Match Report  |  Sporting Khalsa vs Gresley Rovers

Alfie Burley

Gresley Rovers suffered their second defeat to Sporting Khalsa in four days after an early goal consigned them to a narrow loss.

Harry Cunningham netted the only goal of the game in the 4th minute, sending a superb strike into the top right corner.

Rovers provided a much-improved performance to their disappointing display at the weekend, but a lack of clinical finishing left them on the end of another defeat to Khalsa.

Determined to redeem themselves following Saturday’s poor performance, Rovers attempted to start quickly but suffered a huge early set-back as they fell behind within five minutes.

After gifting possession to Khalsa, Cunningham strode forward unchallenged and swerved a magnificent shot past Fenney.

Gresley’s heads did not drop however, and they came close to an equaliser in the 11th minute when Jordan Francis found himself through on goal but could only put his shot straight into the body of Sam Arnold.

New signing Jazz Luckie was certainly proving to be a useful outlet up front, but Khalsa were organised at the back, repelling most of Rovers’ attempts to break them down.

From a free-kick, Khalsa nearly doubled their lead, but the influential Sean Williams saw his squared ball across the face of goal cleared away by Alby Lansdowne.

Going into half-time Rovers should have been level. Michael Williams created the chance as he brushed past a challenge before powerfully striking towards goal.

Arnold managed to parry away the effort but could only direct the ball straight into the path of Francis. The winger awkwardly headed towards goal, but with the ball about to roll over the line, Carl Franco produced an outstanding goal-line clearance to deny Francis his first goal in a Rovers shirt.

In the second-half Gresley continued to pile on the pressure, with Mason Frizelle volleying a free-kick over at the back post and Lucas Powell’s set-piece nearly forced Khalsa into an own goal.

Alex Morris also came close as Jordi Gough’s outstanding pass over the top of the Khalsa defence perfectly found the full-back, but Morris could only volley the ball wide of goal.

In the 78th minute frustration once again grew as Rovers wasted another magnificent opportunity. This time, with the ball bouncing around the area, Kieran Wells looked certain to score but found Arnold’s grateful hands with his close-range strike.

With Gresley pushing for an equaliser, Khalsa had the opportunity to kill the game off in the closing stages, but substitute Miracle Okafor failed to punish Rovers as he somehow blazed over the target despite having a virtually open net.

The home side would not prove to rue that miss however as they held out in injury time to see out another victory over Rovers and complete an early season double.