Evo-Stik NPL Division One South
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 8th December 2012, 3.00pm
Millers Grind Out A Result At The Moat Ground
A goal in each half consigned Gresley to their second successive home defeat. Barely thirty seconds had gone of the game when a penalty taken by Matt Varley gave the visitors the lead and early in the second half Ryan Whitehurst sealed the points for the Millers.
Gresley made changes from last Saturday's line-up with goal keeper Gary Hateley replacing George Woodward, Ryan Walker taking the place at the centre of the defence with Marc Strzyzewski placed on the bench. Jordan Nadat and Marc Goodfellow were given a starting place in place of Phil Massingham and Rob Spencer.
The home side made the worst start possible as Walker brought down Ruben Wiggins-Thomas with the referee Mr Nield showing no hesitation as he pointed to the spot. Varley took the shot and although Hateley got close to the ball he couldn't prevent the Millers from taking the lead.
Things could have got much worse for Gresley as just the woodwork prevented the visitors scoring a second through Jordan Vilums.
At the other end Richard Hanslow warmed the hands of visiting keeper Martin Kearney with the ball which was then scrambled away from danger.
On 12 minutes Gresley were inches away from levelling the proceedings when Goodfellow's chip was pushed into the air by Kearney and as the ball came down Hanslow stretching could only head wide of the far post. Gresley went close again minutes later when Nadat flashed a shot just wide of the far post.
Hateley needed to be alert when Whitehurst caught the Gresley back line napping but the Gresley keeper stood his ground and blocked the shot well.
Gresley were struggling to find a breakthrough as Carlton defended well but Walker almost got one only for his shot to be blocked. Michael Nottingham then had a shot which was scrambled away.
Carlton came out determined to find another goal and it was Hateley again who denied them superbly turning Varley's header from close in over the bar. However, the goal that looked likely to come arrived a few minutes later. Whitehurst was allowed far too much room inside the area to turn and fire a shot across Hateley and into the far bottom corner.
Once more some slack defending by the home side saw Wiggins-Thomas race forward unmarked but Hateley, by far the busier of the two keepers, made another good save pushing the ball away.
Whitehurst should have scored his second goal of the game when he was picked out by a good pass but side footed his shot wide of the mark from a really good position.
Despite all Gresley's efforts they found it increasingly difficult to breach the stubborn defending of the visitors resorting to the long high ball instead of trying to pass the ball though the defence. Goodfellow had a shot from distance that whistled just over the bar but it was Carlton who looked more likely to add to their total.
Hateley kept the score down by producing another good save pushing the shot from Joe Naylor away for a corner. Gresley's last effort on goal came with only five minutes of normal time remaining when Nottingham met James Jepson's corner but his header was blocked on the line by the largely untroubled Kearney.
Man-of-the-match Hateley once more proved his worth as he denied Luke Smithson his moment of glory with another good block after the substitute had cut through the tiring Gresley back line quite easily.
Many felt that Gresley had stolen the points in the reverse fixture earlier in the season but that could not be said of this game as Carlton fully deserved their win and all three points.
Manager's View
Martin Rowe
"We shot ourselves in the foot again in the first minute giving away a penalty which was disappointing. The after that I thought we came back into the game and should have scored but we didn't have that Lady Luck in front of goal.
"In the second half they got another early goal and we just couldn't get going today. In the second half everything we tried just didn't work. There are sometimes as a manager when you have to put your hands up and say 'I've got it wrong today and most likely picked the wrong team.'
"But, it was all done for the good of the team unfortunately it didn't work out, sometimes in football these things happen.
"Carlton came to Gresley with a plan to stop us playing and to be fair they were up and at it. They wanted it more today than Gresley did. We didn't want it as much they did and that is reflected in the score.
"The game against Matlock on Tuesday is one we want to win. We want to progress in the Derbyshire Senior Cup and go forward. After today's disappointing result it's up to me and Gary Norton as a management team to make sure we put players out there that are committed to playing for Gresley and get us through to the next round but we needed a bit more commitment from the players today but we didn't quite get that. I don't know why but we'll keep working at it.
"We've done well this season but the season isn't over yet. I've just said to them in the changing room that we've just got to knuckle down and keep working hard. We can't win every game every week. The week before we were a bit disappointed that we didn't have James Jepson on but even in that game we had enough chances to have won the game which was disappointing so we've had two disappointing games and it's important we bounce back against Matlock."
