Derbyshire Senior Cup 1st Round
The Moat Ground
Tuesday, 8th October 2024, 7.45pm
Rovers Hit Five
On a horribly wet evening at the Moat Ground, Gresley Rovers strolled into the next round of the Derbyshire Senior Cup.
Rovers started well with Jamie Sleigh having a blistering shot tipped over the bar by visiting keeper James Roffey followed by Alby Lansdowne putting his effort wide of the post.
More pressure from the home side saw Jenson Cooper put through on goal but was denied by the legs of the keeper. Finlay Barker was causing problems for the visitors, and he went close cutting in from the left before having a shot well saved by Roffey but their was no stopping Rovers seconds later when Barker made another fine run down the wing and put a low cross into the box which slipped home at the far post to give his side the lead.
Rovers almost doubled their advantage on the half hour mark. A cross from the right was fumbled in the box by Roffey and not cleared leaving Sleigh to smash his shot goalwards only to see the ball crash off the near post.
A rare attempt by Sandiacre from Yaya Dembele needed to be dealt with by Rovers’ keeper Louie Turner who blocked the shot at the near post.
Sandiacre made several changes at the start of the second half, but it was still Rovers having the better of the play with Kane Lee forcing a good save from Roffey. Goal number two was the result of some good play from Rovers. Dylan Hunniford bursting run through the middle saw him pick out Sleigh to his right who in turn put the ball low across face of goal and Cooper was on hand to slam the ball home at the far post.
On 54 minutes Sandiacre went close with Farbod Yousefi forcing a save at Turner’s near post. Harrison Solomon was making run after run down the right and went close firing across the face of the goal.
A couple of minutes later the lights went out as an area power outage put everywhere in darkness. When the power resumed Rovers made several changes and they continued the pressure on Sandiacre and that pressure paid off as a result of another good run down the right and the ball played into the area for substitute Ethan Goodfellow to run onto before beating the keeper with his well struck shot.
Goal number four came from the penalty spot after Barker was upended in the area giving the referee no option but to point to the spot. The kick was taken by Sleigh who powered his shot straight down the middle giving Roffey.
Barker, who had caused the visiting defence problems, got a goal himself on 82 minutes making a blistering run from the left and ending the move with a well struck shot past Roffey.
With the game almost at an end the visitors had a couple of chances to decrease the deficit with Prestyn Moore’s well stuck shot coming off the bar and a corner from the left to substitute Limar Carlin who back heeled a clever flick that just flew the wrong side of the far post.
