Evo-Stik NPL Division One South
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 22nd February 2014, 3.00pm
Langston's Spectacular Strike Sets Up The Points
Gresley were made to work hard for their three points but they thoroughly deserved to bag them in the end.
A spectacular strike from Jack Langston, which must be up there for goal-of-the-season, lit up the Moat Ground when a goal didn't look like appearing for either side. Kieran O'Connell then made it two early in the second half before a bizarre own goal from John Guy gave Goole a glimmer of hope which didn't materialise.
Manager Martin Rowe made changes to the side that lost in midweek with John Guy returning to left back and Marc Strzyzewski coming into the heart of the defence alongside Jamie Barrett. O'Connell and Langston were both given a start.
Chances were at a premium in the first half with Gresley having the best of those which were created. Guy went close but his header from Langston's corner flashed wide of the post.
The goal that the game badly needed came in the 36th minute and what a goal it was. A free kick on the right, apparently for shirt pulling, was quickly taken by O'Connell who fed the ball to Langston who hit an unstoppable thunderbolt of a shot from 22 yards which hit the top far corner of the net before Goole keeper Liam Flynn could even move.
Gresley had one more chance as the first half drew to a close but Mickey Lyons's well struck shot went straight at the keeper.
O'Connell doubled Gresley's lead within five minutes of the start of the second half. Alex Steadman made a good run down the right before slipping the ball square for O'Connell who slotted the ball home.
Langston was a fingertip away from scoring what would have arguably been better than his first goal. A corner from Lyons found the midfielder just outside the area and he hit the almost perfect side-volley but Flynn made a superb save to tip the ball over the bar. From the resultant corner taken by Langston the ball came to Barrett who was denied by the woodwork as his shot crashed back off a post.
Goole were handed a chance at reducing the deficit when a dubious penalty was given for a supposed foul in the area. However, justice was done when Gresley keeper Mats Morch chose the correct way to dive saving Mitch Husbands' spot kick and grabbing the ball at the second attempt.
However, Goole did get a goal in somewhat bizarre circumstances. Gresley defender Guy went to clear the danger and badly sliced his clearance high into the sky and Morch, who had shouted for the ball as he rushed off his line, the ball flew over his head and despite the frantic attempt by the keeper to get back to his goal the ball ended in the net.
Gresley had two last chances to increase their advantage towards the end of the game. The first fell to Eric Graves who hit a shot marginally wide of the near post and then substitute Lucas Harrison chased a back pass and charged down Flynn's attempted clearance only to watch as the ball rolled agonisingly the wrong side of the far post.
Manager's View
"It was a bit of a gamble to play Jack Langston. He showed enough on Tuesday that he can change games for us and that's what he's done today. A very quick free kick which caught them by surprise and Jack bunged it into the top corner - a great goal.
"I thought we were a bit sluggish and slow to get going. First ten we may have just edged it but as the game went on in the first half we got better and better and with the goal we began to settle down a bit.
"First half we did alright but in the second half we had enough chances to bury them again. Kieran O'Connell had one of his shin and I thought Mickey Lyons maybe should have scored as well. Alex Steadman also had a chance but when we scored the second one we were comfortable and never looked like conceding with the back four playing well.
"Then John Guy went to clear the ball thirty or forty feet into the air and the ball came down and went into the goal. I think that hit us hard really and it took us a while to recover from that. A few of the players thought here we go again! But, we held onto a two-one win.
"I didn't think it was a penalty. Marc Strzyzewski was a good two to three yards away from him, the ball has gone out of play and he took a dive. Unfortunately, with this referee you can't talk to him. I remember him against Market Drayton when their player had handled the ball into the net and they got a draw. The referee has his opinions and he sticks by them but at the start of the game I think it was eight and four on Goole's side were committing foul after foul and he didn't even book them. Poor Mitch Hanson makes one tackle in the second half and the referee's booked him for it when the ball was going out of play. It does make you wonder sometimes.
"To be fair we have been looking after Mitch and he's been careful as well because he does have a problem with his knee. He's done three games now and hopefully he'll keep going on now until the end of the season because when he does play he gives us that confidence at the back and he's such a good player as well.
"We thought Liam Guest would have been fit today and that's why we brought Strez back just in case. Unfortunately, Liam wasn't quite good enough but Strez has come in and that's where we got the first goal from when he won a 50/50 ball laying it in for us to get the free kick just outside the box which we took quickly and scored. The back four had a few tense moments towards the end of the game but other than that they've played very well.
"We got a bit of a shock on Tuesday. We weren't expecting Loughborough to come at us as they did but we showed a lot of character in the second half to come back as we did. We know exactly how Leek are going to play and we've already been warned that the pitch isn't what it should be so it's going to be a very difficult game and it might be more suited to rugby!
"I don't know what was the matter with us at Loughborough. I think we saw the pitch and thought it's going to be an easy game for us but we couldn't get going until the second half.
"Credit to the Moat ground staff they've got the ground playable. It's still a bit heavy but we seemed to play alright on it so keep giving us bad pitches.
"Hopefully, Danny Holmes will be available for Wednesday, he's with Derby County today. We also had Royce Turville back and I had to make some decisions on Sam Grice, Paulo Piliero and Lucas Harrison but it's a team game. All players get rested like we did with Kieran and I thought he was better for that today. He had a bit more energy compared to the last game he played at the Moat.
"Unfortunately Royce wasn't quite fit enough to play so he was on the bench today. I thought Alex Steadman did alright today. He worked very hard and was always putting their defence under pressure.
"I've just said to the lads that we've got to go on a run. We can't win one lose one but that's how our season's going at the moment. It's up to the players and me to try and get some consistency."
