Match Report  |  Gresley Rovers vs Harborough Town

Rovers suffered a night to forget at the Moat Ground as their visitors Harborough Town stormed to the top of the league, beating their hosts by six goals.

On the face of it Rovers could have been thought of as being thoroughly beaten but after conceding an early goal they played well and we equalling the highflying Harborough.

Rovers were doing well and holding their own until the 64th minute when home keeper Harvey Woodward was shown a straight red card for preventing a goal scoring chance as he came rushing out of area and bringing down substitute Amar Sandhu.

Having no goalkeeper on the bench, defender Alby Lansdowne donned the gloves for the rest of the game and his side’s task was now extremely difficult against one of the title favourites.

It was Rovers who had the first chance of the game on 8 minutes when Jamie Sleigh was in on goal but scuffed his shot wide of the upright. Four minutes later they had another chance, this time Lansdowne tried a bicycle kick from just outside the area and saw his effort fly narrowly wide of the post.

Town took the lead on 14 minutes. A ball was played to Joel Carta on the right of the area, but his shot was well blocked by Woodward, but the rebound fell kindly for Jordan Crawford who tapped the ball into the net.

Rovers continued to try and press and from a free kick on the right it was met in the area, but the header went wide. The action was end to end with the visitors having a shot well saved by Woodward and at the other end a corner from the right saw a shot cleared off the line by a Harborough defender.

Woodward was kept busy as the first half was drawing to a close. A quick break ended with Carta finding Crawford but the final shot brought out another good save. Harbough threatened to increase their lead when Crawford beat the Rovers back line, but Woodward came to the rescue again with another fine save.

On 54 minutes the visitors made their first change with Sandhu replacing Isaiah Bazeley and it was this substitution which turned the game. Ten minutes after coming on he found himself up ended by Woodward and Rovers’ hopes of getting anything out of the game ended as they would find it a very stiff task against the meanest defence in the league.

The makeshift keeper was soon in action making a superb save to push a fearsome strike onto bar, but he could do nothing to prevent Carta from doubling Harborough’s advantage as he beat a defender before slipping the ball past Lansdowne.

The game was virtually ended on 77 minutes when Rovers’ former player, Alex Morris, headed home number three from a corner. To the big defender’s credit there was no celebrations after his goal.

For the final 10 minutes Rovers were under siege and the pressure told as Harborough scored three more in the final six minutes or so through Dan Forbes and a double from Sandhu despite Lansdowne trying his very best to prevent anymore goals going past him.

A night to forget for Rovers, but their efforts were appreciated by the majority of the crowd.