FA Cup 1st Round Qualifying Replay
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 14th September 2010, 7.45pm
Gresley Derailed at the Moat
Despite a superb goal from Carl Slater Moorlands managed to hold on to their lead to win this replay and with it a bye into the 3rd Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.
Slater's goal gave the home side hope of possibly a late come back after going behind by two second half goals from Scott Lowman and Tom Garrick.
Gresley started brightly with Moorlands keeper Mario Ziccardi having to make a save from a low drive with hardly a minute on the clock.
Moorlands, looking a better side than the one that played on Saturday, had a chance themselves on 14 minutes when Ben Good hit a shot on the turn that Gresley keeper Gary Hateley held comfortably.
Gresley went the closest to scoring on 29 minutes when a good passing move between Richard Hanslow and Mickey Lyons ended with Hanslow flashing a shot past Ziccardi but also past the far post.
For the second consecutive match Gresley were denied another dead certain penalty. A dash into the area by Lyons saw the midfielder bundled to the ground when in on goal but amazingly the referee Mr Uptpn waved away the appeals much to the annoyance of players, management and home supporters alike.
Again it was Gresley making the chances with Gareth Langford being put through but his shot was cleared off the line and the ball then looped up into the beaten Ziccardi's arms.
Moorlands took an early second half lead when a speculative shot by Lowman from distance beat Hateley and nestled in the far corner of the net.
Gresley hit back with Lyons putting substitute Royce Turville through but the final shot took a deflection and from the resultant corner kick from Lyons Jamie Barrett skimmed the top of the bar with a header.
Turville went close again on 65 minutes but the unlucky striker again saw his goal bound shot take a deflection that took the ball over the bar.
Lady Luck seemed to be absent for Gresley but she was not to blame for the second goal for the visitors on 73 minutes. A dreadfully short back pass from Barrett left Hateley terribly exposed and Garrick managed to toe-poke the ball past the keeper and into the net.
Gresley were given a slight glimmer of hope a minute later when Slater struck a superbly curling shot that left Ziccardi clutching at fresh air as the ball flew into the far top corner of the net.
Despite Gresley piling pressure on their visitors it was Moorlands who almost or rather should have finished the game. Garrick had two chances in little more than a minute first blazing a shot over the bar from very close in and then after a good run down the right having his shot blocked at the near post by Hateley.
Gresley had one more chance to try and salvage something from the game with Rob Spencer having a shot deflected but it was to no avail as the referee blew his whistle to end the game sending the visitors into raptures only to be spoilt by visiting goalkeeper Ziccardi exchanging insults with the Gresley supporters behind his goal and having to be dragged away by his players and home players, not something wanted at any level of football.
Manager's View
"I'm absolutely gutted, absolutely gutted. A cracking cup-tie over two games with no inch asked or given. Two very contrasting styles or attempted styles. I say attempted because we tried to play a little bit on Saturday but it wasn't quite happening for us.
"But tonight in ninety minutes you've seen a real good quality honest open cup tie fought every inch of the way by two sides and unfortunately probably the thing that sticks in my mind is the costly error that's gifted them a two-nil lead,
"When we did peg them back straightaway afterwards it was just that little bit too much for us. We tried to carry on playing football, we tried to get the ball down and get it wide to Oliver Hancock -who came on and made a big impact - and get it into Royce Turville but everything dropped for them in the box and they defended very, very bravely and managed to hang on in the end but I do feel a little hard done by over the two games.
"At the end we loaded the box and things weren't dropping quite for us and you get games like that but whilst I'm not happy with some of our play tonight in terms of some of the mistakes and little errors and the way we gave the ball away cheaply, the one thing I can't fault any lad out there tonight is the effort. It was absolutely magnificent effort, desire and commitment. The players are dead on their feet in there. They've given their all and you can't ask for more than that but what we've got to do is quite quickly cut out some of the sloppy play that puts us in situations.
"You can't do it against sides from leagues above. They punished us and their style is very similar to a lot of the sides in the league they play in and we've got to learn to deal with it and not, when not under pressure, give silly goals away.
"Winning tonight had financial implications for both clubs and good luck to Lincoln Moorlands who have won that. From our point of view we've come through two rounds of the FA Cup and we've played four games. It's not our focus this year but clearly the incentive of going through a couple of rounds was brilliant and we managed to do that but to have this tie to play for before Saturday and the prize money at stake was great but then the news that if Ilkeston Towns situation isn't sorted out in the next couple of weeks the eventual winners would have a walkover and the potential prize money as well so it was huge for whichever club won it.
"But, we haven't based our season on and budgeted on that sort of income from competitions but it would have been a huge boost to us if we'd have managed to get it but we haven't so it's pointless talking about it now.
"As disappointed as we are, and I'm genuinely gutted, we've got to pick ourselves up and that's what we're here for. It would have been nice to have gone through and keep that little buzz around the place for the FA Cup but the league is our bread and butter and if the lads can put that level of effort in home and away and that's the key doing home and away over the reminder of the league season then we will not be too far away.
"We've got to tidy up on one or two things. I've been thinking for a few weeks of trying to add a bit of quality in the areas I'm concerned about and I'm pleased to say that before the weekend that we should have one of those signings sorted and that's pleasing. I've got a verbal agreement with the player concerned and we should complete things tomorrow night.
"We are also in detailed talks with another key player that would be huge for us because there are things I'm still seeing out there in games, although we're playing some good football, I'm still seeing week in week out and I've got to address them.
"We will be talking to one or two individuals about little things that we are seeing week in week out. The same sloppy things, we're not clearing our lines, we're not getting distance on our defensive headers so giving the ball away too cheaply.
"If players are doing that occasionally then fair play but when you're doing it fifty percent of the time it need addressing. We haven't quite got the quality in the side we want in certain areas and we're trying to address that. We always give people a chance to improve and if they don't then it's someone else's turn."
