Evo-Stik Division One South
The Scholars Ground, Church Street, Chasetown
Saturday, 16th August 2014, 3.00pm
Disappointing Start For Gresley
Frustrating is just one of the words that can be used about Gresley's performance on this opening day of the Evo-Stik Division One South league fixtures.
Last season Gresley were denied a share of the points when the hosts grabbed a late goal and it was the same this time round as Scholars' substitute Jazz Luckie prodded in the winner with just three minutes remaining.
Chasetown had taken the lead on the hour mark through Nick Wellecomme with Alex Steadman levelling twenty minutes later.
Gresley manager Martin Rowe gave debuts to goalkeeper Tom Turner, Rob Ritchie-Smith and Rob Mulonga and his side started the game the brighter of the two sides and could or should have been a couple of goals to the good by the half time break but struggled to put any of their chances away despite dominating large parts of the half.
Kieran O'Connell robbed Tsefa Robinson of the ball and laid the ball back to Ritchie-Smith who fired his shot wide of the post. O'Connell then hit his shot straight at keeper John Bateman minutes later.
The visitors were having the better of the first half but were guilty of trying to pass the ball into the net rather than shooting when they were in a good position. Delaying the pulling of the trigger allowed the Scholars' defence to crowd in and snuff out any danger.
The best chance of the game came to Gresley when O'Connell fed the ball through to Eric Graves who turned his marker but hit shot was blocked by Bateman.
Chasetown had barely been a threat to the Gresley keeper with most of the action at the other end with Jamie Barrett heading a cross from the right over the bar and O'Connell shooting over from Graves' pass.
The first half ended with a corner from the left which was blocked at the near post with Mulonga trying to poke the ball into the goal. Surely the home defence would yield in the second period.
Sadly that was not the case as the second half belonged to the hosts who took the lead on 59 minutes. Using the stiff breeze blowing down the pitch a long free kick was launched which flew over the Gresley back line and Wellecomme raced forward and beat Turner to the ball and lifted it into the empty net despite the desperate attempts to prevent it.
Chasetown could have doubled their advantage 10 minutes later as a quick break ended with Nathaniel Waite shooting wide from a very good position.
Gresley were still trying to press forward but a goal seemed improbable as Chasetown defended resolutely and it took a mistake to get the Moatmen level. A quick throw-in on the right was lifted into the box by O'Connell which looked a certain claim for Bateman. However, the keeper fumbled his catch and the ball fell to Graves who somehow managed to push the ball to substitute Steadman, who had replaced Mulonga ten minutes previous, and he scuffed the ball into the far corner of the net.
A point apiece at this point would have been the right result but once again Gresley were the authors of their own downfall when some hesitant defending allowed home substitute Jazz Luckie to live up to his name and put his side in front.
In the dying minutes of the game Gresley did have a half chance to claim a share of the spoils but substitute Jack Langston could only head the corner from the left over the bar.
A thoroughly disappointing result for all those Gresley supporters who had made the relatively short trip to Cannock and they'll be looking for a big improvement from their side on Tuesday evening when Gresley entertain Sutton Coldfield Town - 7.45pm.
Manager's View
"Both keepers made mistakes but unfortunately our keeper made two. All through pre-season we've scored goals and today we created chances but weren't ruthless enough.
"I've told the players that this season we need to be ruthless in front of goal and ruthless at the back in our defending and be much stronger and don't allow teams back into the game.
"In the end we gave Chasetown a lifeline. They'd done nothing today; we've given them two goals which was very disappointing.
"The overall play I thought we did quite well particularly in the first half when we dominated the game. We created half a dozen good chances and have not taken them. Credit to their keeper as he put his body in there. Other times we've hit the target and the keeper's saved it. We've just got to keep going and beat ourselves up!
"I don't think there will be any players returning for Tuesday against Sutton. It will probably be the same squad. I'll have a chat with Wayne and Jamie about the team. We've brought a few players in but we're not going to panic. If we'd have played very poorly on the day and lost two-one I'd be more upset. I'm upset that we've lost but the way we played was encouraging."
