Tividale vs Gresley Rovers
Martin makes his mark – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
A soccer version of Confucious once said: “Team that play badly and still win end up winning championship.”
If that’s the case, start backing Gresley for the Banks’s title now.
At muddy and uninspiring Tividale, Rovers were far from their sparkling best and it was only down to hard work and individual strengths that they eventually wrested two points from a side that will shock more than a few teams this term.
Gresley’s one purple patch came in the first half when they recovered from the body blow of conceding an early goal to take the lead and assume an almost total command up to the interval.
But when Tividale threw an extra man forward at the start of the second half Gresley looked seriously stretched and the win they so badly needed looked unlikely until Brian Beresford bagged his 23rd goal of the season just twelve minutes from the end.
So Beresford claimed the glory again but the real heroes of the victory that kept the Moatmen a nose ahead in the title chase were Jon Laws and Martin Devaney.
Both worked like Trojans to keep the Gresley boat afloat and if Devaney took the man-of-the-match award, Laws was a close second.
Both were involved in Gresley’s 15th minute equaliser – stand-in keeper John Wayte having been left powerless to stop a sixth-minute opener from Clinton Bennett after some indecisive defensive work in the Gresley penalty area.
Rovers’ response came when Devaney freed the excellent Rob Philpott on the left and, when keeper Mark Adams completely lost his low cross, Laws slid the ball in at the far post.
Five minutes later Rovers were ahead, Laws this time measuring his through ball to set Devaney free past a square defence to pick up on a slip from Les Prosser, round the keeper and run the ball over the line.
Gresley’s grip began to slacken after this and with Wayte’s handling sending jitters through the defence Tividale sensed a revival.
Ian Pearsall had already rescued his side twice with timely clearances when Steve Guest’s corner got a deadly near-post flick on and Rovers stood like statues as Paul Whitehead buried the equaliser.
Then when John Bottomley freed Beresford the striker’s control let him down when a goal would have done very nicely.
Instead, Rovers’ battling back four in which Ian Early replaced Mark Bromley after the interval in an attempt to snuff out Tividale’s wing threat, had to sweat blood until Devaney escaped down the left and threaded in a low cross that Beresford clipped home from a few yards out.
Tividale (1) 2
Gresley Rovers (2 3
Scorers: Bennett 6, Whitehead 53 (Tividale): Laws 15, Devaney 20, Beresford 78 (Gresley Rovers).
Tividale: Adams, Rosser, Kettle, Noakes, Stokes, Hill, Ingram, Hickman, Guest, Bennett, Whitehead. Sub not used: English.
Gresley Rovers: Wayte, Bottomley, Bromley (Early 50), Pearsall, Dolby, Devaney, Arthur, Philpott, Laws, Beresford, Taylor.
Rovers’ man-of-the-man: Martin Devaney.
Referee: B J Smith (Sedgeley).
Attendance: 50
