Match Photos
Gresley Rovers vs Sutton Coldfield Town
Sutton Coldfield Town’s win at the Moat Ground finished off a miserable holiday weekend for Gresley Rovers.
They had come away from Butlin Road with nothing to show for their endeavour and again against The Royals a single goal was enough to deny Gresley any points.
Gresley started quite brightly with Neil Kitching making good progress down the right only to find there were no team mates waiting for his cross into the box.
On 10 minutes Chris Gray easily beat a Sutton defender and put Earl Alexander through but his shot was well held by the visiting keeper Justin Bray.
Craig Hopkins went close a minute later but his shot was always going wide of the target.
Matt Moran was now involved in the next Gresley attack but again his cross was too strong for Kitching waiting in the box.
On 23 minutes Sutton had their first real shot of the opening quarter. Adam Whithouse’s 30-yrd drive was well saved by Mark Shiels.
Five minutes later Sutton were in front. A mistake by Moran allowed Dominic Reece to collect the ball and his cross found the unmarked Emeka Ejiofor who, even though there was a hint of a hand ball, did well to turn and smash the ball past the helpless Shiels.
That goal effectively saw the end of Gresley as an attacking force as they failed to find a way past the stubborn Sutton defence for the rest of the half.
Indeed, Gresley could have gone further behind on 34 minutes when former Gresley striker Simon Tucker hit a vicious shot from long range that brought off a superb save by Shiels who got a hand to the ball and pushed it onto the post and away for a corner.
The home supporters were hoping for an improved performance after the break but it failed to materialise.
The only bright spot was on 53 minutes when Gray hit a free kick from just outside of the area, after Jamie Barrett had been felled, but Bray reacted superbly to tip the ball over. There was a moment of uncertainty when Bray dropped the ball from the resulting corner but there was no Gresley player close enough to capitalise on the mistake.
Bray dropped the ball again only five minutes later when he failed to hold onto a floated ball into his area but again there were no Gresley players anywhere near.
If anyone looked likely to score in the final quarter of the game it was the visitors. The game had become very scrappy but Sutton had a golden chance on 71 minutes when Ejiofor completely unmarked managed to put his header yards past the post when heading into the goal would have been easier.
On 75 minutes Shiels quickly threw the ball out to Gary White who made headway into the Sutton half and released substitute Ryan Yearsley but his shot was palmed down and held by Bray.
Almost immediately the impressive Shiels was saving Gresley’s blushes when he managed to get a hand to a goalbound free kick flicking the ball away for a corner.
The visitor’s had one last chance on 90 minutes but a last ditch tackle by Evans cleared the ball from danger.
The manager's view
"I'm very disappointed. I thought the first 20 minutes we started really well and they went about the game just how I wanted them to do but from there on we were poor.
"The second half I thought we were very poor. We were out competed and they were a lot more inventive than us.
"We had a lot of players who didn't perform basically. I thought the quality of our play in the final third was poor. The final pass, the strike at goal, the cross, the little threaded through ball was all poor.
"You get situations in the game that you talk about before games and as someone has just said in the dressing room the same things have been said all season but we never learn from it. When the game is not going well for us we don't have many people who try to change the game.
"I thought Richard Wardle again showed what a great example he his to the others. That's why he's played the number of games he has because he's enthusiastic, and he gets about the pitch and he's on the front foot trying to do something to alter the flow and the way the game going.
"I think we only had one or two of that kind of person tonight. The other just let the game go by.
"Earl Alexander and Matt Moran played well early on but drifted out of the game but they are young lads so you don't want to get at them too much.
"Unfortunately the goal came as a result of mistake by one of the young lads. All he needed to do was to play a ball to the outside of him but the quality was not there and they got the ball and the kid who he is with runs off the back of him and produces a cross into the box. It's now 2 v 1 in the box and the kid brings the ball down lets the ball bounce and hits it into the back of the net.
"It's not good enough. Yes, there are mistakes made but you've got 60 minutes to get back into the game. But what did we do? Not a lot. We were so predictable, no invention. We were smashing things forward and their No 5 was heading everything all night. We didn't have any width and I thought we were poor.
"I had to bring Andy Cheetham off because of a tight hamstring which we didn't want to make worse and Chris Gray took a knock but he should be OK.
"Tonight's result means we've lost two out of two and we've got a long trip next week and then we've got Weston.
"I'm hoping to have Steve Rutter back for next week end because he gives us something up front, a bit of a goal threat.
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Sutton Coldfield Town (1) 1
Scorer: Ejiofor.
Gresley Rovers: Shiels, Wardle, G White
, Cheetham (Peters 54), Evans, Hopkins, Moran (Bourne 45), Barrett, Gray (Yearsley 65), Kitching, Alexander. Subs not used: Timms, Lindley (gk).
Sutton Coldfield Town: Bray, Watkins, Reece, Jones, Farmer, Whitehouse, Russell (Allden 73), Massingham, Ejiofor, Tucker, R Gardner. Subs not used: Lyons, Maragh, M Gardener, O’Neil.
Rovers Star Man: Mark Shiels – impressive performance. Not at any fault for the goal.
Referee: N Murphy (Mansfield).
Attendance: 358
