Northern Premier League Midlands
Pack Meadow, Packington Lane, Coleshill
Monday, 15th August 2022, 7.45pm
Defeat On The Road For Rovers
Alfie Burley
Coleshill Town 2-0 Gresley Rovers
Gresley Rovers suffered their first defeat of the new season in a 2-0 loss at Coleshill Town.
Goals from Liam Molesworth and Kai Tonge either side of the half time interval ultimately sealed the three points for the home side.
Molesworth’s effort in injury time of the first half came as a cruel blow to Rovers who had, up until that stage, defended astutely.
This seemed to knock Gresley as they conceded quickly after the break, as Kai Tonge broke behind Rovers’ back line before slotting past Fenney.
Coleshill started the game the brighter, zipping the ball around with purpose as their front three linked up well.
Gresley were solid however, showcasing their defensive quality as they limited the home side to very few opportunities, with Kyle Jardine’s free-kick the only thing to trouble Fenney.
Yet, with half-time on the horizon, Bailey Aisthorpe was harried into a weak header back towards his own goal which Molesworth pounced on. Subsequently taking it past the covering defenders, the striker stabbed the ball past Fenney to hit Rovers with a harsh sucker punch.
Rovers responded at half-time by bringing Kane Lee on, but quickly found themselves two behind in the 49th minute.
Having given the ball away in their own half, Tonge punished Rovers. The pacy winger stormed past his marker before firing low into the far corner.
Gresley fought hard in search of a way back into the game, but Coleshill looked the more likely to grab the third goal of the contest.
Substitute Isai Marselia caused Rovers all sorts of problems, and after robbing Brandon Patterson of the ball inside the defender’s own 18-yard box, the striker was only prevented from scoring by some alert goalkeeping from Fenney.
In fact, the forward would have been sick of the sight of Gresley’s number one, as Fenney denied Marselia two more times in the closing stages. First, Fenney parried his shot after the striker had found some room just inside the box.
Then, after out-muscling his marker, Marselia turned and unleashed a snapshot which Gresley’s shot stopper was also equal to.
The closest Rovers came to getting on the score-sheet was in the 88th minute when the hard-working Kai Moore acrobatically hooked an effort over the crossbar after a free kick had been nodded on by Alex Morris.