Stourport Swifts vs Gresley Rovers
Gresley Rovers were forced into two changes from the side that beat Mangotsfield when Mark Shiels took over the goalkeeper shirt in place of the suspended James Lindley and striker Neil Kitching replacing the injured Steve Rutter.
This was Shiels’ first game for the first team for well over 12 months and his first touch of the ball was to collect it from the back of the net.
Gresley were knocked back in under a minute when a defensive slip by Andy Cheetham allowed Simon Marsh to rob him of the ball and put Andy Wright through on goal with only Shiels to beat.
Wright made no mistake as he rounded the keeper and put the ball away to give the home side a very early lead.
Gresley came back and on 4 minutes when Chris Gray ran through the home defence after good work by Kitching but the midfielder could only put his shot wide.
Conceding the early goal had clearly unsettled the Gresley defence and they were almost undone again when on 9 minutes both Cheetham and Stuart Evans allowed Wright to collect a high ball and put Richard Ball through but Cheetham recovered in time to deny the striker a chance on goal.
On 25 minutes Gresley had another chance to level when a Gray free kick was superbly headed on by Kitching to Andy Bourne whose shot was deflected and taken by home keeper John Danby.
The goal Gresley had been looking for came on 34 minutes. Gresley were awarded a free kick on the right and Gary White curled in a superb shot beating Danby and into the top corner of the net.
Gresley sensed they could take the lead and in first half injury time a White corner was hammered goalward by Craig Hopkins but Danby was equal to it and pushed the ball away for another corner.
The home side came out with all guns blazing and had two very early chances of regaining the lead with Ball involved in both.
First ten minutes in to the second half a Craig Webb cross was expertly chipped back from the far post by Ball beating Shiels but landed on the crossbar and out for a goal kick and then the lively striker collected a poor back header by Richard Wardle but was forced wide by Shiels and his cross tipped out for a corner.
On 65 minutes the visitor’s had their first chance of the second half when a Gray header found Bourne who then played Kitching a pass but the striker only half hit his shot straight at Danby.
On 74 minutes Swifts were reduced to 10 men when Leon Blake threw a punch at Wardle after the home midfielder had caught Wardle with a late tackle. Wardle was not amuzed and as he squared up to Blake the offence took place and the referee had no option but to send Blake from the field.
Wardle could have rubbed salt into the wounds four minutes later when he hit a piledriver that somehow Danby turned away for a corner.
Evans was unlucky when his shot from the resultant flag kick flashed narrowly wide of the upright.
Gresley continued to apply the pressure on the ten men but only managed one further chance when Jamie Barrett’s cross was picked up by White but his half-volley went fractionally wide with Danby well beaten.
The manager’s view
“I’m disappointed with the result as I thought we could have taken all three points. We didn’t seem to really get going in the second half, though we did make a couple of decent chances.
“Playing against 10 men is never easy but we seemed to stop doing the things we had been doing before he was sent off. Our quality was just not there and we got desperate.
“We gave them a gift of a goal. It was sloppy defending. In the first minute we were trying to play our way out from the back when we should have been putting our foot through it.”
Stourport Swifts (1) 1
Gresley Rovers (1) 1
Scorers: Wright 1 (Stourport Swifts); G White 36 (Gresley Rovers).
Stourport Swifts: Danby, Webb, Ulfig, Newell, Davies, Harris, Blake
, Marsh, Ball
(Giddings 85), A Wright (Willetts 58), Shirley. Subs not used: Mulders, Nicholls, S Wright.
Gresley Rovers: Shiels, Barrett, G White, Wardle, Evans, Cheetham, Hopkins, Peters, Kitching (Yearsley 69), Bourne, Gray. Subs not used: Alexander, Moran, Timms, Roberts (gk).
Rovers Star Man: Gary White – good defensive display topped of with a superb goal.
Referee: S Flanaghan (Wednesfield).
Attendance: 127
