Gresley Rovers vs Hinckley Athletic
Just in time – it’s Beresford – Rex Page – Burton Mail
The patience and persistence of Gresley Rovers on an afternoon when their most fluent form escaped them was rewarded with their fifth successive win in the Banks’s League.
But it was a desperately close run affair at the Moat Ground on Saturday when, for the second game in succession, only a last-gasp goal from Brian Beresford prevented a vital point from slipping from their grasp.
Two weeks ago Rovers’ most prolific scorer kept their title challenge alive with an injury-time penalty at GKN Sankey.
And Gresley’s latest act of brinkmanship broke the hearts of durable Hinckley when Beresford snatched an 89th minute winner.
This was a game Frank Northwood’s men wanted to win in style to avenge their defeat at Middlefield Lane last autumn.
A 4-0 setback was their most damaging of the season, ending their unbeaten league run stretching way back to Boxing Day 1985.
Yet on Saturday, Hinckley apparently benefited from a sort of divine inspiration after arriving with the wrong kit and borrowing the strip in which Rovers had marched to runners-up spot last season.
Their height and strength seemed much more suited to the heavy conditions as Rovers laboured to find a forward gear in a nondescript first half.
Marin Devaney lashed a left foot shot against the bar after 24 minutes and Gary Stevens had a goal disallowed four minutes before the interval because the ball had crept out of play in the build-up to confirm early suspicions that this would not be one of Rovers’ better afternoons.
Still, they stuck to their guns and after the interval Hinckley found themselves having to cope not only with more severe pressure but also with the loss of their beat forward Dave Whalley, hurt in a 61st minute collision with keeper Karl Austin.
Jon Laws, increasingly influential in midfield set up a chance for Gary Stevens but Athletic had an astonishing escape when the little striker’s close range shot rebounded to safety off the underside of the bar.
But with Clive Arthur failing to capitalise with inviting space on the right flank, Rovers seemed incapable of exploiting a retreating defence. In fact, they all but threw the game away in their desperation to get more players into attacking positions.
A swift counter-attack by Athletic caught Gresley short of cover, but Kelly Ferrar thumped Mark Taylor’s cross against the foot of the post.
Ferrar’s agony was completed a minute from time when Beresford gave an eye-opening demonstration of the art of goal scoring.
Laws succeeded where Arthur had so often failed on the right flank, delivering a low cross for Beresford to steal in at the far post and prod in the winner in his own inimitable style.
Gresley Rovers (0) 1
Hinckley Athletic (0) 0
Scorer: Beresford 89.
Gresley Rovers: Austin, Bottomley, Bromley, Devaney, Dolby, Sales, Arthur, Philpott, Stevens, Beresford, Laws. Sub: Earley.
Hinckley Athletic: Whitehouse, Willis, Scoular, Allen, Lambert, Simpson, Hill, Hammond, Whalley (Walle 61), Ferrar, Taylor.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Jon Laws.
Referee: D E Eden (Streetley).
Attendance: 336
