Evo-Stik NPL Division One South
Christchurch Meadow, Belper
Tuesday, 28th January 2014, 7.45pm
Gresley Nailed
A mad four minute spell of poor defending halfway through the first half was disastrous for Gresley as the conceded three goals after taking an early lead through Paulo Piliero.
From three set pieces Gresley went from being comfortably in the lead to trailing by the half hour mark.
It had all started perfectly for the visitors when Piliero took advantage of some hesitant defending in the Belper goal mouth to eventually slot home Lucas Harrison's corner from the right. However, Kieran O'Connell inexplicably caught the ball on the sideline thinking the ball was out of play and it was from that mistake, resulting in a free kick, which started his side's downfall.
Gresley manager Martin Rowe made just one change from the stunning win over Leek Town on Saturday bringing in Paulo Piliero for Rob Spencer and the move paid dividends when the winger's goal gave them the early lead.
On 25 minutes Belper were level. The cheap free kick was swung over from the left touch line by Simon Harrison into the area where Jon Froggatt flicked his header past Gresley keeper Mats Morch.
It got worse for the visitors two minutes later when they conceded from another set piece. Another needless free kick lead to Simon Harrison firing a low free kick which was blocked only for Philip Watt to react quickly ramming the ball into the net.
And, if that wasn't bad enough, Gresley conceded once more from yet another set piece and needless free kick this time on the right. The ball from Simon Harrison was swung into the area and not dealt with by the Gresley defence and Mark Ward was on hand to slot home the ball.
Gresley did have a couple of chances as the first half drew to a close with both O'Connell and Eric Graves firing wide of the near post.
Belper threatened to add to their tally early in the second half with Steve Warne hitting his shot just wide of the near post and Simon Harrison having his well struck effort well saved by Gresley keeper Mats Morch.
Despite having the majority of possession Gresley were finding it difficult to get past the Belper rearguard the nearest they got was an on target shot from John Guy which was deflected for a corner.
Morch had to be on his toes when Froggatt fired a shot which the keeper saved well at his near post. Ten minutes later though Belper scored goal number four giving the score line a somewhat flattering look about it.
Aaron Cole, who had replaced Simon Harrison just four minutes previously, made a run into the area on the right before hitting a vicious shot which took a wicked deflection with the ball ending up in the net.
Belper could have scored a fifth almost at the end of ninety minutes when Ward hit a curling shot from the left which looked for all the world to be heading into the far top corner until Morch made a superb acrobatic save to push the ball away for a corner.
Manager's View
"For twenty five minutes of the game we looked very comfortable and we picked up where we left off on Saturday. Then unfortunately, Kieran O'Connell handled the ball. The free kick goes in and we've not dealt with it and Belper put it in the back of the net.
"The second goal, Jamie Barrett is coming out with the ball which should have been cleared like their centre half had been doing all of the game not messing about with the ball just give it distance. Mitch Hanson didn't deal with it and they've got another goal.
"The third goal should have been dealt with by Mitch and that's it we've given them three chances and they've put them away.
"If you look at the whole of the game we've had the majority of the play but we haven't delivered in the last third. But, Belper are a very strong team that are hard to break down but for the first twenty five minutes it looked really promising. Other than that it was a bit disappointing. We huffed and puffed in the second half but without breaking down the Belper defence.
"We brought Rob Spencer and Alex Steadman on for a bit more pace up front but we could not find that final ball to get them through.
"It's disappointing that it looks like we will not have a game on Saturday - we are still waiting to hear from Eastwood. We do have Leek away on Wednesday on that lovely pitch so we'll have to re-think that one. According to their manager Leek's pitch isn't very good at all; it's a bit of a mud bath. We did it on Saturday and we'll see if we can do the double over Leek.
"We'll have Jack Langston back for that game but I thought Sam Grice did well again today. He's covered the wing backs when they've got forward, he's got challenges in and Sam's done really well today.
"Liam Guest will be back in contention. I said to him on Saturday that I was resting him. In open play I don't think Belper has not really caused us a problem it was just set plays where they've piled it in their and we've not dealt with it. I think if Mats Morch had been a bit more commanding today it most likely would have been a different game!"
