Ilkeston Town vs Gresley Rovers
Molineux magic comes to Gresley – Richard Whitehead – Burton Mail
Midfield maestros Joe Jackson and Steve Daley conjured up two moments of inspiration to pierce the gloom around the Manor Ground and send Gresley Rovers into the quarterfinals of the Derbyshire Senior Cup.
The two men who once paraded their talents on the wider stage of Molineux scored contrasting goals of breathtaking quality to extinguish the challenge of Ilkeston Town.
In truth, though, something more mundane would have been quite sufficient to enable the Moatmen overcome an Ilkeston side who had nothing to offer only physical intimidation.
They were already leading through Keith Hill when Jackson provided the afternoon’s first moment of magic.
Ilkeston failed to pick up his superbly timed late run into the box to meet a left wing corner and he made them pay with a prodigious leap and a header of awesome power.
Not to be outdone, Daley came up with his own entry for any Rovers goal-of-the-season award two minutes after the break.
Hill intercepted Paul Baker’s attempted back-pass on the right-hand side of the area but although the Ilkeston defence were able to scramble the ball away from his feet it went only as far as Daley 25 yards out and he struck a first-time shot that rocketed into the top left-hand corner of the net.
After that superb strike had virtually booked Rovers’ place in the last eight they stepped down a gear noticeably and although they sloppily conceded a 77th minute consolation goal when an unmarked Stuart Wiggins saw a shot squirm through Bob Aston’s hands Ilkeston were never remotely in with a chance of getting back into the match.
Manager Frank Northwood’s after-match post-mortem centred on his side’s restraint in the face of Town’s bruising approach.
“I felt the lads did very well to stay out of trouble considering they got no protection at all from the referee,” he said. “It’s going to be a long hard season for us and the last thing we want is to pick up injuries and needless bookings.”
But while this was another competent Rovers performance Northwood and assistant Glen West have a couple of problems to wrestle with before tomorrow night’s League Cup tie at Hinckley and, more importantly, Saturday’s Moat Ground FA Vase showdown with Mile Oak Rovers.
They still have not solved the question of which duo form the most effective central-defensive partnership and on Saturday’s evidence the Ray Skeemer – Steve Dolby combination still looks the best bet.
And in the worrying absence of Martin Devaney they still lack a really potent partnership up front.
Saturday’s 90 minutes showed that Guy Hall is unsuited to the role and Paul Acklam could well be in line for a re-call this week.
Ilkeston Town (0) 1
Gresley Rovers (2) 3
Scorers: Wiggins 77 (Ilkeston Town): Hill 26, Jackson, 42, Daley 47 (Gresley Rovers).
Ilkeston Town: Waters, Kasiba, Price, Cuthbert, Baker, Bird, Miller (James 45), Orton, Wiggins, Mulholland (Gee 55), Stevenson.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Bottomley, Dick, Laws (Dolby 86), Skeemer, Sales, Jackson, Daley, Hall. K Hill (Devaney 62), Lovell.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Ray Skeemer.
Referee: P Robinson (Duffield).
Attendance: 250
