Blakenall vs Gresley Rovers
Frank faces a selection headache – Richard Whitehead – Burton Mail
Gresley Rovers roused their championship challenge from enforced hibernation with an efficient demolition of struggling Blakenall – and left manager Frank Northwood with a giant FA Vase headache.
Northwood watched his side secure two more precious points towards the most important of all their objectives but will now have a week to puzzle over the best combination to take on Emley in Saturday’s FA Vase showdown.
The poser was tossed into the manager’s lap by returning midfielder Gary Stevens who began his second spell in a Gresley shirt by scoring the all-important second goal and superbly making the third.
Now Northwood must decide whether or not to tamper with the combination in order to find room for the mercurial talents of the available again Joe Jackson.
And up front he must sort out whether to start with the bustling aggression of Keith Hill or the more refined skills of the out-of-touch Martin Devaney.
Northwood, however, was typically reluctant to talk about his thorny problem: “It’s something I’ll be giving some thought to over the next week,” he said. “I have one or two options which I’ll consider in the light of what I find out about Emley.”
Northwood was more specific on the subject of the performance: “I felt the lads did well particularly after falling behind. I was really pleased with the way Gary Stevens fitted in.”
On a day when main title rivals Tamworth were turning in yet another high-scoring performance against fellow challengers Halesowen Harriers it was vital that Rovers came away with a maximum haul.
For a short time it looked as if that might not happen when Steve Bowater’s superbly struck shot from the edge of the area in only the second minute flashed into the left-hand corner of the net.
But that blow merely inspired the Moatmen to their best spell of the match and several times they came close to equalising before Gary Thacker pushed a backpass wide of keeper Mark Civil and Brian Beresford nudged the ball into the empty net.
A continuation of the sort of pressure seen before that goal could have turned the game into a rout but Rovers strangely seemed to lose their rhythm and it was half way through the second half before the killer second goal arrived.
The excellent Martin Dick planted a free kick high into the box and Stevens, the shortest man on the field, skilfully directed a downward header into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
Blakenall were there for the taking after that and the predictable third came when Stevens raced down the right and cut the ball back to Beresford who accepted the chance with cool economy to record his eighth goal in four games since his comeback from injury.
Blakenall (1) 1
Gresley Rovers (1) 3
Scorers: Bowater 2 (Blakenall); Beresford 25, 75. Stevens 68.
Blakenall: Civil, Thacker, Taite, Peach, Middleton, Hopkins, Bowater, Hadley (Simpson 69), S Davies, Fitzpatrick, M Davies.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Dick, Bromley, Hall, Dolby, Page, Laws, Stevens, Hill (Devaney 65), Beresford, Lovell.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Martin Dick.
Referee: P J Brookes (Wordsley).
Attendance: 250
