FA Cup with Budweiser
Latimer Park, Burton Latimer, Kettering
Saturday, 31st August 2013, 3.00pm
Poppies Cut Down By Gresley
The Gresley travelling faithful may have been expecting a tough encounter against former 'big' non-league club Kettering Town but were pleasantly surprised in how comfortable the victory was in the end. Except for a ten or fifteen minute spell after the injury to Gresley's Jamie Barrett the threat to their goal was minimal.
Gresley were forced into making changes with both Marc Strzyzewski and Danny Holmes missing as they served a one match ban for the red cards they both collected against Mickleover during the first game of the season.
John Guy came in to the heart of the defence alongside Barrett and Rob Spencer returned to the starting line-up after missing the last game with an ankle injury. Also returning to the squad were Dean Oliver and Marc Goodfellow after they both recovered from their recent injuries.
Gresley started brightly with a stiff breeze at the backs and were soon putting the home defence under pressure as a through ball from Mickey Lyons for Spencer was narrowly put wide.
The Poppies forced a corner and then they awarded a free kick with neither testing the visiting keeper Ross Etheridge. Gresley threatened to take the lead again when a good run from Kieran O'Connell ended with a tempting low cross through the box which no-one could finish.
With the end of the first half just a couple of minutes away Gresley took the lead. From a Kettering failed attack Gresley made a quick break and Eric Graves put the ball across to Royce Turville who scored with his second touch.
The second half didn't start as Gresley would have wished as they saw their captain Barrett carried off the pitch with a knee injury. Substitute Matt Roome replaced Barrett alongside Guy and it was from that point that the Poppies mounted their first real sustained pressure.
Jonathan Thorpe went close to levelling with a vicious shot but Etheridge reacted brilliantly turning the ball over the bar.
Gresley were defending well and almost doubled their lead when Turville fed the ball to O'Connell but his shot went wide of the far post. Minutes later however, they did increase their lead when a poor clearance from Poppies keeper Michael Quirke landed nicely for Mickey Lyons who instantly slipped the ball for Spencer to run onto and he accepted the chance putting the ball into the net.
With Kettering pushing forward to get back into the game they almost found themselves further behind late on when another good move down the right ended with O'Connell hitting a shot which brushed the face of the bar with Quirke stranded.
The final whistle saw scenes of jubilation from the travelling support and on the pitch. Gresley will now face league rivals Eastwood Town in the next round scheduled to be played on Saturday 14th September at the Moat Ground.
Manager's View
"We've played well again today. We tried to play but it was a bit windy, blustery and the pitch was a bit bobbly to be fair.
"It was similar to last week. The players have stuck at it and we have created chances. Special praise to John Guy today. I did have a bit of criticism during pre-season for moving players about and seeing what they can do but John has come in today and played centre half and had a fantastic game.
"Rob Spencer wasn't one hundred percent fit but he came in and did a job. Kieran O'Connor is just getting better and better and we've still not seen the best of him. Once he gets fitter he'll be all over the park and I'm sure he'll be a big success at Gresley.
"Ross Etheridge had just the one save to make early in the second half when he tipped it over the bar other than that he's had quite a cushy time with us. Obviously it was disappointing to lose the game on Monday but we've bounced back again today.
"We got to sort our own form out and we'll take all the positives out of today and take it into next week's game.
"With no replay we have a free week so we've planned a friendly between ourselves. We looked at the squad today and we've got a couple of new players coming in next week and it's an ideal opportunity to get them bedded in and have a look at them.
"Jamie Barrett's knee locked up and it's still the same and he can't move it. When we get back to Gresley he'll be nipping off to hospital and having a few x-rays but at this present time we don't know how bad it is. He's missing next week anyway because he's at a wedding so he's got a fortnight to recover.
"We will have Marc Strzyzewski and Danny Holmes back for next week and we should have two new defenders joining us next week hopefully just to boost the squad. The squad is getting quite big now so that's something we'll have to look at."
