FA Vase 3rd Round
The Moat Ground, Chirch Gresley
Tuesday, 14th December 2010, 7.45pm
Vase Victory For Gresley
Gresley won through to the next round of the FA Vase with a hard earned victory over West Midlands Premier side Bustleholme on a cold damp night.
Goals from David Blenkinsopp, Tom Betteridge, Mickey Lyons and Barry Woolley ensured that the Moatmen would now face one of the competition favourites Cambridgeshire based St Neots in the 4th Round at the Moat Ground with the game scheduled to be played on Saturday 22nd January.
After a fairly even first period Gresley made the breakthrough on 24 minutes when Blenkinsopp raced onto a long through pass and after calmly rounding visiting keeper Neil Page slotted the ball into the empty net.
A couple of minutes later Liam Hebbered almost doubled the home advantage when he cut in from the right and flashed a shot across the face of the goal and past the far post.
Hebberd was in action again troubling the Bustleholme defence but his shot was well blocked by Page but Tom Betteridge was quick to react and smashed the rebound home from the edge of the area.
Gresley scored their third goal on 38 minutes. Woodall was tripped as he cut in from the right but the referee Andrew Wood played the advantage and Lyons played a superb one-two with Rob Spencer before slotting the ball into the bottom corner of the net with Page beaten.
With 5 minutes of the second half played Bustleholme were given a lifeline when Woolley brought down Jordon Perks in the area giving Mr Wood no option but to give the penalty kick. However, it took three attempts to get the ball past Gresley keeper Darren Keeling.
Ryan Trumpeter chose to take the spot kick but it was a poor one that Keeling saved diving to his right. Visiting skipper Jamie Clewes then tried his luck but he hit the rebound against the base of the upright but Perks eventually managed to ram home the ball from 6 yards.
As was expected this goal seemed to give Bustleholme a lift and they began to put Gresley under some pressure with Connor Scott firing wide.
However, it was the home side who went closest to scoring again when Hebberd ran deep into the area but his shot was blocked by the legs of Page.
Gresley did score again just after the hour mark when the forced a corned which was taken by Lyons from the right. His flag kick found Woolley who powered his header into the roof of the net from the far post.
Bustleholme went close when Trumpeter's shot whistled past the wrong side of the far post but they did add another goal which unfortunately Gresley gift wrapped them.
With normal time up and the referee playing time added on, Blenkinsopp inexplicitly chose to play a very long backpass which was never going to reach his goal keeper leaving Keeling totally exposed.
Matthew Jukes gleefully latched on to the short ball and coolly slotted the ball into Keeling's unguarded net. Sadly for the visitors it was too little too late and the referee ended the game just seconds later.
Manager's View
"We got off to a great start in the first half. Obviously we were concerned about the length of time we'd been inactive and I guess every manager is the same. Certainly managers at our level and perhaps some above have found it difficult over the last three and a half, four weeks to keep the lads fit, to keep the lads focussed and to get the lads attending training.
"We've been lucky because Derby County have helped us out for a couple of Saturdays and we were able to use the DW Sports dome but we've struggled in midweek.
"You could see at the end of tonight's match that that little bit of fitness told for both sides to be honest and it petered out towards the end when I thought we could have gone on and maybe won convincingly.
"I was very disappointed with the two goals we gave away. We started off the game fairly solidly got our goal and we built on a twenty minute spell where we had a really good intense lot of pressure and we got three up and we just seemed to switch off then. They had one or two opportunities towards the end of the first half and if they'd got one (a goal) then it would have made things a bit more tense in the second half.
"We said at halftime that we needed to make sure that we started the second half well but we didn't and we started the second half in the same vein as we'd ended the first. They got back into the game with a penalty which was disappointing having had a run of clean sheets and then to give it away. Overall I'm pleased.
"Darren Keeling save the penalty but we were slow to react and we need to learn from that. I think Barry Woolley was the quickest to react and he'll admit he's not the quickest over the ground but he did well to get back in there and I think Bustleholme got to the ball first and they then hit the post and scored from the rebound. We had opportunities to keep the penalty out but fortunately it didn't cost us in the end because Barry (Woolley), who'd given the penalty away, went up the other end and scored the fourth. Darren did alright tonight. There are little bits we can improve on but what he did he did well for us.
"The header from Barry for the fourth goal was a solid one. We've been talking to him before the enforced break that we need him to be scoring more. He's getting in some good positions but we're not really getting the number of goals from him in those positions or nodding back for a goal scoring opportunities so it was pleasing for him to get that tonight and hopefully he can build in that. We've set him a target when he joined and he's just a little bit behind it at the moment and hopefully he can start chipping in with a few more.
"Bustleholme's second goal came too late but it did leave a bit of a bitter taste because we lost the second half so we were not too happy about that. I felt that for the last four or five minutes we gave the ball away cheaply, a bit sloppy and David Blenkinsopp tried a back pass from the halfway line and left us woefully short at the back. Their guy (Matt Jukes) deserved a goal because he worked tirelessly all night but after having a run of six clean sheets in seven it was disappointing to concede two sloppy goals. In fairness to the lads we haven't played for three or four weeks and there were elements of rustiness there.
"We have had to experiment with the back four tonight. Jordi Gough came back in after having a few weeks injured. Richard Butler slid across to centre half so it's hard to be too critical of the lads because we have had to swap things about die to the suspensions and illnesses we've got.
"The frustrating thing about being a manager or official of a club at this stage of the season when we're having this kind of weather. From my point of view I've always tried to plan that we are going to training or playing and that's what I said to the lads in the dressing room, have a little warm down tomorrow; we won't be training on Thursday this week so I want them to go out and do something themselves and we'll see what the weather brings. We'll have one eye on playing on Saturday and another on trying to find somewhere to train in the event of the weather being as forecast.
"It's the same next week. We're planning on playing at Glossop in the Derbyshire Senior Cup next Wednesday if possible. We would like the game to be on because we could take the opportunity to give players like Danny Holmes who is not available on Saturday's, to have a game. His suspension is now clear. Jamie Barrett who was suspended tonight is ill as well so we're hoping he can recover in time for the weekend. If not to get back in the side next week. Tom Land needs some pitch time as well.
"Gareth Langford could be out for quite a while due to a back injury and we have to assess if we need add to the squad because the qualities Gareth has as a central midfielder we'll have to have a look to see if we've got that in the squad and if not bring it in because Gareth has a back problem that may rule him out for at least four to six weeks and maybe beyond depending on the results of the treatments he's receiving at the moment. That's a blow to us to be honest. We knew about it after the Borrowash game. He's got to have some treatment because he's been told that it's almost like a slipped disc which could go at any minute. We want him back sooner than later because he's a big player for us and a very versatile player.
"I'm not too concerned that not many turned up tonight. I'm more focussed on things on the pitch obviously. But, if you compare the midweek attendances in general, that's probably on a par or slightly better than we would normally get. It's close to Christmas and maybe one or two were unsure as to whether the game would be on or not. It would have been nice to have hit two hundred which we have done a few times for midweek games.
"Obviously my focus is what happens on the pitch and who we'll face in the next round is important but not as important as the next league game on Saturday.
"The Vase continues into the new year. From our point of view we really enjoyed the competition last year, we really did but in some respects it put a little bit of focus elsewhere from where it was needed in terms of the league. I want to try and make sure that that doesn't happen this year but obviously as you go through round after round the level of interest increases. We are through to the last thirty two and although on paper St Neots are clear favourites for the tie it's going to be an interesting game because both clubs are in the top four of five favourites I'm told.
"Although it's nice to be still in the Vase our focus is on the league because that's the big one for us!"
