Match Report  |  Gresley Rovers vs Harrowby United

The silence around the Moat Ground was almost deafening as the referee’s whistle ended the game with supporters reeling over what had been hoped to have given Rovers some hope of survival in this so-called cup final, the news that filtered through that the side, Kimberley Miners Welfare, grabbing at their coat tails had leapfrogged them with a fine 4-0 win at home to Sleaford did not help the Moat faithful as they trudged out of the ground.

Rovers now only had Shirebrook behind then as the two relegation candidates.

Rovers looked like rabbits caught in the headlights as they found themselves three goals behind with less than 30 minutes on the clock due mainly to poor defending and unforced errors and the game already won by the jubilant visitors.

Fin Barker was back in the side after a brief period at Lichfield City and Jack Andrews was also in the starting eleven after suffering what looked at the time a serious injury collected at Deeping Rangers.

Rovers were caught cold on 4 minutes falling behind when a corner conceded from a miss hit back pass caused a scramble in the goal mouth and Lewis Marsh was able to stab the ball home from close in.

Within 8 minutes the home side were two down and again some more poor defending was to blame. Harrowby was allowed to get a cross into the box and Tom Harris gladly accepted the invitation firing home.

Rovers were shellshocked and were struggling to string any passes together or have anything like an attempt on goal themselves. The visitors sensed Rovers’ fragility and pounced again on 27 minutes. Another ball into the area resulted in a shot which keeper Harvey Woodward did well to block, but he could do nothing to prevent Taylor Gray from heading the rebound home.

Just after the half hour mark, Rovers created a half chance. Barker made a good run down the left and fired a low shot which was heading to the far bottom corner of the net but the faintest of touches from visiting keeper Alex Smith diverted the ball away for a corner.

Rovers were at last beginning to settle, and Jack Thatcher went close to reducing the deficit when he received a superb long diagonal cross pitch pass on the right but after racing forward his final shot flew the wrong side of the far post.

Rovers made a change at half-time with Phil Kowalski replacing Fortune Osaghae and to their credit their performance improved forcing two quick corners but without any end result.

Around the hour mark both sides made changes with Rovers replacing Jack Andrews with Will Scouthern and Harrowby bringing on Lord Marfo and Harvey Graves for Lewis Marsh and Issa Gaye.

The changes had made the game scrappy, but Rovers did have another couple of chances. The first fell to Sam Moore who fired wide from 22 yards and Barker following a good run down the right could only fire wide of the far post.

More changes came for both sides. Cyrian Mtenga and Barker replaced by Spencer Cook and Ethan Goodfellow and for the visitors Zac Hill and Joseph Nicolson for Jack Gurney and Harry Allcock.

In the final ten minutes Rovers were trying to break down Harrowby’s defence but with no luck and as they were pushing forward, they were caught out when substitute Graves couldn’t believe his fortune at the amount of space he’d been given and raced forward before beating Woodward with his shot to complete a dismal afternoon for Rovers.

The stats show that Rovers did not have a clear attempt on target whereas the visitors had just four and scoring four goals.

With all the remaining games being difficult, Rovers has an almost impossible task of trying to get the points they need to hang onto their step five status, but we can all live in hope.