Evo-Stik Division One South
Victoria Pleasure Ground, Goole
Saturday, 20th September 2014, 3.00pm
Vikings Fight Back
This was yet another frustrating game for the travelling faithful as they snatched defeat out of the jaws of victory. Two-nil up just after the hour mark and looking comfortable to claim their first points on the road.
However, six minutes later Goole scored and from then on, to be honest, there only looked to be one winner and unfortunately it wasn't Gresley.
Gresley was forced into making two changes at the back with both Jamie Barrett and John Guy suspended. Included on the bench was new signing Kyriakos Themistokleous.
Gresley started well with Kieran O'Connell forcing an early finger tip save from keeper Peter Fotko. O'Connell went close again but his goal bound shot was deflected for a corner.
Goole were finding hard to contain their visitors and it was Martin Smyth the next to go close curling a shot just past the far post.
The first goal came for Gresley and it ended a good move when Eric Graves found Luke Edwards who scored his first goal for the club firing the ball across Fotko and into the far bottom corner.
Almost on the stroke of half time Smyth was denied by the width of the bar when he noticed Fotko off his line and he tried an audacious shot over the head of the keeper from the half way line only to see his tremendous effort bounce on the top of the bar.
Gresley went even closer as the referee had his whistle in his mouth when Alex Steadman made a run down the left sending in a low ball which Edwards almost connected with at the near post.
O'Connell went close again early in the second half when he stole the ball off Fotko but his shot on goal was cleared off the line by Mohammed Sabo covering well.
Gresley doubled their lead when O'Connell made a run down the left and picked out Graves who took a couple of touches before hammering the ball past the keeper.
It looked like Gresley were cruising and maybe they thought they'd already won the game when Goole's manager Curtis Woodhouse made two further substitutions to the one he made at half time, which changed the course of the game in his side's favour.
The Vikings got back into the game when Lucas Harrison was forced into a mistake and the Goole player put a superb cross into the box and Richard Adams headed powerfully past visiting keeper Alex Townsend.
Two minutes later Gresley failed to clear the ball and it came back to substitute Brad Grayson who turned and smashed his shot home to level the scores.
O'Connell provided Jack Langston with a chance to give the visitors the lead once more but Langston's volley narrowly cleared the bar.
Goole looked the more determined of the two sides and they went looking for a winner themselves and almost got on when Townsend was forced to parry a stinging shot but there was no Goole player quick enough to respond to the rebound.
Time was running out but there looked only one winner in the final minutes with Goole pressing forward at every opportunity and they took the lead with three minutes remaining. A long throw from the left was launched into the area and the ball fell kindly for substitute Billy Law who fired home through a crowded box.
The final goal came deep into extra time with Gresley going flat out to try and get at least a share of the points. They forced a corner which was cleared and the visitors were completely stranded with just Jack Langston the sole defender on the half way line.
The ball was launched forward to substitute Luke Hinsley, who got the better of Langston and then Townsend who had come rushing out of his area to try and snub out the danger, and steered the ball 30 yards into an empty net.
Manager's View
"For seventy, seventy five minutes we were very compact, disciplined and a good shape and when we got the ball we tried to play a little bit. It's not the easiest surface to play on but we still tried to knock it about.
"First half I thought we were excellent. We went forward with power and scored one of the best team goals I've seen for a while.
"For the last twenty minutes we had a mad two minutes and Goole got back to two-two. We pulled it back together a little bit and then they struck with the final two goals.
"I'm struggling to explain how or why that happened apart from a little bit of desire to keep the ball out of the net.
"Matt Roome is a very competent player, very experienced and I had no issue with him playing at centre half. I spoke to him earlier in the week and worked on things in training around our defensive shape including our midfield four and as I've said for seventy five minutes it worked really well and Matt was a major part in that sitting alongside Mitch Hanson, two very experienced players.
"We were in control for long, long periods of time. I can't explain Goole's goal and still trying to replay them over in my mind - where they came from. I've been told they had just four shots on target and that's about it. There is nothing we can do about that now but just move on.
"At around the seventy minute mark they made two substitutions and tried to change the dynamics of the game. They didn't change their formation or style of play but the substitutes they brought on influenced the game. They worked harder and had the chance to impress their manager.
"We were quite comfortably with it. When they changed we adapted quite well and there were no real issues. They then nicked a goal and we seemed to lose our heads for a couple of minutes and they nicked another one and then we really did lose our heads. Eventually we got it together and in trying to win the game we actually lost it.
"It wasn't my order to try and win the game like we did. It wasn't my idea to leave us so light at the back. I was a little annoyed with the corner; it didn't miss the last man which wasn't very good from us with so many players forward. The players made that choice themselves to throw so many bodies forward and leave the back so open. Even them we had three challenges when I thought that goal could have been stopped but we weren't strong enough to deal with that situation.
"We've now got three home games out of the next four and I've just said to the players that I'm sick of saying that because we perform well enough away from home to get points but for some reason it doesn't just work for us.
"Like I've already said for seventy minutes today I thought we were excellent and created chances but we've ended up letting them have four shots on goal and they've won the game which is unacceptable at any level.
"I'll be making some changes. I'll be making some phone calls over the next couple of days to see if I can shore something up at the back. That's not to say any of the back four were to blame for any of the goals today because I thought they were excellent. We had to build that back four just this week. We have things we need to work on and we possibly need to bring in one or two players."
