Match Report  |  Heanor Town vs Gresley Rovers

Gresley Rovers celebrated victory in their first pre-season friendly of the 2022/2023 season with a 2-1 win over Heanor Town on a sun-soaked Saturday afternoon at the Town Ground.

Kane Lee’s 86th minute winner proved the difference after Mason Frizelle’s opener had been cancelled out by Lewis Rourke.

After Rovers’ scheduled friendly against Bromsgrove Sporting had been postponed last week, this was a first chance for supporters to watch their side since achieving promotion to step four.

It was a dominant start from Gresley, with the side moving the ball fluidly through the thirds, Albert Lansdowne playing an integral part in midfield as he sprayed passes out to the flanks from deep.

The first chance of the afternoon came when James Harrison and new signing, Kieran Wells linked up well on the edge of the box, with Harrison’s resultant volley skimming over the crossbar.

Niall Towle was also causing Heanor major problems in a more advanced role. The forward could have had three in the first 30 minutes - with the best of his chances spurned as he shot straight into the body of Rio Alberry.

In the 37th minute, Rovers would finally make a deserved breakthrough. Despite a couple of long throws already causing havoc in the Heanor defence, the home side did not heed the warning, and Alex Morris’ flick-on at the near post left Frizelle to poke into the net from close-range.

The lead would prove to be short-lived however, as a lapse in concentration at the back left Rourke with time and space at the back post. Initially, debutant CJ Underwood made a fabulous save to deny him, but had no such luck with the follow-up, Rourke blasting in the equaliser to make it level at half-time.

As is usually the case in pre-season, Carl Abbott and Paul Tomlinson named a different eleven for the second-half, and it took time for the new players to get acclimated with the game.

Heanor were the side now creating the better chances, and Rovers had to rely on the remarkable performance of Underwood to keep from going behind.

His best save came when the Town forward turned his marker on the box, before curling the ball towards the bottom corner, only for the young ‘keeper to palm it around the post.

A couple of late changes swung the momentum back into Gresley’s favour, with a trialist flashing the ball across the face of goal, only for nobody in a red shirt to be there to profit.

Rovers would grab a dramatic late winner, however, as Lee picked up the ball, danced past a defender and smashed a shot past Alberry into the top corner to seal a satisfying win over opposition that Gresley had struggled to deal with last season.