Gresley Rovers vs Tipton Town
Daley star! – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Gresley Rovers tottered on the very brink of an embarrassing defeat at the Moat Ground last night.
Having set out at a canter, the runaway Bank’s League leaders finished at a crawl against a Tipton side determined to make nonsense of their lowly standing.
In the end the crucial difference was the enduring class and experience in midfield of £1m man Steve Daley.
The ability to slow the game to his pace in the closing stages helped Rovers to frustrate Tipton’s fightback and left Moat supremo Frank Northwood wearing a relieved smile afterwards.
“I thought we were much the better side but their enthusiasm carried them through. We outplayed them in the first half but then let them back into it and at the end of the day I’m happy to have won the points – but didn’t Daley do well.”
The educated right foot that has led the midfield maestro from Wolverhampton to Gresley via Manchester, Seattle, Burnley, Rhyl and Kettering soon emerged as Rovers’ main weapon as the Moatmen set out to make it nine wins in 11 league starts this term.
But 13th placed Town were no lambs to the slaughter and it took a highly fortuitous 12th minute penalty to break their early resolve.
Midfielder Joe Jackson was sprinting away from goal when defender Tommy Paskin stuck out a boot on the edge of the area and sent the lanky playmaker sprawling. Referee Rzepkowski pointed immediately to the spot and skipper Steve Dolby crashed the ball past Keith Garrington’s right hand.
The Tipton keeper was kept on his toes after that as Rovers rained in shots but there was again an element of fortune as the advantage was doubled on 26 minutes.
Daley’s right-side free kick to the far post put defender Neil Moroney under such pressure that he could only head back across his own area to present Keith Hill with a simple opportunity to score his first league goal for Gresley with a close-range header.
Tipton battled manfully on without giving Bob Aston too much to do and Gresley were robbed of a third goal only by Paskin’s scything tackle on Hill as the striker raced clear, bringing the referee’s pencil into action for the first time of the evening.
It was always likely that Rovers were going to run out of steam after the break with question marks hanging over the fitness of so many key players in the middle.
Sure enough, with Guy Hall’s lack of match practice beginning to show, Jackson losing his sense of direction and the excellent Neil Lovell forced to drop into defence to cover for the injured Mark Bromley. Rovers, after an early blitz in which Hill, Acklam and Jackson all shot close to the target, began to look ragged.
Tipton were quick to exploit the additional midfield space that became available and, with 23 minutes still on the clock. Kevin Mullander’s speculative effort from well outside the box bobbled badly on the six-yard line, deceiving the diving Aston and ending up in the net.
Two minutes later Paskin’s effort from a similar range produced a fine diving save and beads of sweat on the brows of Rovers’ nervous fans, although Dolby should have settled the issue when Jackson’s shot was cleared off the line to his feet only for the ball to end up well over the bar.
An equaliser seemed certain when Bob Cook burst past the Rovers captain at the other end but the striker miskicked horribly. Then in the dying moments, Nigel Littlewood had a similar chance after picking up a suicidal backpass from substitute Chris Hill but again the shot was well wide.
Gresley Rovers (2) 2
Tipton Town (0) 1
Scorers: Dolby (pen) 12, K Hill 26 (Gresley Rovers): Mullender 67 (Tipton Town).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Dick, Bromley (C Hill 60), Skeemer, Dolby, Hall, Jackson, Daley, Acklam. K Hill, Lovell.
Tipton Town: Garrington, Billingham, Paskin, Mullender, Moroney, Smith, Day, Winsper, Powell (Fox 72), Cook, Littlewood.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Steve Daley.
Referee: K L Rzepkowski (Great Barr).
Attendance: 330
