Gresley Rovers vs Heanor Town
Beza’s back with two-goal warning – Richard Whitehead – Burton Mail
Brian Beresford silenced the speculation about his Moat Ground future by firing the goals which put Gresley Rovers in the semi-final of the Derbyshire Senior Cup – and sent a shiver down the spine of every defender in the Banks’s League.
Beresford ended a week which almost saw him turn his back on the Moatmen by scoring his first goals of the season to keep Rovers’ search for silverware advancing on all fronts.
And in a performance which showed that all his old sharpness is rapidly returning he roared a warning which roughly translated, meant: “I’m back in business.”
But afterwards the striker whose whole season has been cruelly hit first by an eye injury and later by the success of Martin Devaney and Keith Hill preferred to keep a diplomatic silence about the reasons behind his near defection to neighbours Stapenhill.
However, if Beresford can continue the revival in his fortunes Rovers boss Frank Northwood could turn out to be more grateful for the contribution of a man who is quite capable of scoring 25 goals between now and end of the season.
Saturday’s second goal just three minutes from the end of a compelling quarter-final broke Heanor Town’s spirited resistance and spared Rovers the unwanted nuisance of a replay.
Hill created the mayhem in the visitors’ defence with a typically destructive dribble and when Neil Lovell drove the loose ball across the face of the goal Beresford was on hand to nudge it over the line from a prone position..
The depth of Heanor’s despair was obvious from the way several players thumped the ground in bitter disappointment – a reaction which was not lost on Northwood: “It was a cup final to them and that’s how they played,” he said.
“I’m just glad to have got through. I thought the lads battled well enough but obviously such a heavy pitch doesn’t really suit our style of play.”
Considering the absence from the starting line-up of Joe Jackson and Martin Devaney because of injury and Guy Hall and Kirk Jennings because they were on the bench it was a reasonable Rovers performance.
But Northwood will still be concerned that just like the RSSC Ransomes replay and the League Cup tie with Oldbury his side failed to make obvious extra quality really count.
It might have been different if they had not gone behind in desperately unfortunate circumstances when Jon Laws clearance hit Donald Wilkinson and rebounded straight into the path of Glyn Stacey who took advantage of his luck to bury a shot past Bob Aston.
Rovers could have been in trouble had Stacey not put a much easier chance wide three minutes later but fortunately they were level within five minutes of falling behind.
Clive Arthur intelligently fed a free kick low into the near post and Beresford showed the touch of a master craftsman to deftly flick it home.
Even then the slaughter which looked on for the first 20 minutes might still have materialised if only Heanor keeper Robert Palmer had not stopped Jon Laws’ weakly-struck 42nd minute penalty.
After the break though Heanor got stronger as Rovers lost their way several times only the intervention of the mightily impressive Aston prevented the Central Midlands League side grabbing the initiative.
Gresley Rovers (1) 2
Heanor Town (1) 1
Scorers: Beresford 25, 87 (Gresley Rovers); Stacey 20 (Heanor Town).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Bottomley, Dick, Page (Hall 70), Dolby, Bromley, Arthur (Jennings 64), Laws, Hill, Beresford, Lovell.
Heanor Town: Palmer, Thompson, Black, Dady, S Mann, Gore, Leblond, Wilkinson, Duffy, Spooner, Stacey (Wetton 82). Sub not used: P Mann.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Martin Dick.
Referee: D Redshaw (Chellaston).
Attendance: 310
