Taunton Town vs Gresley Rovers
As a supporter, the one thing you can be sure of from Gresley Rovers is a roller coaster ride full of great highs and deep lows.
Gresley entered this game hit by injuries with first team regulars Ian Bluck, Neil Kitching and Andy Cheetham all missing.
It was Gresley who made the first impression and as early as 3 minutes Chris Gray was testing home keeper Ryan Draper from long range with a shot that Draper did well to tip round the post.
On 11 minutes Taunton went close when Stuart Evans missed a high ball and Anthony Lynch took his chance but his shot went well over the bar.
Gresley had a half chance on 20 minutes but Gary White put his free kick over. And at the other end James Lindley was called on to save from Peter Sheppard.
Unfortunately, on 23 minutes, it was a slip by White that allowed the home side to open the scoring. The defender lost his footing on the soft pitch and allowed Dominic Richardson to take the ball and his shot on the turn gave James Lindley no chance as it flew into the top corner of the net.
Six minutes later it looked as if the home side had doubled their lead, but thankfully for the visitors Richardson had hit his shot into the side netting.
White was given a chance to atone for his mistake when on 36 minutes Gresley were awarded another free kick within the defender’s striking distance. He hit a fine kick but Draper was equal to it and tipped the ball away.
A piece of sloppy defending was Gresley’s undoing just before halftime. A short corner caught Gresley knapping and defender Craig Russell powered in his header from the edge of the goal area.
The goal effectively ended the game as a competition with Taunton well on top in the second half.
Things could have got worse as early as the first minute of the restart when from the home side’s first attack Lindley had to produce a fine save from Tom Kelly.
Three minutes later as a result of home side pressure Lynch missed a golden chance as he inexplicably completely missed his kick as he waited unmarked in front of goal and the ball was hurriedly cleared.
On 51 minutes the constant pressure paid off and Taunton sealed all three points. Grantley Dicks easily robbed Matt Moran of the ball and played a superb pass through to the onrushing Lynch. As he cut inside a static Gresley defence his pass found Richardson at the far post with a low cross and he had the simple task of knocking the ball into the net.
On 57 minutes manager Jon Newsome made two changes bringing on Mark Peters and Craig Hopkins for Carl Timms and Carl Slater but it did not prove the lift the team needed as Gresley made very hard work of even trying to test the home defence and indeed the home keeper.
Steve Rutter went close on 64 minutes when a rare threatening attack from Gresley ended with a superb reflex save from Draper as denied the striker a consolation goal.
Another reshuffle was called for by Newsome as he himself had to replace the injured White on 68 minutes.
Taunton continued to batter the Gresley defence and had two chances to add to their lead but were denied by saves from Lindley.
Newsome’s brief appearance ended after just 12 minutes on the field as he was shown the red card for allegedly swearing at the referee’s assistant.
The home side went very close to rubbing salt into Gresley’s already sore wound but Lindley did well to deny Danny Harris almost on the full time whistle.
The manager’s view
“In that performance we looked tired and heavy legged. We started well enough but conceded a goal, though it was the second one that killed us as we were caught asleep at a corner.
“The third goal early in the second half finished us off… but that’s now in the past and we’ve got to put it behind us and move on.
“As to my dismissal, I was sent off for foul and abusive language. If I was the only one on the field who swore today I would be very surprised and I’ll leave it at that.”
Taunton Town (2) 3
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Scorers: Richardson 23, 51; Russell 43.
Taunton Town: Draper, Dicks, Sheppard, Peckham, Russell
(Harris 72), Kelly (McLean 59), Powell, Bastow, Richardson (Fisher 65), Myers, Lynch. Subs not used: Winstone, Fields.
Gresley Rovers: Lindley, Moran, Bourne, Wardle, Evans, G White (Newsome 68
), Barrett, Slater (Hopkins 57), Rutter, Gray, Timms (Peters 57). Sub not used: Sheils (gk).
Rovers Star Man: Chris Gray – tried his hardest.
Referee: P Hutton (Plymouth).
Attendance: 337
