East Midlands Counties League
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 26th March 2011, 3.00pm
Gresley At The Double
Two second half goals from Brian Woodall and Rob Spencer gave Gresley three valuable points at the Moat Ground against a hard working, physical Thurnby Nirvana side. It was made all the sweeter by hearing that the league leaders Borrowash Victoria had lost at home to Hinckley.
Gresley manager Gary Norton was forced into making just one change to the midweek starting line-up with Matt Hill, making his first start since suffering what became a long term knee injury against Holbrook Sports back in October, coming in at right back. Jamie Barrett moved into the central defensive slot owing to Barry Woolley missing the game due to a slight groin injury collected at Hinckley.
For the first half hour or so both sides cancelled each other out with neither carving out a chance to be noted. But then the Moat Ground was lit up with when Jordi Gough hit a thunderous volley from 30 yards that left Nirvana keeper Chay Carter rooted to the spot only to see the ball hit the underside of the bar bounce down on the line and out of the box.
Gresley had one further chance as the first half drew to an end when Danny Holmes's well placed free kick on the edge of the area brought out a good save from Carter.
The home side began the second half with Barrett hitting a shot on the turn that Carter did well to save but on 51 minutes Gresley took the lead in somewhat fortunate circumstances. A ball into Nirvana's area caused a mix-up between Wes Gibson and keeper and Woodall was on hand to pick up the loose ball and ram it into the empty net.
Four minutes later Nirvana had a glorious chance to level when Alvin Jarvis raced forward but Gresley keeper Darren Keeling saved well with his legs to snuff out the danger.
Gresley increased their advantage on 70 minutes with a fast flowing move. Tom Betteridge's great run down the left ended with a tempting cross that Spencer headed home powerfully at the far post.
Nirvana, to their credit, didn't sit back and accept defeat they pressed forward and were inches away from reducing the deficit when Jarvis's shot from distance fizzed just over the bar.
Gresley had one more chance before the end of the game when a long punt up field from Keeling caught the Nirvana defence napping. Substitute David Blenkinsopp found himself in space but his final shot went well over the bar.
Manager's View
"Thurnby were a really hard working side and we knew they would be from when we played them at their place.
"We are doing our homework at the moment on all the sides trying to be a fully prepared as we can. We had them watched when they beat Borrowash in the semi-final of the league cup. They've got pace; power and they are very physical as well when they need to be. They are a really, really good side so we knew we'd be up against it today.
"The first half we knocked it about superbly well and we really did play some fantastic football on a difficult surface that was a bit dry and bobbly but you're going to get pitches like that at this stage of the season.
"We played some lovely football and pulled them about but we didn't have anything to show for it though. Even in the second half we started in the same vein got the goal and all of a sudden the ball became like a hot potato and we couldn't pass more than three or four passes and at times we were giving it away a bit cheaply so it became a battle then.
"Fortunately we got the second goal we needed. Rob Spencer popped up just before we were about to bring him off for Royce Turville and got us that all important goal and hoped it would settle us down a little bit and be able to get the ball down and start moving around again like we did in the first half and prior to going into the lead but unfortunately remained a battle. But, having said that we showed good battling qualities when we needed to in that second half.
"I said to the lads in the dressing room that for over ninety minutes you played some great stuff for fifty and had to battle for forty so if we can do that a little more often in the remaining games then we are still in the mix.
"We were one-nil up and Darren Keeling made a very good save which was probably their best sniff of goal. He didn't have much to do but when called upon that was as good a save as you'll see. The penalty, I was having a bit of a laugh with their manager after the incident. I'd be livid if it had happened to me and I hadn't have had the penalty. You've seen them given and you've seen them not. The four has tried to use his experience and felt somebody behind him and he went down suggesting he was pushed. You've seen them given but fortunately for us it wasn't.
"We are very pleased with Matt Hill and are really pleased to have him back in the squad. I have to admit that a few weeks back that he'd be out for the remainder of the season. Then, all of a sudden, he declared himself available for training and played in a reserve game and he's come from there. It's great to have him around the place because he's one of the really nice guys. He's there all the time at training week in week out and he's done really well today. There was a little ten minute spell in the second half when he went a little ragged, but so did some of his team mates but he went on and got his composure back and went on to complete the ninety minutes which was very satisfying for us.
"It was a big blow for us not to have Barry Woolley but that's why we wanted to bring an extra defender in for instances like today. We've had an injury and Jamie Barrett who has played very well for us at full back over the last couple of weeks slid back across like he hadn't been away. Lee Barrow continued the good start he's had with us and showed his experience. We'll assess Barry in midweek and have a look at him at training if he's available. He took a little bang in the last ten minutes at Hinckley on his hip and when you get to the age he is those sorts of things take a little longer to recover from He won't like saying that but hopefully he might be in the mix next Saturday.
"Aaron Dillon wasn't here today which was a shame because we had him in our minds to start. He really does deserve an opportunity. I know he didn't come off the bench on Tuesday when I wasn't there but he's chomping at the bit and he really does deserve an opportunity. Rob Spencer had some good chance the other night. He worked very hard as usual but missed some good chances by all accounts.
"Unfortunately, Aaron was on a training run yesterday he went over on his ankle so he had to go to the hospital to have an x-ray because it doesn't look too clever. He's got to go back on Wednesday and hopefully we'll find out it's not too serious."
