Wolverhampton United vs Gresley Rovers
Little tonic for Rovers – Richard Whitehead – Burton Mail
Gresley Rovers emerged unscathed from the most bizarre 90 minutes of the season – then listened in astonishment as news of their title rivals filtered through.
While Rovers were finding the hardest possible route to two points at Wolverhampton, events at Tamworth, Blakenall, and Tividale were combining to thrust them back into pole position in the Banks’s League championship race.
You would have got fairly long odds at 3 o’clock against the Moatmen struggling to beat United, Tamworth losing at home to Westfields, Oldbury dropping a point at Blakenall and Halesowen Harriers only drawing at Tividale.
But that’s exactly what happened to put Rovers back in charge of their own destiny and make tomorrow night’s Moat Ground showdown against fourth-placed Lye Town vitally important.
For much of an incredible afternoon it looked as if Rovers would join the afternoon’s high-flying casualties.
After half-an-hour of brilliant but fruitless domination they were stunned by a two-goal burst which sent them in at half time staring defeat in the face.
And when Clive Arthur missed a penalty in the first minute of the second half it looked as if the wounds inflicted by those defeats against Emley and Tamworth were too deep to heal quickly.
But astonishingly Rovers then conjured four goals in 11 minutes, needlessly conceded a third to throw the game back into the melting pot then finally soothed the jaded nerves of the travelling supporters with a fifth goal two minutes from time.
Manager Frank Northwood was predictably practical afterwards: “We defended very badly and all three goals could and should have been avoided.”
He will also have been concerned about the lack of killer instinct in that first 30 minutes in which football of breathtaking quality produced nothing but a close-range Steve Dolby shot which hit the post.
It seemed that the goals must arrive but nobody would have expected it to be at the other end, where first Graham Stokes and then Savron Anastasi cashed in on defensive hesitancy to put United two goals ahead.
Fortunately it took Rovers just 11 minutes of the second-half to grab a goal back and predictably it only needed one to start the rush.
First Martin Devaney ended his recent famine by emphatically heading home Joe Jackson’s inviting cross then the influential midfielder grabbed the equaliser by deftly flicking home Gary Steven’s near-post corner. Only a minute later Stevens put Rovers ahead with a half-hit shot which left United keeper Kevin Mycock rooted to the spot.
Neil Lovell’s ceaseless industry down the left earned it’s reward when he dived to head home Jackson’s cross after some more Stevens guile had opened up the defence.
Anastasi increased Rovers’ defensive discomfort by creating and taking a chance out of nothing but the final chapter in a remarkable story was appropriately written by Lovell who repeated his early-season Moat Ground double against the same opposition with a firmly struck acute angle drive.
Wolverhampton United (2) 3
Gresley Rovers (0) 5
Scorers: Stokes 35, S Anastasi 41, 72 (Wolverhampton United); Devaney 56, Jackson 61, Stevens 62, Lovell 68, 88 (Gresley Rovers).
Wolverhampton United: Mycock, Oakley, Jenkins, Mound, Newell, Birch, Weston, Perrins, Stokes (C Anastasi 78), S Anastasi, Morris.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Arthur, Williams, Hall, Dolby, Stevens, Jackson, Lovell, Hill, Devaney, Bromley. Sub: Abbott.
Gresley men-of-the-match: Joe Jackson and Neil Lovell.
Referee: G Banwell (Eccleshall).
Attendance: 120
