Evo-Stik Division One South
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Saturday, 25th October 2014, 3.00pm
Gresley Go Third
Gresley had to work hard to grind out three points against a determined Goole side and it took two second half goals from Eric Graves and Jack Langston to seal the points.
Caretaker manager Wayne Thornhill stuck with the same starting eleven which had beaten Tividale last Saturday with Luke Edwards and Kieran O'Connell overcoming injury scares.
Goole had made eight changes to their squad which had grabbed an unlikely three points at the Pleasure Gardens just four weeks ago.
Gresley started brightly and a header from O'Connell was grabbed by the Goole keeper Peter Fotko at the third attempt as Graves came running in for the loose ball.
Andy Gascoigne then fired a shot straight at Gresley keeper Ross Atkins and Atkins was quick to react making a fine block as Jordan Thewlis threatened at the near post just two minutes later.
Rob Mulonga was making a nuisance of himself down the flanks and managed to lay the ball back for Lucas Harrison who unleashed a thunderbolt of a shot from just outside the area which Fotko somehow managed to push over the bar.
Harrison went close again a couple of minutes later but this time at the wrong end of the pitch. The Gresley defender tried to clear a loose ball but instead fired a shot which clattered the base of the far post and luckily cleared away.
Gresley had a fair shout for a penalty when Mulonga raced into the area where he was clipped very slightly and he went down. The referee Alex Pashley was very harsh on the youngster showing a yellow card for diving and then bizarrely awarding a free kick to the visitors!
With the first half coming to a close both sides had chances to take the lead. Firstly Benny Igiehon managed to get in front of his marker but his shot was well saved by Atkins and then at the other end Graves was unlucky to see his shot fly the wrong side of the upright.
Thornhill was forced into an early substitution in the second half due to Matt Roome feeling unwell replacing him with Hayden Johns.
Mulonga carried on where he'd left off in the first half and his endeavour saw him put an inviting low cross into the area but there was none of his team mates on hand to tuck the ball into the net.
Gresley took the lead on 58 minutes. A short corner from the left came to O'Connell who put over a cross which was met by Graves at the near post whose header beat Fotko.
Alex Steadman then had a chance to extend Gresley's advantage when he was allowed to turn before hitting his shot wide. He then had another chance this time cutting from the right but again the effort went wide.
Thewlis was only an inch or so away from levelling for the visitors when his shot-cum-cross from the left sailed fractionally over the junction of bar and far post.
A cross from the right saw Steadman put a ball across the face of goal but again no team mate was there to capitalise.
The final five minutes or so was a tense time with Goole still trying to get something out of the game and they went close to doing so. Substitute Brad Grayson beat the advancing Atkins to the ball and poked it goalwards but Gresley substitute Johns had brilliantly read the situation and raced across to clear ball away.
Action at the other end saw O'Connell have a shot blocked at the near post but almost on the final whistle Gresley made the game safe. Graves found Steadman out with a good pass and the cross from the right came to Langston who hammered an unstoppable shot into the back of the net.
Manager's View
"It was pleasing to see both midfield players score today's goals. We started with two up front Kieran O'Connell and Luke Edwards who worked exceptionally hard. They are key to what we do know. We keep good shape and discipline and we start to attack properly.
"We created loads of chances against a difficult side who came with a game plan. They sat on the 18 yard box and played five at the back making it very difficult to break down. I'd have preferred the first goal to have come a little earlier than it did just to relax and calm everyone down but a result is a result and a two-nil win to us is a good result today.
"It was a second clean sheet on the trot here and that is what we are trying to do here. We've got a settled defence and keeper. We need at time to add a bit more defensive midfield than we did in the first half today.
"The second half, after a half time chat between them all, we sorted that out and tweaked our game plan a little and it seemed to pay off.
"Matt Roome said at half time that he felt unwell and was struggling. He said he wanted to give it five minutes in the second half but we knew he was struggling. I waited the five minutes and although he said he was okay I had to make the decision.
"It was pleasing to get Hayden Johns on. He's been good and he's been patient and had to wait for his chance and he got a few minutes and did well.
"We've got a number of home games coming up starting with Sheffield on Tuesday. We need to right a wrong. When we were up at Sheffield last month we passed the ball around quite well on that particular occasion but there were a few individual mistakes which cost us the game so we need to right another wrong on Tuesday night.
"We can build on our clean sheet and we've got another three points. We continue to improve and are working hard and hopefully we can take that into the Sheffield game.
"We've got some young players on the bench and I'm trying to give them minutes here and there when I can because that's the only way they are going to gain experience. One of these days I'm going to use them from the start and we'll see how they go.
"I've had players ring me wanting to come here which is good. But at the moment they are only irons in the fire."
