Gresley Rovers vs Malvern Town
Time for new blood at Gresley – Rex Page – Burton Mail
The tine may have arrived for Gresley Rovers’ manager Frank Northwood to dust down his magic wand and conjure another of those high-class signings around whom his reputation has been built.
For at the Moat Ground on Saturday recent suspicions that his side might be one or two quality players short of being welded into West Midland League title material were confirmed.
Such is the standard being set in the championship tussle that Rovers can ill afford to drop points in front of their own supporters, not least against modest opponents floundering in the bottom half of the table.
Yet, disturbingly, Gresley lacked the armoury to blast apart a team that had to battle for the last 15 minutes with only ten men after midfielder Andy Price had been dismissed for his second bookable offence.
Rovers, it must be said, were never in much danger of losing, though a tame back header from Mark Bromley almost made it an afternoon of utter misery.
Winston Bailey nipped in to seize onto the unexpected opportunity in the 70th minute, but to Bromley’s obvious relief lifted the ball high and wide with only Martin McNamara to beat.
In truth, Gresley’s major problems were in midfield, where they lacked the ingenuity to prise open the massed ranks of Malvern’s defence.
Tommy Thompson worked has hard as ever, but John Laws and Paul Dearn merely nibbled away at the fringe of the action and as a result Rovers created few genuine chances.
Just as worrying, top scorer Brian Beresford again demonstrated that his finishing touch has temporarily deserted him.
After grabbing a dozen goals in what seemed like no time at all, Beresford has been absent from the scoresheet in five games since hitting a hat trick in the victory over GKN Sankey on October 8th.
And with Dave Butler lacking the penalty area service on which he thrives, Rovers were at times made to look distinctly ordinary.
Malvern, of course, made matters all that much harder by the very nature of the way they chose to play the game.
They defended in depth whenever danger threatened and made good use of an offside trap that Gresley were never able to fathom.
And Malvern’s continual spoiling tactics dovetailed neatly with an over-fussy display of refereeing to produce a game that overflowed with frustration and interruption.
Unfortunately, Gresley were dragged down to the level of their opponents after a highly promising flurry of early pressure had proved unrewarding.
That is not to say that Rovers were not without their chances, particularly in the closing stages when the dismissal of Price – for his second bookable foul on Ian Earley – and the introduction of Roger Davies for the labouring Dearn brought the match back to life.
But Davies , like Beresford and Clive Arthur before him, scorned the opportunities that were carved out of a granite-like Malvern defence in a furious final assault.
It was not to be Beresford’s afternoon. In the opening stages he delayed his shot long enough for Mark Hingley to produce a sprawling save at his feet and at the death, the Gresley striker had what appeared to be a perfectly good goal disallowed for offside.
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Malvern Town (0) 0
Gresley Rovers: McNamara, Attley, Earley, Bromley, Dolby, Thompson, Arthur, Dearn (Davies 65), Butler, Beresford, Laws.
Malvern Town: Hingley, Pulley, Osbourne, Langford (Campbell 84), Kerby, Chambers, Bailey, Hall, Round, Price, O’Shea.
Referee: P Cox (Coventry).
Attendance: 281
