Match Photos
Gresley Rovers vs Shepshed Dynamo
For the neutral this game had plenty of goals and end to end football. However, in the first twenty minutes it looked as if Shepshed were going to be on the end of an embarrassing Boxing Day thrashing as their hosts played them off the park. But, and full credit to the beleaguered side, they raised their game in the second half and fully deserved to leave with at least a point.
The scoring started as early as 2 minutes when Andy Bourne sent in a terrific cross and Gary White, totally unmarked, headed in from close range.
Gresley were dominating the opening exchanges and on 7 minutes Neil Kitching was inches from doubling the advantage.
On 12 minutes Kitching had his second chance after a great run down the left flank by Andy Cheetham and the resultant cross was put over the bar by the Gresley striker.
Four minutes later Kitching had yet another chance to end his barren spell but this time Shepshed keeper Jordan King did well to block the attempt with his legs.
The pressure the visiting defence were under looked certain to result in another goal and it came on 17 minutes.
Richard Wardle picked out Kitching down the right and his pass back into the centre of Shepshed’s danger area was just out of the reach of King and Bourne was there to sidefoot home.
Bourne could have had his second on 20 minutes when he made a superb run towards the visitor’s defence but his shot from 18 yards flew just over with only the keeper to beat.
On 23 minutes a speculative shot from 35 yards from Mark Peters was easily dealt with by King but Gresley were 3 up only a minute later. A fine run down the left from White resulted in a cross that Kitching beat the keeper to and flicked the ball on to Chris Gray and he made no mistake in heading the ball home.
Only a superb save-of-the-season by King denied Gresley going even further in front when he pushed a ferocious 30-yard drive from Wardle onto the post when a goal looked certain.
Shepshed’s only real attempt on the Gresley goal came on 32 minutes when on-loan striker Justin Jenkins put a header wide from Darren Grasby’s free kick.
The action went straight to the other end and Gresley were awarded a free kick which was superbly hit by White from 25 yards that the keeper tipped over as the ball dipped under the bar. The referee bizarrely gave a goal kick from another fine save.
On 36 minutes Kitching’s persistence resulted in him hitting the post from the bye-line.
Shepshed were given a lifeline after some shoddy defending by Gresley. James Blastland’s cross was not dealt with and Jenkins was allowed to side foot the ball in from close in.
On 41 minutes Kitching had yet another of his bag full of chances but somehow the striker missed from 6 yards.
It would not have been unjust for Gresley to have gone in at the break 6 or 7 – 1 up.
All the Gresley fans were feeling sure that their team would not only take all three points but vastly improve their goals for tally. But Shepshed had different ideas.
A combination of taking the foot of the accelerator, poor defending and an opposition determined to make a fight of the situation turned the game on its heels.
Shepshed came out with all guns blazing and on 47 minutes Jenkins got his second. It came from another needless freekick that Grassby floated into the box and Jenkins was given far too much space to head home with Gresley keeper James Lindley statuesque on his line.
If any side looked likely to score goals it was now the visitors with Damien Heskey going but he could only put his shot straight into the arms of Lindley.
However, Bourne and Kitching could have put the game out of Shepshed’s reach within a minute of each other with both blazing shots over the bar when they should have done better.
On 63 minutes Shepshed got the equaliser they fully deserved. Again it was a piece of very poor defending that allowed Simon Forsdick to head home unmarked from close in.
Gresley did try to push for another goal but did not look anywhere like the first half team as they laboured.
On 69 minutes White went close but his shot went narrowly wide of the post and on 74 minutes from a White free kick saw Gray’s header deflected for a corner. From the resultant kick Ian Bluck was very unfortunate to see his header scrambled off the line.
Jamie Barrett went close but his goal bound shot was somehow deflected for a corner and on 79 minutes Cheetham’s cross-cum-shot almost caught Knight off his guard but the ball sailed just wide.
On 86 minutes Shepshed should have snatched all three points after Blastland ran onto a pass by Jenkins but he fired well wide of goal with only Lindley to beat.
The manager’s view
“It was very, very disappointing because it feels like we’ve been beaten. It’s difficult to explain because we started ever so well not just because we scored goals but in the manner we took the game by the scruff of the neck.
“We did all the things that you need to do to win a game. We won the second balls, we changed bad balls into good balls, we got hold of it, we had tempo, and we did ever so well.
When we got to 3-0 we completely took our foot of the gas. We gave them a lifeline that, to be honest, we were disappointed with and we came in at halftime 3-1 up thinking if we’d have stuck our chances away it could have been 5 or 6 and then they dug in and they “gaffered” the second half and did really, really well.
“The disappointing thing was that we let them do it. We let them dictate in the second half and that’s not acceptable.
“Personally I’m very disappointed in the result. But having said that, we could have got beaten in the end.
“Today’s game highlights the problems we’ve had all season and highlights the things that we need to change around. I keep saying it every week but you can only change things when get the right personnel to change them with.
“We did really well at Merthyr. That and the game the week before both highlighted the fact that we have not got a goal scorer. If we’d got someone who could stick the ball in the back of the net he would have had 15 or 18 goals because of the chances we create.
“We create chance, after chance, after chance and we don’t punish teams. Today, 3-0 after 20 minutes you think is it going to be our day, is it going sunk in but then we give them a little bite of the cherry and all credit to them they fought back.
“It was bad play from us. It’s a mental thing. We switched off and if you do you give them the ascendancy and it becomes very difficult to change things. We haven’t got the personnel with the mental toughness to go and change a game for us. There were too many in the second half who let the game pass them by. They were not winning tackles; they were not near enough to win tackle even. The work rate was probably half of that in the first half hour and that’s unacceptable.
“The biggest disappointment is that we never seem to recreate, in the second half, the form we show in the first. We did it again today. We say all the right things in the dressing room but when they cross the white line we don’t perform in the second half and I don’t know why that is. I don’t think it’s a fitness thing I think it’s a mental thing but how you change that I don’t really know.
“I took Mark Peters off because I felt we were losing it a little bit in the middle of the park and I felt he was struggling a little bit. It looked like he’d run his legs off already. I had Micky Crawford sitting on the bench and at 3-1 I thought it was the best opportunity to change it around and give Micky a good half of a game and try and change things. But it didn’t happen.
Gresley Rovers (3) 3
Shepshed Dynamo (1) 3
Scorers: G White 2, Bourne 17, Gray 24 (Gresley Rovers), Jenkins 37, 47, Forsdick 63 (Shepshed Dynamo).
Gresley Rovers: Lindley, Wardle, G White, Bluck, Evans, Cheetham, Barrett, Peters (Crawford 45), Kitching (Smith 57), Bourne, Gray (Moran 78). Subs not used. Parkinson, Shiels (gk).
Shepshed Dynamo: Knight, Davies, Greatorex, Grasby, Stevens, Blastland, Heer, Mackay, Jenkins, Heskey (Neckles 61), Forsdick. Subs not used: Simpson, Litchfield.
Rovers Star Man: Gary White – another solid performance.
Referee: D Morrison (Derby).
Attendance: 385
