Match Report  |  Gresley FC vs Sporting Khalsa

Report by Alfie Burley

Gresley fell to a comfortable 4-1 defeat as Sporting Khalsa showed a clinical edge to hand the Moatmen their second defeat in three.

Two strikes in three first-half minutes from Gurjit Singh and Sean Williams handed Khalsa a 2-1 lead at the break after Kyle Parchment’s strike gave Gresley hope. In the second half however, a freak goal from Liam Armstrong and a late strike by Josh McKenzie ultimately wrapped up the points for the away side.

The opening 15 minutes of the game was a very drab affair with neither side settling into the game very well at all. Yet, in the 24th minute the away side would grab the lead out of nothing.

After winning possession from Louis Briscoe, the lively Gurjit Singh cut in from the right hand side before firing a fairly innocuous shot at goal. However, the strike managed to deceive Jack Forrest and slot in at the near post.

Hitting the front didn’t deter Khalsa from pushing forward, however, as they doubled their lead just a minute later. A headed clearance from McLane Durdey fell kindly to Sean Williams whose volleyed attempt bounced awkwardly in front of Forrest who could only watch as the ball glided over him and into the back of the net.
The scoring, remarkably, wasn’t over yet. After what had been a poor opening, the game had burst into life and Gresley managed to give themselves hope of a comeback with a goal in the 29th minute.

Jake McIntosh’s long ball managed to pick out Joe Haines who, after calmly chipping his man in midfield, chipped the ball over the static Khalsa defence to the lively Parchment. The striker managed to beat ‘keeper Sam Arnold to the ball and proceeded to roll the ball into the vacated net.

This proved to be the last of the goals in this flurry of scoring, but there could well have been more. Sean Williams nearly found the bottom corner with his powerful header following McKenzie’s cross, and Kyle Parchment once again beat the offside trap but took too much time and had his effort charged down by a retreating defence.

Any hopes of a comeback for Gresley in the second half were dealt a massive blow early on however, as a horror moment for Forrest gifted Khalsa their third. An in-swinging corner from Liam Armstrong looked like it would be calmly punched by the debutant, but the ball was lost by the young ‘keeper and floated into the net.

This freak goal seemed to rock Gresley as they struggled to hold onto possession for the remainder of the game. One thing that did not halt however was the dangerous pace of Kyle Parchment. Once again he managed to leave the Khalsa defence for dead, only to be denied by a brilliantly recovery block.

Yet, the next goal would go to the away side well and truly killing the contest. A threaded through ball from midfield found McKenzie, who despite protestations from the Gresley defence, was deemed to be onside. As the forward raced away he struck and managed to squeeze his effort through the legs of Jack Forrest.

With the game gone McDermott did bring on youngsters Harry Heartfield and Nathan Bowen for substitute appearances, and, despite bright sparks, they failed to ignite an unlikely comeback and Gresley fell to a third straight game without victory.