Match Report  |  Hanley Town vs Gresley Rovers

Alfie Burley

A hat-trick for Kieran Brown guided Hanley to a convincing 5-1 win over Rovers, sending them through to the 1st Qualifying Round of the FA Cup.

Rovers’ FA Cup dream can to an end earlier today when a superb trio of goals from Kieran Brown, and strikes from Thomas Ashton and Brian Barton finished off a comfortable rout for the hosts.

After defeating Wellington 2-0 in the Extra Preliminary round, and holding Racing Club Warwick to a 0-0 draw last week, there were few signs Rovers would capitulate defensively like they did.

Rovers actually played some good football in the first half and put Hanley onto the back foot. It was the hosts who did have the better of the early chances, however, as Kyle Stubbs shot just wide from 30 yards after stepping out of defence.

Gresley’s front three certainly did pose a threat, however, when they clicked. Briscoe’s neat little pass into the feet of Kolodynski was taken by the winger who spun and slid the ball through to Sullivan. The skipper went for power instead of placement, and the shot rebounded off the chest of Ben Chapman.

Chapman, in fact, was the only thing standing in the way of Rovers and the opening goal. The ‘keeper pulled off a superb acrobatic save to deny Mason Frizelle from a header via an inswinging free kick.

Moments later, however, the home side would benefit from their goalkeeper’s heroics by profiting off of some lax defending. A ball upfield squirmed loose in the box, and Brown was quickest to react. Fending off the attention of Frizelle, the striker beat Joe Fryatt to the ball and slid it past the approaching ‘keeper.

Yet, Rovers’ response would be quick and decisive when in the 44th minute, three minutes after Hanley’s opener, the scores were level. Briscoe managed to pick out Sullivan’s run into the box, and the striker learned from his past mistake, and went for placement, lightly chipping the ball over Chapman and into the back of the net.

A manic end to what was a largely dull first half concluded right on the stroke of half-time. Lazy defending from a corner kick allowed Joshua Beaumont to nod down to Brown, who bagged his second of the afternoon with a simple side footed finish.

The second half started in the same fashion that the first ended, with Timothy Sanders forcing Fryatt into a low save, before Joseph Thompson blazed over from the edge of the box.

In the 65th minute, Rovers would see their FA Cup hopes fade as Fryatt dallied on the ball in the box, and when robbed, pulled Brown back to concede a penalty. Substitute, Niall Cope stepped up, and despite a good save from Fryatt, Kieran Brown was on hand to complete his hat-trick at the near post.

Gresley attempted to claw their way back into the tie, but Danny Munday’s looping header was cleared off the line, before a shot from Sullivan was saved low to the right.

The introduction of former Premier League star, Ricardo Fuller sealed it however, as he created Hanley’s fourth. The striker fed Ashton who fired high into the net to all but guarantee Town’s place in the First Qualifying Round.

They would even get a fifth, Barton coming off the bench to jink past five or six Rovers defenders to slide past Fryatt and seal the rout for the Stoke-based outfit.