Match Photos
Atherstone United vs Gresley Rovers
This game will be more remembered for the ‘interesting’ refereeing decisions than anything else.
It was the home side that made the first chance as early as 3 minutes but a shot from a free kick went narrowly wide.
On 4 minutes Gresley had their first of numerous chances that came their way. Andy Bourne made a fine run through the middle and his shot was very well palmed away for a corner by Dale Belford.
Five minutes later Gresley went close again and it was the lively Bourne causing the problems for the home defence. He made another searching run down the left and his cross was just a fraction high for Jamie Barrett.
On 14 minutes a flighted free kick by Gary White was somehow scrambled away by the panicking home defence. The ball then flew to the other end as Carl Slater was robbed of the ball as he dwelt on it a little too long and fortunately for Gresley the Adders’ striker could only blaze the ball high and wide.
On 29 minutes the Adders took the lead against the run of play and it was an awful piece of Gresley defending that handed it to them.
White uncharacteristically sent an abysmal backpass wide of James Lindley and Chris Day nipped in to punish the mistake.
However, the home side did not enjoy their lead for long. On 36 minutes Carl Timms collected a through ball by Bourne easily rounded the sprawling Belford and looked odds on to slot home his first goal for the first team but the youngster was scythed down by Peter Barry and the referee had no choice but to show the red card. Richard Wardle made no mistake of the spot kick sending Belford the wrong way.
Three minutes later it was 2-1. Gresley put some good moves together which ended with Bourne sending in a cross from the left which Barrett finished from close in.
Just on the half time whistle came the first ‘interesting’ booking. It appeared that Belford’s boot had split and he could not take a goal kick. The referee indicated that he was about to blow for half time but Belford protested and was booked for his trouble.
On 50 minutes Timms made a good run down the left and his cross was met by Barrett but his shot just clipped the outside of the post with Belford beaten.
Two minutes later another panic in the home defence almost gave Gresley a third goal. A White free kick was headed towards the net by a home defender but Belford did extremely well to get a hand on and turn round the post for a corner.
On 53 minutes another ‘interesting’ refereeing decision. White was robbed of the ball by Day and endeavoured to win the ball back by sliding in to a tackle. Day was not amused and went to throw a punch at White but was held back. The referee went to his pocket and amazed and shocked everyone when he showed the red card, for what he called after the match “serious foul play”, to White but chose not to even speak to Day who had already been booked for a vicious foul on Mark Peters.
Gresley continued to press forward and on 55 minutes Bourne did well to control the ball but shot just wide of the mark.
On 68 minutes Wardle made a good run and his shot-cum-cross found its way to Bourne and his cross had to be hurriedly headed away for a corner.
On 72 minutes Adders defender Joe Squires failed to clear the ball and Peters put Bourne through on goal but the evergreen Belford again excelled himself making one of his numerous fine saves of the match.
Belford was needed again to keep the score down when after a long kick by Lindley, Bourne found himself one-on-one again with the keeper. But it was the keeper who came up trumps yet again.
Atherstone tried their hardest to get on terms and it took some determined defending by Andy Cheetham to deny them and in the dying seconds of the game Kevin Charley fired over the bar from 25 yards.
Atherstone can be thankful to the enigmatic Dale Belford for keeping the score down but also that Gresley has yet to sort out a striker who knows where the net is.
The manager's view
"We created enough chances today. Andy Bourne could have had ten. Their goal was a sloppy goal to concede and apart from that they did not create much. I don't think they were ever dominant in the game in fact we gave them a lot of small things like silly free kicks.
"I felt we dominated the game but I wondered if the ref might try and even things up after their sending off. I told my players not to do anything silly and them the first heavy tackle and our man gets sent off.
"I can't understand the booking for Gary White. The referee sent him off for a double footed tackle but he was sliding across the ground!
"And why did their keeper get a card? His boot had busted and he was telling the ref and the ref booked him for taking too long over the goal kick! I can't believe some of the decisions.
"I thought Andy Cheetham did well even though he's just getting over the flu. He's been in bed all week with it and if you'd have seen him after the warm-up it was written all over his face that he didn't really want to play. I think he'd have been quite happy if I'd have told him to sit on the bench. But I though he was absolutely magnificent.
" I thought Jamie Barrett and Andy Bourne did well up top. We just need to work harder to score goals. We've got to convert our chances.
"I told them that we would create chances today. We always do. There's not many games were don't create many chances. But we've got to realise that we've got to stick them in the back of the net.
Atherstone United (1) 1
Gresley Rovers (2) 2
Scorers:Day 29 (Atherstone United); Wardle 36 (pen), Barrett 39 (Gresley Rovers).
Atherstone United:Belford
, Hadley, Wagstaff, Barry
, Peake, Blastland, Martin, Davies (Genner 71), Carpenter (Langford 81), Charley, Day(Squires 71). Subs not used: Wrazek, Dutton.
Gresley Rovers:Lindley, Moran, G White, Parkinson, Wardle, Cheetham, Peters, Slater (Newsome 62), Barrett, Bourne, Timms. Subs not used: Hopkins, Kitching, Roberts (gk).
Rovers Star Man: Andy Cheetham - solid performance again.
Referee: R Burton (Northampton).
Attendance: 265
