Evo-Stik NPL Division One South
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 13th November 2012, 7.45pm
Gritty Gresley Take The Points
A gritty and determined performance from Gresley against former non-league giants Northwich Victoria saw them take all three points at the Moat Ground with goals from Rob Spencer and Marc Strzyzewski.
The Gresley side was re-shuffled from Saturday with Jamie Barrett and Jordi Gough taking the full back slots. Central defender Marc Strzyzewski had a new partner as Michael Nottingham was still out suffering from a dead-leg as new signing Ryan Walker was handed his debut.
Danny Holmes' availability enabled him to partner James Jepson in midfield and Rob Spencer resumed his usual slot on the wing.
The visitors open well with Michael Connor planting his header straight at Gresley keeper Gary Hateley. However, it was the home side who took the lead when an attempted clearance spun goalwards and Spencer reacted quickest to put the ball past Vics keeper Ryan Robinson with the faintest of touches.
Gresley increased their advantage midway through the first half when Holmes' free kick on the left was finished well by Strzyzewski from close in.
As was to be expected Vics came back and halved the deficit 7 minutes later when a terrific long range effort from Paul Mooney ended in the back of the net despite Hateley getting a firm hand to the ball.
Gresley went close to regaining a two goal advantage when Holmes' free kick from the left came off a defender and Robinson did extremely well to react quickly to push the effort away. The ball eventually landed nicely for Jordan Nadat who unfortunately scuffed his shot on the turn which made it a comfortable save for Robinson.
Early in the second half Hateley had to be alert when Mooney hit a free kick that the keeper did well to push away for a corner.
On the hour a blistering shot from Vics whistled just wide of the mark and at the other end of the pitch a good move between Mickey Lyons and Nadat ended with the striker slamming a shot on the volley fractionally wide of the near post.
Vics were looking dangerous and at times it was all hands on the pumps for the Gresley defence as wave after wave of attacking play, usually the result on the long high punt, put the home side under pressure. The pressure was withstood and indeed it was Gresley who went close to scoring again when Holmes it a placed side footed shot towards the bottom corner which Robinson did well to parry away for a corner.
However, the pressure resumed with Gresley finding it difficult to try and clear their lines as the ball was coming back quickly. During this spell Hateley saved well low down at his near post. But with the clock running down it was Gresley who relieved the pressure and hung on to all three points by taking the ball deep in the Vics half forcing three late corners in the final few minutes.
Manager's View
Martyn Rowe
"That was a better defensive display. It had to be because Saturday wasn't good enough. We were a few players down on Saturday.
"Today we had Danny Holmes back which enabled us to put Jordi Gough back in defence and with us bringing Ryan Walker in as well we looked a lot stronger at the back. It was Ryan's first game for us and he did really well, very impressed. He got a heavy knock in the first half on his shin and he was struggling a bit in the second but he went through it and did very well for us today.
"Ryan is from Thurnby Nirvana and is one of Hannah's connections. She's been raving about him all year. He played against us in the FA Cup and did quite well but really didn't shine that day. But when he had Dean Oliver and Richard Hanslow against him he was going to struggle against players like that. We've had our eye on him for a bit and Thurnby allowed us to sign him for tonight and we'll see how it goes from there. Michael Nottingham is looking doubtful for Saturday so Ryan might keep his place again in the team.
"You have to do things now and again. We needed to be solid tonight and we felt with Jordan Nadat, Rob Spencer and Phil Massingham up front gave us a bit of a foundation. We then had Mickey Lyons, Holmes and James Jepson in midfield we looked a bit more solid and we worked a bit harder tonight. We wanted the ball a bit more and it was a good solid performance.
"Before the game tonight we knew we had three home games coming up and it's important that we keep winning our home games and I think the lads are starting to know that there are no easy games in this league. Anybody can beat anybody like Saturday and we've just got to knuckle down and got to work hard to get a result instead of just going out and playing football."
