Pre-Season Friendly
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Friday, 30th July 2010, 7.30pm
Charity Wins At The Moat Ground
The game was played in memory of former senior steward Ken Hogg and the gate proceeds donated to The British Heart Foundation.
Gresley were without nine first team players giving a chance for reserve team and trialists to have a run out and the regular players available to get some valuable pitch time. Also included in the home substitutes was Ken's son Martin.
The opposition local neighbours Newhall United had narrowly lost the final of the Steve Hackett Memorial Shield two days earlier against Rocester at The Hawfield Ground and also made several changes which included manager John Warriner on the bench.
Gresley created the first chance with Oliver Hancock making a good run down the right but the final shot was blocked by The Blues keeper Dave Dow. Rob Spencer also had a shot saved just seconds later.
United's attempt on goal came on 12 minutes when Rich Draycott hit a stinging low drive from distance that Gresley keeper Gary Hately did well to hold on to.
The action swung to the other end and Spencer's cross from the left was a whisker from connecting with the head of Richard Hanslow running in at the far post.
On 20 minutes Gresley should have taken the lead when Lee Sutton beat the offside trap but his final shot was disappointing and went wide of the target with only the keeper to beat.
Newhall then forced two corners but didn't manage to capitalise on them and Alex Bolt, on for Hancock, almost made them pay for the lack of bite up front when he made a good run down the right before hitting a shot that was blocked at the near post.
Perhaps Newhall's best chance of the game came on 39 minutes when Jordan Dent made a fine run down the right but after cutting into the area his poor cross meant that the chance was wasted.
The second half belonged to Gresley but to Newhall's credit some solid defending, wasteful finishing from the hosts and a bit of luck meant that their goal was not breached.
Three very early second half corners saw Gresley defender Jack Coulson put a header wide and have a shot blocked as the home side pressed forward.
Constant changing of personnel on both sides led to the inevitable disjointing of the game but again it was Gresley who had the lion's share of the chances.
On 67 minutes a flicked header from Sutton fell to Spencer but with the goal beckoning unfortunately scuffed his shot wide.
Bolt then made a dash into the area but his shot was blocked by the keeper at the expense of a corner. From the flag kick Coulson again was unlucky to see his header fly the wrong side of the far post.
Newhall just couldn't seem to threaten the Gresley defence with just one attempted lob cleared off the line but the referee had already blown his whistle for an injury to a Blues player.
Gresley went agonisingly close to taking the lead when a whipped ball into the area was met by Spencer but his header clipped the top of the bar.
On 85 minutes Hogg came onto the pitch and was handed the captains armband by Hateley and he almost scored with his first touch. A free kick from the right by Dave Williams, fell to Hogg but his first time shot flew just over the bar denying him what would have been a fairy tale ending.
Manager's View
"Oli Hancock picked up a little injury tonight which we are a little bit concerned about because he's been one of the big plus points in pre-season. We wanted to get at least an hour in his legs again tonight.
"We told those remaining first team lads, the five or six we did have, any problems at all get off the pitch. Oli is a little bit tight in his groin and hamstring and hopefully a couple of days rest and we'll have a look at him on Tuesday.
"With having so many players away we were a little bit thin on the ground and I'd been approached to have a look at a couple of players so tonight was the ideal opportunity. They did alright but I'm not going to judge them with having so many personnel missing it would be harsh. There was no tempo or rhythm in our game tonight with many players playing in unfamiliar positions and playing with players they are unfamiliar with.
"It was a positive workout for the likes of Rob Spencer, Gareth Langford and Jordi Gough. Lee Sutton and Richard Hanslow got another hour in and the two centre backs. Jack Coulson has not long come back off holiday and Tom Land so it was a good work out for all. Martyn Rowntree was tremendous rolling back the years as full back.
"It depends on how much damage gets done in Ibiza. We have eleven of our potential sixteen missing tonight. Carl Slater has a wedding today so he's not in Ibiza. I've been on lads holidays and I know how much damage can be caused so hopefully they'll be fairly sensible about it because we want to get as much of the team out on Tuesday as possible that will start on Saturday but it will depend on what state the lads are in when they get back.
"To be honest I'm a lot further away from knowing my first eleven than I would like to be because of the little bits of disruption right at the end of pre-season. We've had lads picking knocks up, lads not being available and the fact that they've gone away.
"It's frustrating but I have in my mind, if everyone's fit, what my starting eleven would be or the first squad of sixteen but I've got to sit down with the two Martins and let them air their views but we're not going to be a million miles away and I know between us we would pick ten or eleven and all have them the same based on what we've seen in pre-season.
"But, then there are other things that come into it. Royce Turville for example if he was fit would start. He's not going to be fully fit so we've got to make the decision whether he makes the bench or not whether to come off. So there are lots of question marks at the moment and we've got about a week to try and answer those questions before we kick off.
"There have been a number of players who have impressed in pre-season. Carl Slater, Jamie Barrett some of the old traditional lads have done very, very well and you would expect that with the type and quality of player they are.
"Richard Butler has done well. He hasn't played as much as I would have liked him to have played in the position I want to look at him because he's had to cover us because we've not managed to put out a consistent defensive unit.
"Yes, a number of players have impressed but I think there is a lot more to come. You don't hit your peak at the start of the season but it builds up to around late September, October time and hopefully we can do what we did last season and go on a good run but the difference this season is that we want to get off to a good start in the league.
"I think our first three games last season were win one, draw one and lost one and within that we got knocked out of the FA Cup on a replay so it's important that we get a good start. We've prepared the lads as well as we can with the time available and we'll see how we go."
