Evo-Stik South
Nanpantan Sports Ground, Loughborough
Tuesday, 17th April 2018, 7.45pm
Another Draw For Gresley
These rapid succession of games are starting to take their toll on the Gresley squad. Tonight Courtney Meade hobbled of with a thigh injury, Josh Egginton was on the end of an horrendous tackle which saw him head to A&E for what is thought to be 20 stiches in a thigh gash. Oliver Bassett limped off against Cleethorpes with an ankle injury.
To add to the manager’s woes Dexter Morris-Clarke had broken his wrist during the week but chose to play but was replaced on 35 minutes as it was obvious he wasn’t feeling comfortable which affected his performance. Alvin Jarvis was serving his final suspension and Danny Quinn is still on holiday.
As was expected Damion Beckford-Quailey made changes to try and keep his squad as fresh as possible as the games are coming quickly. Kane Lee and Connor Ward, who had impressed against Cleethorpes, took a place on the bench.
The Loughborough area must have had a sharp shower before the game as the immaculate pitch was quite wet on the surface and there was quite a stiff breeze blowing from end to end.
Gresley started the first half with the wind blowing into their faces and it had a say in Loughborough taking an early lead when Karl Demidh fired a long-range wind assisted shot and with the ball moving keeper Callum Hawkins, despite getting a hand to it, could do nothing to keep it out of his net.
Making use of the wind Loughborough continued to take the game to Gresley and Hawkins was needed on 15 minutes saving well from Demidh.
Just before the half-time break Egginton was on the end of an atrocious tackle by Demidh which left the young defender writhing on the floor. It was soon obvious that it was serious and Egginton was soon replaced by Mark Branch. Demidh was very lucky not to have been red carded as he’d previously retaliated against Matt Roome’s tackle. Disappointingly the referee took no action, not even a word!
Gresley came out for the second half with the wind at their backs. Lee replaced the struggling at the break and he was soon making an impression. A corner from the left by Tom Manship was headed back into the middle of the Dynamo box by Lee and Reece Morris, who had replaced Morris-Clarke, was on hand to ram the ball into the net from close in.
Seven minutes later Lee was the involved again. A long punt down the pitch by Hawkins was flicked on by the head of Lee superbly out wide on the left. Home keeper Charlie Taylor went dashing across to try and cut out the danger but Matt Melbourne beat him to it firing the ball into the unguarded net.
Hawkins did well again holding a good header from Sam Thorpe at his near post as Loughborough tried to level the scored. Demidh was given a yellow card for diving but Loughborough went down to 10 men when Carl Sibson was shown a second yellow card.
Loughborough was awarded a fortunate penalty when a trip was seen as being inside the area but even a Loughborough supporter admitted that the foul was outside the area as well as the travelling Gresley faithful. Demidh, who was extremely fortunate to still be on the pitch slotted home the penalty.
Shawn Richards had a chance to give Gresley the lead again but his well struck shot was deflected just wide of the far post. There was a scare at the other end for Gresley when a cross from the right rolled across the bar.
On reflection a draw was a fair result but the increasing injury count will give the management team some selection headaches as we run into the final five games as the reserve team lads also have a hectic finish to their season.
