Derbyshire Senior Cup 1st Round
The Moat Ground, Church Gresley
Tuesday, 10th September 2019, 7.45pm
Senior Cup Exit
It was a bad day at the office for Gresley as they fell at the first fence in the Derbyshire Senior Cup beaten 2-0 by a resurgent Graham Street Prims at the Moat Ground.
The last three performances have been encouraging but despite signs of good football shown at times in this game the end result was disappointing.
As the new manager Dave McDermott explained in his after-game interview, his squad is not big enough to compete on four fronts with the priority being the league then the FA Vase so the upcoming league cup and Senior Cup game were the lowest on the list.
Still, it would have been good to have continued the mini run but they were beaten by a side who looked full of confidence and belief and they thoroughly deserved their passage into the next round.
McDermott made two changes from Saturday with keeper Ben Allsop returning after a holiday and Harry Heartfield in for the rested Jacob Sturgess.
It was soon obvious that Prims had not come to just make up the numbers and were soon pressing Gresley back and on 15 minutes took the lead.
A smart run down the right by George Lynam ended with a fine cross which found Oliver Grimshaw unmarked at the far post who duly then headed home past the stranded Allsop.
Conor Gater almost equalised immediately from the restart but his shot was blocked by the legs of the visiting keeper Danny Brown.
Despite a flurry of corners Gresley were finding it hard to find that penetrating ball which would open up the dogged Prims defending.
Prims’ Michael Fitzhough was denied by Allsop on 31 minutes pushing his effort away, but he was not to be denied two minutes later when Jake McIntosh brought down an advancing player in the area. Fitzhough sent Allsop the wrong way from the spot.
Gresley had a chance to get a goal back just before the break but Joe Haines’ shot was pushed away for a corner by Brown.
Prims came out looking for more goal in the second half with Fitzhugh firing wide and Lynam shooting over the bar within the first ten minutes.
More fruitless corners came and went for Gresley and McDermott made two changes with James Harrison replacing James Bennet-Tindall and minutes later Jordan Fitzpatrick replacing Heartfield. A further change was made on 70 minutes with Devante Reittie replacing Nehemia Zazi.
Reittie had only been on the pitch a minute or so when he struck a well-aimed shot which appeared to be heading towards the goal only to take a deflection and away for a corner.
Prims had a chance to add to their tally with just a couple of minutes remaining when they were awarded a free kick from the edge of the ‘D’ but Fitzhugh fire over the bar.
There was one last chance for Gresley but David Leak headed Haines corner wide.
