Pre-Season Friendly
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 30th July 2013, 7.45pm
Moors The Merrier
Two former Gresley favourites came back to their old home and were part of the Solihull Moors side which comfortably beat the Moatmen in a pre-season friendly.
Jordi Gough and Michael Nottingham both played the ninety minutes in a strong side. Moors manager Marcus Bignot had promised to bring a good side and it was soon evident that the Conference North outfit were going to prove a stern test for Gresley and so it proved to be as the visitors ran out five-nil winners.
Gresley were short of a few players with Danny Holmes, Royce Turville, Jordan Nadat and Dean Oliver all missing.
Moors started strongly with Gresley keeper Gary Hateley having to make an early save from Aaron Wint. Marc Goodfellow went close for the home side minutes later firing a free kick over the bar.
The visitors took the lead when a good move ended with Ryan Beswick firing a low shot into the far bottom corner of the net.
Four minutes later it looks as if Junior English had doubled their advantage but was denied by a superb save from Hateley pushing the ball away for a corner. However, from the resultant flag kick taken by Beswick English was not to be denied a second time as he powered his header into the net at the far post.
The first half ended with Hateley once more having to make a fine save from a close range shot.
Gresley's Eric Graves had a chance to reduce the deficit but after waltzing his way into the area could only blaze his shot over the bar. Goodfellow tried his luck again firing a low free kick through the wall but the keeper Stuart Parsons was well placed to hold on to the ball.
Moors third goal was a fluke when Beswick completely miss kicked the ball and instead of testing Hateley sliced the ball across the box but Wint spectacularly scored with an overhead kick giving the goal keeper no chance.
The impressive Darryl Knights, who had been causing problems down the left all night, fastened on to a pass ran forward and slipped the ball under young substitute keeper Luke Hemmingway who had barely been on the pitch a few minutes.
Knights went close again ending another good flowing move firing wide of the near post. Beswick ended the scoring grabbing his second goal of the night with a shot from distance which clattered the base of the post before running along the goal line and trickling into the net from the base of the opposite post.
Manager's View
"The result, five-nil, doesn't sound very good but it was a difficult game against a very good side. They moved the ball about very well and were fitter than us.
"It was like when we played Rocester on Saturday we were the better side and tonight Solihull edged it all throughout the game.
"We worked hard and limited their chances to a few. They didn't really open us up and coming in two-nil down at half time was a little disappointing but we did open them up as well and we played well for small bits during the game.
"I felt that in the second half we took the game to them a bit more and I think they scored the third goal with an overhead kick and because we made the changes we were a bit disjointed towards the end and things just opened up at the back.
"Friendlies against teams from a higher league shows us where we want to be. I said to the players after the game that they've had possession and moved the ball about very quickly and that's where we've got to be. We need a bit more discipline in the squad but we're working on them. Wayne Thornhill and Richard Butler are talking to the players all the time and we'll be in training again on Thursday going through where we felt we went wrong tonight.
"Unfortunately, Dean Oliver fell ill at work today and Royce Turville has still got a calf injury. At times Richard Hanslow was a bit isolated at times but when you play the better teams we have to play a bit harder up front.
"Rob Spencer and Marc Goodfellow could have helped Richard in there a bit more. They were a bit too wide and should come in a bit narrow looking for the ball. It's nice to have width but they need to do a bit more showing and I thought they did in the second half.
"I felt Lucas Harrison had another good game against a good side. We chucked him in and he's not let himself down. He's proving to be a player that's got it. He's got that bit between his teeth and he wants to play for Gresley FC and that's nice to see. Dean Withers has come on again and he has done really well.
"I was sad to see Jodi Gough and Michael Nottingham go because last season they were kingpins for us. They are very difficult players to replace but we are working hard and I'm sure we'll get there. People have got to be a bit patient, it takes time. They both looked better playing in red and white!"
