Midland Football Alliance
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 7th April 2012, 3.00pm
Title Hopes Receive Huge Setback
This was very much 'after the Lord Mayor's show' display which must have disappointed majority of the largest league game at the Moat Ground this season.
Tuesday saw a gutsy display against the league leaders but against lowly Atherstone Town it was a poor display to be honest.
Atherstone came with an aim and that was to get at least a point with anything else a bonus as they played most of the game with nine men behind the ball. Unfortunately, except for one moment Gresley could not find the key to unlock the effective if not pretty defending.
Gresley were without one of the players who may have been able to unlock the Adders defence, Mickey Lyons who is away for the weekend. Having said that the home side did have enough chances to take all three points but failed to convert them.
Despite their lowly league position Atherstone didn't come to roll over in this local derby and helped on by a vocal following were soon putting Gresley under pressure with Tom Betteridge having to head off his own goal line with just ten minutes gone.
Atherstone took the lead on 17 minutes has for another game Gresley's defensive frailties showed themselves as they failed to cut out a move down the right and the cross was hammered home by Dale Farley who was totally unmarked in the area giving Tom Gutteridge no chance. Richard Hanslow did have the ball in the net moments later for the Moatmen but a raised flag ruled it out.
On 26 minutes Hanslow had a decent shout for a penalty has he was brought down from behind in the area but referee Mr Ward made the first of some poor decisions during the game waving the appeals away.
Within two minutes of the second half starting Gresley almost found themselves further behind when Jordan Holmes beat the offside trap but Gutteridge made a fine save to deny him.
Virtually from that moment on it was all Gresley but they still couldn't beat the stubborn visiting defence.
A free kick from James Jepson found Marc Goodfellow who unfortunately hit his shot into the side netting. It was substitute Phil Massingham who had the next chance as he got on the end of Dean Oliver's cross but his shot was well held by Paul Hathaway.
Gresley drew level in strange circumstances. The assistant linesman indicated that Hathaway had picked up a back pass and so the referee gave an indirect free kick just inside the area. The ball was touched to Danny Holmes who managed somehow to smash the ball into the net through a crowded box.
Would the floodgates open? Goodfellow made a good run down the right but lifted his shot over the bar and then Jepson hit a shot straight at Hathaway. Gough hit a shot just wide of the far post as Gresley threatened. Substitute Matt Hill then sent over a cross that Massingham at the far post headed but Hathaway held the attempt.
With Gresley pressing forward they were almost undone by a quick break that had the defence flatfooted but once more Gutteridge was up to the task and made a fine block.
A corner from Goodfellow produced a header which was headed off the line by a defender and with a minute of normal time remaining Massingham had the best chance of the game to grab the winner but somehow managed to head Oliver's cross over the bar from a good position.
The second controversial decision by Mr Ward came deep into time added on. A through ball saw Jepson race forward and he was quite clearly pulled back by the arm and tripped by a defender but unbelievably the referee saw it as a dive and showed a second yellow card followed by a red much to the anger of both Gresley management and supporters alike.
Unfortunately, the frustrations caused by the referee's poor decisions during the game boiled over and ended with Danny Holmes disappointingly saying something to the officials which ended with a red card being shown.
Manager's View
"We've not put in a performance today that we wanted and we've dropped two points. Atherstone had something to hold onto with the sloppy goal we gave away and they've run themselves through a brick wall to do it and you have to question they can do that for ninety minutes why are the fourth from bottom?
"They are a very good side as you could see when we went to their place but I can't quite understand why they are fourth from bottom. I can remember reading in their pre match build up thinks the same when they put in a shift like that every week. Maybe it's because they are playing at Gresley that they get themselves up. There was fantastic support for them today and I wonder whether they take that sort of support home and away every week, I imagine not!
"You can't argue with them today, they were fantastic and we didn't have enough to break them down. We had a couple of cracking chances second half but couldn't hit the target. Marc Goodfellow has gone through and lifted it over the bar and Phil Massingham has had a clear header six or seven yards out and again he's lifted it over the bar and they were the chances we needed to go in to snatch the three points but it was a bit after the Lord Mayor's show today wasn't it?
"I think Phil Massingham did alright when he came on. He put himself about a bit and was involved in the build up for the equaliser when he chased a ball down the indirect free kick for the back pass and then he had a big chance near the end and you'd expect a striker of his quality to at least hit the target. I don't know whether he lost his footing but he got under the ball and it went over the bar but he's done alright for us.
"It was hard to make the decision to leave the skipper Gary Hateley out today. He had a full fitness test before the game and he's come from potentially being out for the rest of the season to match fit but I felt it was a bit of a risk but I also felt that Tom Gutteridge did very well the other night. We'd turned to him in a moment of crisis and he made himself available and did very well. Tom's done nothing wrong again today and the goal certainly wasn't his fault but it's nice to have Gary back and we'll have to decide what we're going to do for Monday."
