Gainsborough Trinity vs Gresley Rovers
Replay reward – David Lawrence – Burton Mail
The emotions of the Gresley fans who travelled north for this FA Cup first qualifying round clash took quite a battering during the 90 minutes.
From being on a high at the interval with a 1-0 advantage their hopes plummeted after just 17 minutes of the second half when two dubious penalties put the Northern Premier League outfit ahead.
But much to the annoyance of one loud mouthed Trinity supporter, the Moatmen battled on and grabbed the equaliser late in the game to keep the sparse crowd on tenterhooks right until the end.
With just 25 seconds gone, Gainsborough went in search of their dream start and almost found it. Bob Aston saved well at full stretch from Dave Trevis and Lennie Yates’ shot was blocked.
But after such a lively start, the game became condensed into the centre circle for long periods and when Gresley’s Steve Astley and Graham Fearn had shots they were easily gathered by the keeper.
Then midway through the half, Trinity began to settle and strung together some fine moves. The first saw the useful Simon Dwyer racing through only for his final touch to fail him, and then after 25 minutes Chris Gaffney’s diving header beat Aston… and the post.
As the Gresley keeper spotted Keiron Smith making a run, his quick kick found the skilful forward who raced past his defender and neatly placed the ball over the advancing keeper.
Cheers rang round the ground from the South Derbyshire contingent – and the ‘Gainsborough Gob’ was suddenly silenced.
Raised voices in the home side’s dressing room at half time seemed to have the desired effect. Trinity came out looking far more interested and when Dwyer fell to the floor after tangling with the unfortunate Peter Perry, the referee pointed to the spot.
John Schofield thumped the shot home, sending Aston the wrong way in the process.
A quarter of an hour later and hopes of a replay slipped away when a dazzling move down the left between Trenton Wiggan, John Megson and Dwyer ended with Wiggan being upended by Dave Beattie.
Aston and Schofield faced each other again. Could the Gresley goal minder gain revenge?… Aston dived to his left … the ball went to his right … and Rovers were in arrears.
Jack Oldershaw had not been having the best of games in the middle and after 65 minutes he was replaced by John Bottomley – a masterful move by Gresley boss Frank Northwood.
Astley brought a fine save from Trinity keeper after latching onto Bottomley’s pass and then 11 minutes from time Fearn’s looping cross was headed back across the goal by Astley and Smith was in the middle to head home his second.
The thought of a journey South on Tuesday evening seemed not to appeal to the Trinity team and they surged forward looking for the winner. And it was Aston who kept the scores level with a brilliant save in the dying seconds from Ian Wood’s shot.
And the stop brought praise from Northwood who confessed to feeling a little better than when Rovers were staring defeat in the face midway through the second half.
He added: “I was quite pleased with the performance but I hope the referee isn’t a bad omen. I didn’t think their first was a penalty. We aren’t supposed to beat teams like these but we’ll win on Tuesday at our place.”
And Northwood also praised two-goal Kieron Smith, his close season signing signing from Huthwaite.
Gainsborough Town (0) 2
Gresley Rovers (1) 2
Scorers: Schofield (2 pens) 47, 62 (Gainsborough Trinity); Smith 26, 79 (Gresley Rovers).
Gainsborough Trinity: Kaye, Simpson, Gaffney, Yates (Megson 32), Beresford, Wood, Wiggan, Schofield, Dwyer, Travis, Kay (Jenkinson 85).
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Beattie, Perry, Denby, Fernihough, Page, Fearn, Oldershaw (Bottomley 65), Hill, Astley, Smith. Sub not used: Moore.
Gresley man-of-the-match: Keiron Smith.
Referee: W A Nutall (Mansfield).
Attendance: 232
