Gresley Rovers vs Chesterfield
Magic Martin – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
A bewildering array of talent went on display at the Moat Ground last night – but amid all the faces one player stood out above the rest.
Martin Devaney, the striker who has spent his Moat Ground career in the shadow of Gresley goal king Brian Beresford, emerged from the destruction of a bemused Chesterfield with four sweetly-taken goals that confirmed his status as the man to lead Rovers in their quest for the Banks’s League title this season.
Using no fewer than eight substitutes, Moat boss Frank Northwood tried different permutations all over the field but in attack, Devaney reigned supreme from the third minute.
An invigorating first half hat trick was in the offing from the moment the Stoke-based striker sprinted to intercept a ludicrous backpass from midfielder Richard Marriott and beat the keeper with a powerful, low shot.
Gresley’s grip on the Derbyshire Centenary Rose Bowl, a trophy they had lost on penalties a year before, tightened 15 minutes later at the climax of a spell of all-out attack in which there were almost as many Rovers players pushing forward as there were sitting on the substitutes’ bench.
Mark Bromley belted a crossfield pass to Clive Arthur on the right and Devaney met his dipping centre with a low volley that flew into the corner of the net.
Impressive newcomer Neil Lovell and Beresford had both had chances to add to the early score but lacked Devaney’s final touch. And that proved the case again in a one-sided first half as first Neil Mason, another debutant to impress in the middle, then Arthur and then Lovell again sent shots inches off target.
Devaney, too, was close to completing his hat trick with an effort that curled just the wrong side of an upright but it mattered not. On the stroke of half time Lovell set up Beresford with a chance to show his class on the right and Devaney homed in to convert the cross from point-blank range.
Northwood began a stream of substitutions at half time by introducing veteran defender Glenn West and front-runner Paul Acklam, but they were merely the vanguard of a whole stream of team changes of team changes enacted during the half.
Surprisingly, it wasn’t until the 80th minute that Gresley scored a fourth, Keith Hill – yet another substitute – charging down an attempted clearance by keeper Simon Harrison and netting with ease.
By this time the commanding presence of defender Ray Skeemer had been restored to the Rovers back line and it was the giant stopper that set up Gresley’s final goal, rising at the far post to meet Mallburn’s free kick from the left with a towering header that was on its way into the net before Devaney arrived to apply a finishing touch.
Poor Chesterfield and their loyal supporters deserved at least some consolation after such a hiding and full back John Tatham provided it in the dying minutes with a fine run and shot from the edge of the box.
Gresley Rovers (3) 5
Chesterfield Town (0) 1
Scorers: Devaney 3, 18, 45, 83, Hill 80 (Gresley Rovers); Tatham 86 (Chesterfield Town).
Gresley Rovers: Deville, Bottomley West 45), Williams, Laws (Mallburn 57) , Dolby (Skeemer 61), Bromley, Arthur (Acklam 45), Mason (Philpott 51), Lovell (Morgan 57), Berisford (Hill 70), Devaney.
Chesterfield Town: Harrison, Coyle, Tatham, Pashley, Stoppard, Marriott, Jones, Griesdale (Trueman 54), Lytham, Hollingworth, Ferguson. Subs not used: Brown, Hedley.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Martin Devaney.
Referee: G Stones (South Derbyshire).
Attendance: 310
