Solihull Borough vs Gresley Rovers
Solihull sink Rovers
Gresley Rovers started this match on the back of four wins and should have been full of confidence but they never really got going.
Gresley had the first glimpse of a chance when Gary Smith put his shot over the bar after Neil Kitching had flicked the ball on to him very nearly from the first whistle.
The home side's response was to go up the other end and take their first chance on 4 minutes.
Solihull were awarded a free kick which Gresley failed to deal with and the ball landed nicely for Michael Hyde who was standing unmarked on the edge of the box. He made no mistake as he cracked in a corker of a shot over the head of James Lindley and into the net.
Gresley never really recovered from that and looked very shaky at the back as the home side, one of the pre-season favourites for the title, piled on the pressure.
On 25 minutes Michael Crawford brought a spark of life into the beleaguered visitors' side when he made a good run don the middle but his final shot went wide of the target.
Gresley began to become more and more frustrated as their game failed to come together and picked up some needless bookings.
Things went from bad to worse on 34 minutes when Solihull doubled their lead.
The Gresley defence again failed to deal with a long throw by Stuart Hamilton and the partially headed clearance fell to Morton Titterton who hit a carbon copy of the first goal but this time the ball went in of the post.
A free kick by Crawford went agonisingly past the post and a few minutes later Gresley were a beaten side.
On 44 minutes a pinpoint long ball caught the Gresley defence knapping and as Lindley advanced off his line he managed to get to the ball first but unluckily the ball squirted out to Andy Corbett who made no mistake from 35 yards and smashed the ball back into an empty net.
Jon Newsome made changes at half time to try and stem the tide bringing on Mark Peters and Jamie Barrett in place of Chris Gray and Gary Moran.
The changes seemed to make little difference has the home side went looking for a fourth goal and on 51 minutes the inevitable happened.
Dave Haywood drilled in a free kick to the near post and the impressive Chris Smith got in front of Crawford and crashed the ball home.
On 66 minutes Neil Kitching came close to reducing the deficit but his diving header flew over.
Chris Parkins had what was probably the best of Gresley's rare chances but home keeper Mike Payne pushed his shot on the post.
The manager's view
"We never got going today. We were playing a very good side but our performance was disappointing. They seemed hungry for the win and wanted it more than we did.
"We came here full of confidence but it looked as if the players were expecting just to turn up and win. They took control all over the park and dominated the game.
"Their first two goals were very good strikes but they came as a result of individual errors from us by not clearing the ball properly.
"It's now a case of rolling our sleeves up for Tuesday's game – it will be a test of character."
Solihull Borough (3) 4
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Scorers: Hayde 4, Titterton 28, Corbett 44, C Smith 51.
Solihull Borough: Payne, Hamilton, Hier, Saunders, M Smith, Titterton (Campbell 53), Cooper, C Smith, Corbett, Hayde (J Smith 78), Haywood. Subs not used: Amos, Knight, Hollis.
Gresley Rovers: Lindley, G Moran (Peters 45), Cheetham, Wardle, Bluck, James, Hobby, Crawford, Kitching, Smith (Parkins 72), Gray (Barrett 45), Subs not used: Bourne, Roberts (gk).
Rovers Star Man: Neil Kitching – tried the hardest.
Referee: C Henry (Northampton).
Attendance: 244
