Evo-Stik Division One South
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 6th December 2014, 3.00pm
Both Sides Make A Point
On a bitterly cold afternoon both sides served up a well contested game which ended with a fair result.
With only one point between them in the league it was expected to be a tough test for the Moatmen and so it proved to be.
Gresley took the lead minutes before the break only for their visitors to peg them back minutes into the second half.
Home manager Wayne Thornhill made changes to his line-up bringing skipper Jamie Barrett back into the back line and with Kieran O'Connell suspended Ryan King and Luke Edwards led the front line with Jack Langston and Alex Steadman either side of them.
New signing, Chris Richards was on the bench alongside fellow new signing Jake Carlisle and Lucas Harrison who has now completed his three match suspension.
On a sticky surface following a harsh frost over night, both sides started the game with tempo. Rangers' Dan Cope received a yellow card for a nasty tackle on Matt Roome which, on another occasion would have been a straight red. That tackle caused a nasty gash down Roome's leg which would see the defender substituted at the break.
Rangers were unlucky not to have taken the lead on 23 minutes when James Dance hit a dipping shot over the head of Ross Atkins only to rattle the crossbar.
Seconds later they went close again when Ryan Edmunds made a good run down the right and fired a low cross across the face of Gresley's goal and it needed a fine clearance from Hayden Johns on the far post to clear the danger before it could be tapped home.
Gresley had their chances one of which came from a corner on the left by Jack Langston which Mitch Hanson got his head to but the effort went wide of the far post.
Langston took another corner ten minutes later but this it was to pay dividends. He curled a corner in from the left and it went straight into the net as keeper Adam Whitehouse appeared to help the ball over the line.
Deep in time added on Rangers went very close to levelling but Gresley keeper made a superb block to deny Cope.
Gresley were forced into a change for the second half as the gashed leg Roome suffered was more serious than first thought meaning a trip to hospital for treatment.
Rangers came out for the second half determined to get back into the game and Cope went close again but planted his header wide of the far post.
However, the visitors didn't have long to wait for the goal they were looking for. A corner from the left by Alex Curtis was put in the perfect place in the middle of the box for the onrushing Christian Dacres to power his header into the net.
Gresley went close to regaining the lead a couple of minutes later. Martin Smyth hit a volley which Whitehead did well to tip over the bar.
The home keeper then needed to show he was on form also when Atkins managed to parry Dance's stinging shot.
Another chance appeared for Gresley but during a scramble in Rangers' box no home player could get the vital touch to knock the ball into the net.
It was the turn of Rangers' Simon Everall to go close. Despite looking a yard offside when the ball arrived to him over on the right he could only put his low shot wide of the far post.
The action swung to the other end when substitute Richards laid the ball back for Smyth but again the effort went wide of the mark.
With time almost up Gresley had to be thankful to Atkins once more when Curtis found himself one-on-one with the keeper but Atkins made himself big to superbly block which surely would have been the winner.
It would have been very harsh on Gresley should that chance had been converted as a share of the points was in the end a very fair result.
Manager's View
"It was a very difficult game. They came not to lose the game and they could possibly have won it with the chances they had. We were determined to do a similar thing and not lose the game and get a result but a draw was a fair result.
"Matt Roome has had to go to hospital because of a nasty gash high on his shin from a very naughty tackle in my opinion in the bottom far corner. It produced a booking but if you'd have seen the injury it's actually a sending off. We are awaiting news from him so we've got to wait and see.
"The referee wasn't too bad today. He spoke to you about the decisions he was making. He did make one or two mistakes in my opinion but the opposition manager would probably say the same thing. I thought he was quite fair and with him explaining his decisions as a player you can accept that a bit more.
"It was a game of not too many chances for both teams. They probably had the better of the chances but we had opportunities to score particularly in the second half. Martin Smyth had a nice little move on the edge of the area with young Chris Richards but unfortunately it didn't go in for us. At the other end Ross Atkins did what Ross Atkins is good at and made a great save to keep us in the game.
"There will be a number of changes for Belper on Tuesday. All the subs who were on the bench today will start. We will try to keep it fresh and keep the dressing room nice and happy. We want to give some of the fringe players some pitch time because we are going to need them in the coming months and we'll see where it takes us squad wise.
"Our league is quite tight at the top at the moment. Leek, Mickleover and Sutton Coldfield are the favourites. Leek are another tough team. We did well against them at the Moat last season so hopefully we can repeat that. Well come out and set our stall out to be nice and positive and try and take our chances which we're not doing of late.
"Kieran O'Connell will be back on Tuesday to get him some minutes and see if we can get him scoring again because he hasn't scored in the last few games. It's a nice pitch at Belper and we can certainly play how we want to play on the floor and try and pass the ball.
"It was a bit of a battle today. We tried to play but it didn't happen for us today.
"Mitch Hanson was magnificent today. Hes been our best player so far this season in my opinion. He doesn't like playing centre half but he's been excellent. He holds our team together and along with our skipper Jamie Barrett who returned today which was very important talking wise and organisationally wise. They are a good combination together.
"Jake Carlisle can feel a little unfortunate to be left out today. He was excellent last week for a young man making his debut in a FA trophy game against a team that is a league higher. However, I had to bring my skipper back in who is an organiser and can speak to people and who can start demanding off the players and Jamie does that.
"Jake is an excellent player. He's only eighteen and he came to us to get some games. Unfortunately, I couldn't use him today but he will certainly be playing on Tuesday from the beginning. I may give Mitch a bit of a rest because he has a few little knocks and niggles. He can have a clear week off and hopefully he'll be fit for the Leek game.
"Today we were at home so I feel it was two points lost. However, I'm not too disappointed with the result because they are a good side and they'll do well this year."
