leaving ourselves a little bit open at the back and taking unnecessary risks and in fairness Gary Hateley has made a very good save to get out of the mess he'd got himself in when he controlled a back pass and gave it back to their forward and he made a save after that as well and we could have lost it at the death having dominating the game in terms of chances for the most part.
"Their keeper has made some good save and we've been a bit wasteful. On another day, one of those chances goes in and we'd be stood here having scraped a two-one or three-one saying brilliant another three points for us, we didn't play particularly well but you've got to come away and get three points when you've not played well and we didn't do that today.
"The best chance of the first half fell nicely for Barry Woolley and rather than take a touch, which he knew in hindsight he should have done, and then stroke it. David Blenkinsopp had a chance that their keeper Tom Allan saved well and Tom made another good save a little later in the first half. And then Rob Spencer met a fantastic ball from the left and the form Rob has been in if he'd have even miss hit it or glanced it either side it would have been a certain goal for him from that distance but Tom managed to hang onto to it.
"You've got to hand a lot of credit to Ibstock. They worked very, very well and defended very, very well and as I keep saying I've got every respect for every team in this league as the players have. We've been in a battle today and unfortunately it's not quite worked out. We haven't been at our best purely because our best is when we are getting the ball down and popping it about and that's clear for everyone to see.
"If people want to have a pop at us for doing that we can take it but it is frustrating on a surface like that. Every side in the league have got to come here and try and grind results out. We decided to go a certain way and try to play our football but it hasn't quite worked but as I've said with those big chances we had on another day we might have won it. It was a good game.
"Up to their goal, they hadn't had a shot on target or a shot of any description. I was a little bit frustrated with a couple of mistakes we made over on the left hand side and the sloppiness leading up to the goal. They put the ball in from a wide position and the guy connected with it very well and I don't know if Gary Hateley thought it was going wide because he made a motion as if it was but in fairness to him, if he had reacted the ball was struck well and I don't know if he'd have got down to save it anyway.
"You're always nervous then when you've conceded a goal if you had most of the chances. Fortunately we managed to get back in it but they dug in very well and we couldn't manage to break them down.
"There was a blatant penalty and the linesman nearest to us his face said it all when Barry Woolley was pushed in the back and yet the referee is giving loads of free kicks against us for little pushes in the box. I lost count of how many free kicks he gave against us when we were trying to load the ball in there. If he can spot one little push from our player when there is twenty players in there pushing and shoving but he can't see two hand in the back of Barry when he's bearing down on goal.
"It isn't the referee's fault that we haven't lost the game but if given you might get a penalty that might scrape you the win. Having said that I'm not going to speak about the referee to make excuses because it was a very good battling game and credit to Ibstock for their part in it.
"Jordi Gough missed the game today because he reported to training saying his knee was a little bit sore. He's got a knee problem and also compensating on his hip and is linked with his back. It's frustrating because he's been away for two weeks and we got him back last week and we thought we'd got a fit fresh player on our hands but it's a carryover from the knock he had before he went away.
"Royce Turville went to the hospital yesterday because he had a problem with a finger he fell on awkwardly during the friendly at Shepshed. It's been giving him some jip over the last couple of weeks and every time he knocks it he's in some serious pain. So, he went to the hospital yesterday afternoon and they decided to put it in plaster which I found out yesterday evening.
"We looked at the plaster and there was no way the official would allow him to play with that on even if we tried to cover it up and pad it a little bit. Unfortunately the plaster is on for a couple of weeks. Royce is very frustrated because he's stop-start at the moment but hopefully it won't be long before the plaster comes off and we can get him back playing again."
