Gresley Rovers vs Worksop Town
Sunshine Special! – Rex Page – Burton Mail
This may not quite have been Gresley’s finest hour, but in recent years at least they can have enjoyed few more notable victories.
Whatever else may happen in this years FA Cup, Rovers will find a special place in their memory for a rare moment of glory.
Victory over Worksop Town, comparative giants from the Multipart League, in the second qualifying round could have opened the door to the improbable prospect of Rovers reaching the fourth qualifying round.
That milestone is tantalisingly within sight. More precisely, it will be reached if Alfreton Town can be beaten at the Moat Ground in three weeks time.
A minute from the end of Saturday’s game, however, such a prize seemed a distant hope as the sides headed towards a midweek re-union in North Nottinghamshire.
It was then that the real drama of the afternoon unfolded on an unsuspecting crowd. Clive Arthur played the ball to the edge of the area where Tommy Thompson engineered an opening with a deft little flick.
Suddenly, Brian Beresford was surging into a scoring position. Former Burton Albion defender Phil Annable was torn between a full blooded challenge from behind and risk the grave risk of a penalty.
In the event, Annable achieved neither as Beresford shrugged him off and squeezed a low shot inside Eddie Green’s right hand post from ten yards. There were just 30 seconds left.
Worksop probably felt hard done to, yet in truth they had only themselves to blame for failing to capitalise on their superiority either side of the interval.
More significantly – and surprisingly perhaps – Rovers finished the stronger side, climaxing their most profitable spell with the goal that brought pandemonium to the usually sedate Moat Ground terraces.
It was a game to send the purist home purring with delight, but there was no shortage of incident and the output of both teams was impressive on an afternoon plucked straight from the pages of a package holiday brochure.
The first half was played at an almost suicidal pace and it appeared that Gresley would be made to pay dearly for the effort they exerted in the opening 20 minutes.
Worksop soaked up persistent pressure and then caught Rovers undermanned in defence to carve out the one real chance before the interval.
Gary Marrow escaped from the halfway line and when he squared the ball into an unattended penalty area, Steve Adams was left with the simplest of chances to give Worksop the lead.
Astonishingly, the much-acclaimed Tigers winger scooped the ball over the bar from barely more than six yards out.
Nonetheless, the game seemed to be going Worksop’s way and Gresley had another escape early in the second half when Gladwin thumped a 25 yard shot against the bar.
With new central defensive partnership of Steve Dolby and Melvyn Pegg now starting to weld itself into an impressive unit, however, Gresley refused to yield to another spell of sustained Worksop pressure.
And Rovers suddenly found inspiration from a bizarre incident half way through the second half.
Dave Butler unleashed a powerful drive, which Green seemed to have covered until the ball leapt wickedly off the bumpy surface and smashed into his face.
From that moment onwards Green found himself much the busier of the two keepers.
With 15 minutes left he produced the save of the game as Gresley stepped up the pace again in a final bold bid to snatch victory.
Brian Attley drove in a free kick from the right and the ball came off a defender to Dolby, whose instinctive right foot shot looked all the world a goal until Green sprung to his left to complete a remarkable stop.
Gresley Rovers (0) 1
Worksop Town (0) 0
Scorer: Beresford 89.
Gresley Rovers: McNamara, Attley, Bromley, Pegg, Dolby, Thompson, Arthur, Earley, Butler, Beresford, Steele. Sub: Dearn.
Attendance: 450
