Gresley Rovers vs Rushall Olympic
Gresley cash in on super Mart – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Like someone throwing a hand grenade into a mill pond on a quiet summer’s afternoon, Martin Devaney completely ruined the tranquillity of the Moat Ground on Saturday afternoon.
With little to speed the adrenalin or excite the senses, the temptation had been to settle back into a quiet corner and enjoy the South Derbyshire sunshine as 22 men sweated and struggled to no apparent end.
Rovers, though, despite the cynics who would apparently complain about having nothing to complain about if that were the case, still have an interest in the destination of the Banks’s League title – although it took Devaney’s wonder strike to remind them.
The Stoke-based striker lashed the ball home with such precision and power after Dave Morrison and Steve Dolby, newly-converted to the midfield, had helped on Mark Bromley’s through ball that he almost succeeded in bringing the game to life.
“It came to me and I just hit it,” was Devaney’s modest assessment of the strike afterwards, although he agreed: “It could be vital.”
“I was pleased to score especially as I didn’t know until I turned up at the ground whether I’d be playing or not,” said Devaney, who had been suffering from a groin strain all week.
A good job he did play, for he seemed the only man on the field capable of hitting the back of the net.
Gary Stevens and Joe Jackson, both creative in the middle but lacking in the goal area, were doubly guilty of missing Rovers’ best other chance after keeper Andy Hughes had failed to hold onto a stinging free kick – from Devaney, of course.
Rushall, though, had even less to offer and Bob Aston was not called upon to display his abilities until three minutes from time when he leaped spectacularly to intercept a cross from the right wing.
Not that the game was entirely without its amusing moments. Referee Smith produced one of the highlights of the afternoon when he span spectacularly in the Rovers penalty box to indicate a free kick and brought his fist sharply – and accidentally – into contact with the chin of Rushall’s Bob Simcock, sending him crashing to the floor.
It was a punch that Neville Brown would have been proud of and one that Simcock deserved for being one of several players apparently more intent being petty than getting on with the game. And getting on with the game is what they should all be doing at Gresley with the Banks’s League title now well within reach after Tamworth’s shock defeat on Saturday.
Gresley Rovers (0) 1
Rushall Olympic (0) 0
Scorer: Devaney 57.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Dick, Bromley, Dolby, Skeemer, Page, Jackson, Stevens, Morrison, Devaney, Laws (Hill 45).
Rushall Olympics: Hughes, Page, Beeton, Clarke, Knapton, Seddon (Rawlins 85), Cant, Simcock, Poole, Wakefield, Ansell.
Rovers man-of-the-match: Martin Devaney.
Referee: J Smith (Stafford).
Attendance: 206
