Match Report  |  Gresley Rovers vs Anstey Nomads

Rovers suffered their third six goal home league defeat of the season as visitors Anstey Nomads put them to the sword.

The gulf between a side which is pushing for the league title and one which is deep in a relegation battle was clear for all to see. Having just six attempts on target Nomads showed their finishing prowess by scoring from each of them. In contrast, Rovers could only muster one attempt off target and none on target.

Rovers were short of four players for this game which was always going to be a challenge against the visitors with arguably some of the best forwards in the league. Missing were John Guy and Jamie Sleigh due to other commitments, Chris Jones injured and Alby Lansdowne due to family commitments.

After some sterling work from ground staff to get the pitch playable after all the recent rain, and in front of a good holiday crowd Nomads made a quick start as was expected, and soon had Rovers under pressure and on 17 minutes the pressure told when a shot was well blocked only for the ball to ricochet nicely into the path of Freddie Robinson who calmly stroked his low shot into the far corner of the net. More pressure followed with the visitors putting a header from a corner narrowly over the bar.

Rovers did try to apply some pressure themselves forcing the first corner of the game taken by Nathan Banton but a long clearance led to goal number two on 24 minutes. The long punt landed at the feet of Luis Rose with only one defender to beat and despite trying to deny the dangerous Rose the Nomad man got the better of the encounter before running forward and converting his chance easily with Rovers’ stopper unable to prevent the goal.

Rovers were finding it hard to try and subdue a side brimming with confidence with wave after wave of good attacking football with Rose and his attacking partner Nyle Blake causing all sorts of problems for the home defence, but it was Robinson who increased the advantage. A run down the right ended with a low pass played into Rovers’ area to the unmarked midfielder who had time to pick his spot before rifling his into the bottom corner again giving Woodward no chance.

A couple of minutes later it was four. A run down the right was finished off this time by Corey Armeni with a stinging shot. Rovers looked shellshocked and looked grateful when the referee ended the first half before anymore damage could be done.

Both sides made changes early in the second half with Darien Wauchope replacing Joel Woolfe for Anstey and Dylan Hunniford replacing Martin Smyth for Rovers. Unfortunately, the change did not prevent further goals from their visitors.

Robinson completed his hat trick on 53 minutes firing in from the edge of the area to give his side a five goal lead and the scoring didn’t stop there with Rose claiming his second goal of the game just five minutes later running onto a long ball which split the home defence leaving the danger man with just Woodward to beat which he did comfortably.

More changes were made for both sides and Rovers started to put some pressure on Anstey for the final fifteen minutes or so without carving out a chance or really testing the keeper. Indeed, it was the visitors who went close with Armeni heading a cross just over the bar.

A rare chance was at last created by Rovers with a ball from the left falling for substitute Richard Hanslow but somehow, he put it over the bar from a good position in the center of Anstey’s goal.

Towards the end of the game, the rain had returned and was getting heavier completing what had been a dismal afternoon both on and off the pitch for Rovers whose relegation dogfight got all the more difficult after conceding so many goals, despite results from teams closest to them also ending in defeats.