Gresley Rovers vs Tamworth
Mudlarks! – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Gresley slipped and slithered to a second successive cup defeat against arch-rivals Tamworth yet still hold hopes of a Banks’s Premier League and cup double.
The Moat Ground mud was as potent a foe as any for Gresley on Saturday but back-to-form striker Martin Devaney believes Rovers can get their own back when they meet their main title contenders for a second leg showdown.
“It’ll be a better pitch and we’ll be able to play a bit more football which should suit us,” said Devaney afterwards. “We tried to use the conditions to their best advantage today but at the end of the day I think we tried to do a bit too much at times and that could have been our downfall.
Tamworth certainly seemed better suited to the mud and after taking an 18th minute lead were happy to sit back and watch Gresley get bogged down.
Rovers were fuming when striker Mark Stanton curled a superb shot into the top corner of the net from the angle of the penalty area.
Moments earlier Brian Beresford had been blatantly fouled by defender Steve Cartwright as he strode through unchallenged onto Steve Dolby’s headed pass but referee Godfrey was unmoved by the home team’s penalty appeals – just as he had been in the second minute when Marl Bromley brought down Carl Rathbone at the opposite end.
Gresley did their best to respond positively and Joe Jackson, the Gresley player apparently least suited to playing in a swamp, flashed a shot inches wide from Devaney’s knock down.
Bob Aston came to Rovers rescue when he finger tipped Danny McCormack’s low drive round a post after Guy Hall had erred in his defensive duties, then there was more frustration for Rovers when the hard-working Neil Lovell saw his shot cleared off the line.
Brian Beresford struck the foot of the post after dispossessing the dithering Steve Cartwright but Gresley were finding it harder and harder to maintain any forward momentum despite Devaney’s big hearted efforts upfront.
The Stoke-based striker saw one effort pushed away by the keeper and another deflected off a defenders leg after a tremendous run by Keith Williams and Beresford’s flick on but at the other end Rathbone saw a shot go right across the Gresley goalmouth then found himself thwarted by Aston’s excellent reflex save.
Gresley’s gloom deepened when flu victim Martin Dick retired from the fray and as their will to win drained completely it took a goal line clearance by Williams to prevent Tamworth making next month’s second leg a formality.
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Tamworth (1) 1
Scorer: Stanton 18.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Dick (Bottomley 60), Williams, Hall, Dolby, Bromley, Laws, Jackson, Devaney, Beresford, Lovell.
Tamworth: Hemming, Lockett, Brown, McCormack (Maddocks 77), Foote, Cartwirght, Myers, Stanton, Rathbone, Gordon, Atkins.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Martin Devaney.
Referee: J L Godfrey (Chasewater).
Attendance: 835
