Gresley Rovers vs Bilston Town
James saves Gresley
Goalkeeper James Lindley proved to be the saviour of Gresley Rovers in the
FA Umbro Trophy replay last night against Bilston Town.
Man-of-the-Match Lindley made a number of fine saves during the game and then
saved a penalty in the penalty shoot-out to enable the Moatmen to progress into
the second round against Bedworth.
Gresley opened the first half with an immediate chance on goal. On 2 minutes
Richard Wardle made a fine run down the right, the ball flashed across the area
and Mark Peters was unlucky to see his shot crash against the upright.
There were opportunities for both Steve Hutchinson and Peters to put Gresley
in charge but the first half proved to be a dour affair with neither side capitalising
on the handful of chances. Lindley had to be on his toes to deny Lee Rollason,
Jason Smith and Stuart Leeding and Bilston's keeper was rarely called on until
just before half time when Jake Fairbrother caused him pull off a good save.
On 48 minutes both John McGinlay and Paul Fletcher were substituted by Chris
Parkins and Lee Westwood.
It was one of the substitutes, Lee Westwood, who could have got on the score
sheet. A crisp 25-yard shot from an Andy Bourne free kick tested Nathan Boswell.
Lindley was then called on to make two saves in quick succession first from
Leon Jackson and then Mark Habershaw.
On 66 minutes Chris Gray was brought on to replace Peters who only moments
early had been fortunate not to have been sent off after a very late tackle.
With 20 minutes left in the first half, Gresley began to apply the pressure
and if Bourne and Parkins had put their chances away the tie would have been
finished in normal time.
On 80 minutes Rollason looked odds on to put the visitors ahead but a first
class save by Lindley denied him and Smith should have done better with the
rebound but he put his shot wide of the empty net.
In the first minute of extra time Andy Cheetham was called on to clear a shot
by Rollason, off the line.
Gray had a chance but put his shot wide and then a volley by Hutchinson just
cleared the bar.
With only minutes to go Hutchinson, Cheetham and Bourne all had chances to
seal the replay for Gresley and avoid the dreaded penalty shoot-out.
Both sides scored their opening two penalties and then Jason Smith strode up
to take his. Lindley chose the right way and diving to his right pushed the
shot wide of his post.
The next two penalties were successful for each team and at 4 - 4 Bourne kept
his nerve to shoot Gresley into the next round.
The manager's view of the game
"Well we got through. It was not a great performance, both sides made quite
a few chances in the end. We made quite a few ourselves but did not take them.
"I thought James Lindley had a great game he was fantastic and he kept us in
it tonight by making some good saves. It was all down to the keeper who kept
us in the game.
"The biggest thing was getting through to the next round. The result was the
most important thing. I don't think the performance at times was great tonight,
we've seemed to have struggled in the last two games for some reason and I don't
know why.
"But we kept plugging away and we got the result. The lads have shown a lot
of resilience in the last couple of games and we've created some chances and
haven't taken them. They created some chances and didn't take them and I thought
it was a game where neither side was going to score.
"In the end it came down to penalties and the five lads who wanted to take
them hit five fantastic penalties. Then James popped up with a save and that's
what has seen us through.
"We can't grumble with that. But it was a game that could have gone either
way it looked as if it would be won by one goal.
"I thought the first half was poor and it was if we had carried on from Saturday
for different reasons. But they stuck to their task and I thought we played
better at times in the second half. We passed the ball, as I know we could but
the conditions were not the best for passing tonight and we seemed to over hit
the ball quite a lot. But when we did pass the ball we looked a better side.
"At the end of the day it's the result that counts and we're through maybe
a bit fortuitously and we can look forward to Bedworth away in the next round.
"We will need to raise our game on Saturday because I don't think we'd get
away that sort of a performance."
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Bilston Town (0) 0
After extra time: Gresley won 5 - 4 on penalties.
Gresley Rovers: Lindley, Wardle, Cheetham, Fairbrother, Woolley, Evans,
McGinlay (Parkins 48), Fletcher (Westwood 49), Bourne, Hutchinson, Peters (Gray
66). Subs not used: Bluck and Moran.
Bilston Town: Boswell, Leeding, Hillman, Stone, Benton, Baddams, Naylor,
Jackson, Habershaw (Lee 66), Rollason, Smith. Subs not used: Walters and Bastable.
Rovers
Star Man: James Lindley - First class.
Referee: C D Nook (Stourbridge).
Attendance: 290
