Evo-Stik NPL Division One South
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 18th August 2012, 3.00pm
Gresley Off To A Winning Start
Gresley got off to a winning start in their inaugural game in the Evo-Stik NPL Division One South against Market Drayton Town at the Moat Ground.
After a goalless first half the points were wrapped up when Phil Massingham and Rob Spencer scored to give the Moatmen the perfect start in their new league.
Town appeared to be set up for this game to grab a point and maybe three on the break by packing the midfield which made things hard for Gresley to break down.
However, it was the home side who went closest to opening the scoring when Mickey Lyons had a shot blocked at the near post and a shot from Dean Oliver well held by the visiting keeper Damien Stevens.
Gresley continued to press forward with Marc Goodfellow having a shot on target deflected for a corner but still the goal would not come.
The second half started similarly to the first with Gresley making all the running and they should have taken the lead when Oliver burst through the Town backline only to be denied by the outstretched foot of Stevens.
Town made a rare attack on the Gresley goal when a header from Marc Strzyzewski to his keeper fell short and was latched on to by Nickey Porter but his shot lacked power and was easily dealt with by Gary Hateley.
The opening goal came on 57 minutes when Massingham ran onto a pass from James Jepson and slammed the ball past Stevens.
Lyons was then inches away from doubling Gresley's lead when he collected Goodfellow's pass and curled a shot that flew past the junction of post and bar.
Town thought they'd levelled on 69 minutes when a shot from Darryl Proffitt was spilled by Hateley and substitute Andy Cooke followed up smashing the ball into the net but was dismayed by the upraised flag of the assistant linesman.
All three points were wrapped up with 10 minutes to go when Michael Nottingham chased after a ball that the defence had almost given up. The big defender turned on the edge of the area and sent over a sublime cross to substitute Rob Spencer who powerfully headed past Stevens.
In the dying minutes of the game Gresley could have added to their total with Oliver after running down the left fired his shot wide of the far post and then substitute Craig Attwood hitting his volley narrowly over the bar.
Manager's View
"Martin and I are very pleased, the rest of the staff and the lads are really pleased.
"It opening day and there were some nerves about as this was the second season on the trot that we've played in a new league. We had a bad experience last season and with being at home we wanted to at least put a performance in and I felt that for most of the ninety minutes I thought we did that.
"We controlled the game and I thought we had the better of the first half and obviously the better of the second half to have gone on to win the game.
"Overall it was comfortable, a steady three points and a good start for us but that's all it is a good start and we're just delighted to get off the mark to be honest.
"Me and Martyn spent a long time on the phone last night whittling the squad down to sixteen for today and we had to continue that having slept on one or two things over night. We then had deliberations over the starting eleven. The way we set pre-season up was that we wanted to look at people and keep the majority of last season's squad and add where necessary.
"We've added three or four quality lads to the squad on purpose because the opening ten games, and I've mentioned it to the lads, we are going to need this squad because we've got unavailability's to various degrees over the next few weeks so we are carrying a couple of more bodies in addition to what we did last year.
"Overall pre-season went well. I wasn't there for the last week of it and I wasn't at the Stapenhill having been away. By the way there was something in the Burton Mail about our two thousand pound a week wage budget and I've had a word with Mr Wood at Stapenhill not to quote such ridiculous numbers. Our wage bill is absolutely nowhere near that and I can't imagine any team in the Evo-Stik is. Of the chairman reads that he'll be wondering how come Gary and Martyn's wage bill has doubled overnight!
"Today for the most part was it was a comfortable game and we deserved to win by the number we did. We've come into today's game with a fully fit squad of players. Normally in pre-season you plan for opening games to have one or two unavailabilities and injuries. We haven't had that this year and it's meant that in effect we had twenty-two players to choose from.
"We picked what we felt was the strongest squad for today and we'll do the same on Wednesday night but with a slightly different approach tactically at Carlton. I've said to the lads before the game that we're going to need every one of those players. Inevitably we are going to lose one of two but we don't want to do that.
"Matt Roome wasn't quite ready to be involved last Tuesday but he trained on Thursday and declared himself fit. It was a difficult decision who to play at full back and with Dan Douglas unavailable Matt was in contention but time and time again Jamie Barrett has played there for us and played well so we went for Jamie today and put an extra forward on the bench.
"Kyle Bryant can consider himself unlucky to be left out of the squad because he's put in some cracking performances and really pushed himself firmly into the mix and it's very, very difficult when you have such quality in the squad and we hope the players are patient and hope they bide their time. We hope they get their opportunity and we fully respect their decision in terms of moving on.
"The twenty one, twenty two players we've got are the core of the squad and what we want here. We've got one or two fringe players out on loan as well so at the moment things are looking good but that could quickly change with injuries, suspensions and other clubs taking a fancy to your players.
"I would have imagined there were a few scouts here today as at most games and if players aren't getting in then a few seven days might start flying around so we'll have to see how that goes and react accordingly."
