Midland Alliance
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 5th November 2011, 3.00pm
First Half Strikes Are Enough For Gresley
Gresley manager Gary Norton was forced into making one change to the starting eleven that faced Bridgenorth last week after striker Royce Turville's partner went into labour. Richard Hanslow came in alongside Dean Oliver upfront and the young striker made an impact giving Gresley the lead in the first half with Michael Nottingham adding a second.
Both sides served up an entertaining game in front of another good home gate with the visitors Coleshill Town first to go close when Chris Lloyd fired just wide on 6 minutes.
However, Gresley replied soon after with Marc Goodfellow testing Town's keeper Paul Hathaway who did well to hold on to Goodfellow's low shot.
The home side took the lead on 17 minutes. Mickey Lyons, making his one hundredth appearance for Gresley, shook off the attention of his marker and hit a shot that cannoned back off the woodwork. The ball ended out where James Jepson was waiting and he looped the ball back into the danger area and it was flicked on and Hanslow was there to blast the ball past the helpless keeper.
Four minutes later Gresley increased their lead when Jepson swung in a corner from the right and Nottingham raced into the area and powerfully headed past Hathaway.
Colehill then had two half chances from Jason Ramsey and Lloyd but both shots lacked any power going straight to Gresley keeper Gary Hateley.
As the first half drew to an end Goodfellow drove forward, cut in and unleashed a stinging shot that Hathaway did well to push away. Gresley were then awarded a corner with just a couple of minutes of the half remaining. Lyons swung over the flag kick and Hanslow connected with a volley on the turn that just eluded Rob Spencer flying in at the far post. The ball then came back to Lyons who laid it back to Jordi Gough who hot hit shot wide of the far post.
Although Gresley went into the interval looking fairly comfortable they had a scare as the second half opened. Within five minutes Nathan McBean looking suspiciously offside was allowed to complete his run down the right but fortunately for the home side the final shot went the wrong side of the far post.
Gresley pressed forward and after a good move of flowing football involving Lyons, Jepson and Goodfellow Lyons hit a low shot that Hathaway spilled but was helped out by a colleague that cleared the ball away for a corner.
On 65 minutes Coleshill had their best chance of the game when Lloyd was put through but his powerful shot from close in was well blocked by the legs of Hateley.
The action swung to the other end where Goodfellow's free kick was inches away from Spencer connecting with a diving header at the far post.
Oliver then had what looked like a goal bound shot deflected and in the closing moments of the game Goodfellow curled a sublime shot into the top corner but Hathaway was well placed to hold the shot.
Manager's View
"A good performance and a clean sheet is very welcome and just continued the little run we are on. Coleshill are a good side attacking wise with three at the back and three up front and in the first half in particular it was a very entertaining game. It was fast flowing and some really good football from both sides.
"We got ourselves in that position at half time; they troubled us at times without forcing Gary Hateley into a save.
"Unfortunately we couldn't quite live up to it in the second half in terms of the football we'd played in the first and we had to dig in at times because there was a fifteen, twenty minute spell when we struggled a little bit to retain possession of the ball. We kept giving it away cheaply and things kept breaking down and it gave them a sniff and Gary had to make a fantastic save in one situation when a clearance ended down one of their players' throat - a brilliant save possibly a turning point because after that we regained control of the game for the last fifteen minutes or so and we saw it through. So it was a welcome three points and a clean sheet.
"Michael Nottingham has done well since he's come in and obviously it's coincided pretty much with the likes of Jamie Barrett, Jordi Gough and Matt Hill who comprised the back line coming back as they've all done well as a back four and Gary included as a back five.
"The 'sheriff' popped with a goal and he got a goal last week as well. He's settled in nicely and he's a likable chap and he supports Villa as well so he's a particular favourite of mine! Yes, he likes it and he's doing well and long may that continue.
"We only had four on the bench today. Royce Turville's partner went into labour late this morning and we'd already made our decision on the squad. We did have a little chat yesterday to see whether to leave it until today. We'd picked our sixteen and informed the players not involved. It doesn't matter usually because of injuries and unavailability we've got a lot of lads unavailable. Royce dropped out late morning. Aaron has gone for a game with the reserves. Tom Betteridge is very nervous about playing in the reserves psychologically because the last time he did that a few years back he broke his leg so we agreed that Tom did something different today. He knows he's got to work on his fitness - a great player and if I was looking at my strongest line-up Tom is always there or thereabouts in it in a number of positions but by his own admission his fitness levels are not where they should be this season for a couple of reasons and he's going to work on that and really push to get back into the side and that's what we want.
"We looked at what we had on the bench and felt we had enough cover and decided to stay with the four.
"Looking forward to the tricky game on Monday at Coventry, Dean Oliver's groin is a little tight so we'll have to keep an eye on that one. Jordi Gough, although he's been playing very, very well his ankle has been stiffening up after games so given the fact that Monday night will come around very, very quickly we'll talk to Jordi tomorrow and see how he is. We may well have to put him on the bench which would be a huge shame because he had an awesome game today.
"Hopefully, we'll have Royce back into the mix but body wise and injury wise we're not doing too badly, he says touching wood, because we've had a horrendous season and it's important that we keep as many of the players as fit as possible. Coventry will have played today so it will be the same for both of us. We've not played on a Monday for a long time but they will be used to it as it's their midweek game night. It will be a tough game for us because Coventry are doing very well but we've found at this level that there are no easy games whether it be at home or away.
"But a win today has kept us in touch and we're not looking bad but there is a long way to go for us. There are a few things we need to improve on and Lee Barrow now he's come onto the coaching staff and Martin Rowe and the other staff will be working hard to do that.
"There hasn't been one side who has pulled away. Lots of sides are beating each other and that's the competitive nature of this league and in some respects it's a good thing. The last couple of seasons in the East Midlands Counties league you had four or five sides who tended to break away but in this league you can go right down to mid table and if someone all of a sudden puts a run together they're leading the table but there's a long, long way to go yet. We've got to hope we can keep putting in the performances and keeping the points tally ticking over.
"We have a couple of cup games in November and obviously the Vase is the big one. We've drawn one of the competition favourites Kings Lynn at home so there will be a lot of hype around that game. But, that's for that day. We'll wake up that morning for that game and we'll concentrate on that game but the bread and butter is the league and it's important that we keep ticking those points over.
"The Vase is obviously a nice distraction and we've also got the Derbyshire Cup game. We'll monitor that and we'll see what's happening before the Vase game and see what squad we send for the Cup. It's not a major priority for us but we'd like to go through a few rounds and see where it takes us.
"The league is the most important. Obviously the Vase for the last couple of seasons has been a nice distraction. It possibly cost us the league a couple of seasons ago getting to the quarter-finals when we lost out and finished up as runners-up.
"The Vase game is a big game and it's a one off and we'll see what happens on the day. If we play well then we've got a chance but if we don't like we did for twenty minutes of the second half today then it could be a difficult afternoon for us.
"I thought it was one of Dean Oliver's best games for us today. He's still got that little groin niggle that's concerning us but his work rate today was phenomenal and it makes such a difference when you have players who can put in a physical performance that he does and gets about the pitch. Royce is a similar sort of player, very, very honest players. Dean put a huge shift in for us today wnd we're pleased he got the ninety minutes in but we are a little concerned that his groin is a little bit tight and hopefully it will not be much of a problem but it remains to be seen."
