Northern Premier League Midlands
The Moat Ground
Saturday, 8th October 2022, 3.00pm
The Saints Grab The Points
Report by Luke Nurden
A valiant second half performance by Gresley was not enough as they fall to a sixth defeat in the league by a well organised St Neots side.
Early goals in both halves for St Neots thanks to a Lewis Fenney own goal and Robbie Mason earned them the three points.
An Alby Lansdowne goal in the second half was the consolation for the home side as they ended the game with 10 men after Levi Reid was sent off in the dying moments.
Despite early pressure by Gresley, St Neots opened the scoring after four minutes. A long throw by Aaron Smith got flicked on by Joe Tarpey at the front post and resulting headed ball was bundled over by Fenney into his own net.
Although being a goal down, Gresley still controlled possession with St Neots being happy to sit back with their one goal lead always looking to break forward on the counter-attack when the ball broke down.
Gresley’s first clear chance came in the 31st minute when the referee pointed to the spot, following a coming together by Gresleys’ Kieran Wells and Toib Adeyemi, with the latter denying a goal scoring chance for Wells.
Unfortunately, for Wells, he was denied from the spot with Jamie Greygoose pulling off a save low to his left.
Just before the end of the first half, Adeyemi was showed a yellow card for time wasting, highlighting St Neots’ game plan.
St Neots doubled their lead early again into the second half with Mason putting the ball into an empty net as the Moatmen failed to clear the ball away from a corner.
A subtle change in the system as Gresley sent Alex Morris onto the wing from centre half resulted in more attacking joy for the home side.
Wells came close from a long throw by Lansdowne with Greygoose pulling off a point blank save to deny the number nine.
Gresley pulled a goal back thanks to Lansdowne tapping in from close range thanks to an exquisite ball by substitute Joe Blowers.
The dark arts of the game came out from the away side with Jaiden Lott going into the referees book for impeding Fenney.
Gresley continued to pile on the pressure as Blowers came agonisingly close to equalising for Gresley as he nearly scored directly from a corner, with the crossbar denying a truly superb strike.
Greygoose denied Kane Lee with a good save to his right as Lee smartly spun his defender and hit the shot on the half volley.
Wells came agonisingly close to a late equaliser for the home side as his smart cushioned header was inches away from hitting the back of the net.
Fenney denied the away side a third in stoppage time as he saved a Trey Charles one on one.
The Moat men ended the game with 10 men as Levi Reid was sent off for last man offence as Gresley threw everyone forward for an equaliser.
What the manager thought
Two goals from the visitors, both in the early moments of each half, left Rovers with no answer after a strong but frustrating defensive display from St Neots kept Gresley at bay.
This frustration prevailed onto Rovers’ manager, Carl Abbott, as this disappointing result left him questioning the oppositions tactics going into the match.
Abbott said: “It was very difficult because they set up so defensively from kick-off.
“We dropped a goal early and it was always going to be difficult to break them down because I don’t think they came here to score a goal unless it was something like that or a counter-attack.
“They just defended with more and more bodies and we couldn’t create any space.
“I’m not happy today, not happy at all.”
The two early goals each side of the half from the visitors became the most pivotal moments of the match as Abbott described them as the turning point of the game.
Abbot said: “It changes everything because we’re left chasing the game.
“They are the most defensive side I’ve ever seen in non-league football at any level.
“Defending with a five [man defence] from the off like that. It’s like playing into a brick wall. There’s no space in the pocket, you can’t work anything through, there’s no space in behind.
“But it’s paid off for them today. When we played a ball in the box we didn’t make enough of it. I’m just bitterly disappointed today.
“It’s a tough one to swallow.”
Gresley assistant manager, Paul Tomlinson, believed that his side deserved to lose after a poor performance, coming off an outstanding 4-2 victory against Sutton Coldfield town the weekend previous.
Tomlinson said: “We need to be better in possession of the football, we played into their hands a little bit today, we just lumped balls into their centre-halves.
“We worked really hard but when we give away two goals like that you don’t deserve to win the game. We looked really good and comfortable in them first five minutes, but once that first goal went in we panicked and lost all of our shape.
“We deserved nothing out of that game today.”
