Gresley Rovers vs Tividale
King Clive rounds off Moat spree – RexPage – Burton Mail
If the extent of a team’s title potential can be measured in terms of the ability to dispose of modest opposition with ruthless efficiency, then the rest of the Banks’s League Premier Division should heed the warning delivered by Gresley Rovers at the Moat Ground on Saturday.
It is, of course, much too early to be thinking in terms of championship trophies, but on the evidence of the first skirmish of the infant campaign, Rovers will again be a force to be reckoned with.
Rovers’ title challenge last season perished not so much as a result of points lost against their major rivals, but because of those carelessly sacrificed against teams from the lower reaches.
Assisted by a Clive Arthur hat trick, Rovers looked like a team which will be not so nearly so accommodating this term.
True, Tividale paraded an obliging defence to make the scoring of goals a fairly leisurely occupation , but Gresley could easily have been engulfed by a false sense of well-being after a sprint start had given them the lead after only five minutes
Instead, they knuckled down to give the Black Country side a thoroughly uncomfortable introduction to the season.
The mobility of Martin Devaney and Keith Hill and, much later in the game, the powerful threat of substitute Paul Acklam were simply too much for Tividale to cope with.
The revelation was Arthur, who needed only five minutes to put a troubled 1986-87 campaign firmly behind him.
Devaney’s crossfield pass was deftly helped on by Neil Lovell though ultimately it was the errant Steve Kettle who presented Arthur with the opportunity to drive a 12-yard shot wide of Adams.
Gresley never really had to cast a backward glance from that moment as Mark Bromley surprisingly switched from the defensive role he had occupied in pre-season games – Jon Laws and the enterprising Lovell secured control of midfield.
Devaney a constant source of worry, was at the hub of the move which prefaced Gresley’s second goal in the 22nd minute.
A weaving run threatened to carry him into a scoring position until Gary Fullwood was tempted into a clumsy challenge to allow Arthur to smash home a typically brutish penalty.
The Devaney-Arthur partnership prospered again in the 51st minute, the winger this time benefiting from a delicate header which allowed him to cut inside the helpless Kettle and tuck a low shot between Adams and his left hand upright.
And, as if Arthur had not already contributed enough to Gresley’s cause for one afternoon, he resurfaced as a goal maker five minutes later.
A free kick from the left was chipped neatly to the near post for Steve Dolby to escape attention and leave Adams stranded with a glorious glancing header.
Gresley Rovers (2) 4
Tividale (0) 0
Scorers: Arthur 5, 22 (pen), 51, Dolby 56.
Gresley Rovers: Austin, Dick, Williams, Bottomley, Dolby, Lovell, Arthur, Laws, Hill (Acklam 71), Devaney, Bromley.
Tividale: Adams, Hickman, Kettle, Nokes, Fullwood, Delahay, O’Sullivan. Cole (Bennett 79), R Hill, Brookes, Harrison.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Clive Arthur.
Referee: W T Ellis (Wednesfield).
Attendance: 274
