Midland Alliance Football League
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 10th September 2011, 3.00pm
Cup Hangover For Gresley
Gresley suffered a case of cup hangover as they slipped to their first league defeat at the Moat Ground as the resumed their league campaign against Boldmere St Michaels.
After 120 minutes at Shirebrook on Wednesday Gresley looked somewhat lacklustre except for a few periods in the second half as Boldmere demonstrated what a good side they are.
Tom Law gave the visitors an early lead which was cancelled out by substitute Mickey Lyons in the second half only to open up the final third to allow Tom Overfield to score a deserved winner.
Gresley started well and could have opened the scoring on the 3rd minute when Ashley Day fired in a low shot at the near post which beat keeper Chris Gibson but a defender managed to block the ball on the line. That was the only chance Gresley would have again until late in the first half.
Boldmere slowly began to take control and went into the lead on 7 minutes with a fortuitous cross-cum-shot from Tom Law that curled over keeper Gary Hateley, who appeared to be unsighted, and into the far top corner.
Four minutes later Boldmere was a fraction of an inch away from doubling their tally when Jozef Jakab's toe just failed to connect with Law's cross from the right at the near post.
Despite getting into some good positions the homeside were not taking advantage of them and with the Boldmere defence and midfield winning nearly every ball Gresley found those few promising moves cancelled out. Indeed, the visitors looked the more likely side to add to the goal count.
Gresley did get the ball in the net late in the first half when Jermaine Gordon managed to out muscle his marker Harry Donaghey despite having his shirt pulled and slotted the ball past Gibson only for referee Mr Pearce to disallow the goal and award a free kick the other way to the frustration of the big striker.
Within four minutes of the second half starting Boldmere went close with Kirk Smith firing marginally wide as the visitors threatened.
On the hour Gresley began arguably their best spell of the game and it produced dividends. Manager Gary Norton replaced Gordon and Aaron Dillon with Richard Hanslow and Mickey Lyons which seemed to lift the spirits of his side.
Gareth Langford got his head on the end of Jamie Barrett's cross from the left but his effort went wide and seconds later Gresley were level. Lyons with his second and third touches played the ball into the area before hitting a low shot that was out of the reach of the diving Gibson and into the back of the net close to the base of the near post.
Back came Boldmere and it took a superbly time last ditch tackle from Adam Betteridge in the area to deny Simeon Tulloch who was ready to strike.
Some good work at the other end saw Hanslow test Gibson with a shot that the keeper did well to hold onto and then on 76 minutes Gresley supporters had their hearts in their mouths when a wickedly deflected shot from Tulloch looped over Hateley but this time, unlike at Shirebrook, drop over the bar.
With 10 minutes remaining Gresley once more went back into their shells choosing to defend deep and it was to be their undoing. Substitute Tom Overfield, who had been on the field just three minutes collected the ball just inside the Gresley half and as the home defence opened up like the Red Sea he was allowed to stride forward with not one attempt to stop him before ramming the ball past the helpless Hateley to give his side a fully deserved lead.
The hard working Turville tried his hardest to level the scores again hitting a shot on the turn over the bar but it was the visitors who had the last say having two chances to heap more misery on their hosts. Tulloch's stinging shot was touched over the bar by Hateley and then Overfield who had beaten the offside trap and with all the time in the world dragged his shot wide of the far post with just the keeper to beat.
Manager's View
"There were too many people not at the races today against a good side and you're always going to struggle if that's the case. Having said that I thought we turned it around a little in the second half after the substitutions. We were certainly building a head of steam and playing a lot better and then their guy has drifted through the heart of our team and put one in the top corner which was very frustrating for us. But, has already been said too many of our players had an off day.
"We are not going to use extra time the other night has an excuse but a few of them looked really leggy and really tired today and we've really not been at the races.
"Boldmere are a good side may I add. They finished third last time and they are consistently in the top three or four of this league and despite the start they've had their manager Rob Mallaband has said it's been a little bit stop-start but now they are up and running and a great result.
"We are feeling a little hard done by because I thought we deserved a point as I felt we did enough in the second half.
"I thought the officials did okay today but we had several penalty claims and the one for me was the Carl Slater one. Anywhere else on the pitch and it would have been a free kick. The referee said it was shoulder to shoulder but Carl had just got the edge on him but their guy has come in and cleaned him out in the penalty area. Most referees anywhere else on the pitch would have given a free kick. The referee decided not to give it and there is nothing you can do about it. Refereeing is a hard job as it is and I'm sure he hasn't done it on purpose and him and his linesman on the far side didn't give it so we've just got to get on with it.
"Had we have got a midweek game things would have been a concern because we've got some knocks and bumps and bruises and some tired legs out there. We did want to train twice this week in preparation for the Mickleove game next week and we are playing a side that has done really well at the Evo-Stik Premier and they are now established at that level.
"It's going to be a big ask going there to a side two leagues above us and if we start like we did today particularly in the first half it will be over by halftime so we need a couple of sessions to get ourselves organised a little bit better and get up for the game.
"We need to bounce back from this from this result and I'm sure that certain quarter of our supporters might justifiably criticise us but they've had their money's worth this season because we've played some cracking football but today it hasn't quite been there for us. The second half there were a lot of signs where we got the ball down and played it about a bit better but we've got to do more consistently and more regularly and we can't afford to give good sides the opportunity to come here and do what they've done to us.
"I've not even thought about whether there will be changes for next week. We'll sit down and we'll train and we'll see what options we've got available but we won't be making any knee jerk reactions. There were one or two players today who came into the team on the back of good performances midweek, players who didn't do the one hundred and twenty minutes I might add who were disappointing today so we'll have to have a look at things but we just need a bit more consistency for those who are in the starting line-up. Everyone has a bad game but you've got to work harder and be prepared to roll your sleeves up and there were a few in the first half in particular who didn't work hard enough for me but we'll take it on the chin. We are still finding our feet at this level, the consistency we need.
"Tom Betteridge was suspended for today's game but in actual fact he wouldn't have been selected today because he's ill. He's come back from Vegas with some sort of a virus but it was his suspension for his sending off at Highgate so in some respects it was a blessing that he's got his suspension out of the way while he's ill. Tom certainly comes back into the frame depending on whether he can train and show his fitness during the week.
"Mickey Lyons who has also been away obviously got the equaliser within a minute of coming on and was instrumental in us getting the ball down and got us playing a bit more than we had up until that point.
"We got some good options and the lads are a honest bunch and they don't mean to play inconsistently and they gave their all the other night and anybody who was there could see that but we've just fallen short today and we've got to take it on the chin and get on with it.
"Rob Spencer was back and he came off the bench and gave us that little spurt of energy we needed out there. He always works hard. Marc Goodfellow has been at a wedding today and he did really well the other night and would have started today perhaps.
"I can say that we've got the majority of the holidays out of the way now. Richard Hanslow is away in a couple of weeks for I think his brother's wedding in Barbados where he's the best man. We do not have Gary Hateley for two week as he's away on an overseas trip but Darren Keeling has played for the reserves today to get that much needed ninety minutes in and he'll be between the sticks against Mickleover and possibly the week after if we can get a game arranged as we've got a free Saturday due to the FA Vase but Darren hasn't let us down at all.
"The FA Cup is important to us but the league is the bread and butter and I'd have much rather have had three points today and lost next week if I'd have had the choice. We are going to give it our best shot next week and see where that takes us and if we win then great but if we don't as expected we'll not get too upset over it. The league is the bread and butter and we want to establish ourselves as a top six side but we've got some work to do on our consistency and especially at home but we would like to go on a little cup run."
