Hinckley Town vs Gresley Rovers
Northwood in firing line after cup slide – Andy Parker – Burton Mail
Gresley’s hopes of a dream FA Cup trip to Conference giants Boston United vanished in one devastating moment of mayhem at Hinckley on Saturday.
Keeper Bob Aston failed to hold an innocuous-looking backpass from sweeper Dean Page and Town striker Mark Taylor crashed the loose ball into the back of the net to destroy Rovers.
And that set the panic bells ringing and manager Frank Northwood rushing for another stock of signing-on forms.
Inevitably, it was Northwood who took the brunt of the blame for Rovers’ second consecutive defeat. Equally inevitably, the veteran supremo refused to accept it.
“If Paul Fernihough had scored in the last second, as he should have done, it would all have been forgotten,” stormed Northwood afterwards.
“If Jon Laws had played a one-two with Steve Astley just before we brought him off he would have been in and we’d have got a draw. Instead he had a weak shot that went wide. But I suppose the manager gets the blame for that, too.”
Northwood insists that the club is still moving forward under his control after four glory years at the Moat Ground. It is very early to judge the validity of that claim as yet, but the rumbles of discontent are certainly growing among the Rovers faithful.
Gresley fans are bewildered at Northwood’s constant chopping and changing his side. To be fair to him, that has always been his style, and on Saturday he was, to an extent, forced to field a reshaped side because of injuries to key players. But you do wonder if Rovers will ever field the same eleven for two consecutive games.
Northwood’s cup plans were set back on Saturday when skipper Graham Fearn cried off with torn ligaments and key midfielder Richard Denby followed suit after suffering after-effects from medication administered for a painful mouth abscess. And there was more reshuffling when Dave Beattie was forced to retire with a knee injury at halftime.
But even if the wounded trio report fit for tomorrow’s Moat Ground clash with Tipton Town, Northwood intends to bring in more new faces in a bid to restore his side’s sagging confidence.
Saturday’s was as poor a Rovers show as there has ever been in Northwood’s reign. True, there were satisfactory individual performances in certain areas of the park, and none more notable than that of Ray Skeemer, back to his commanding best at the heart of the defence.
It was at the other end of the field, though, that Rovers’ shortcomings were painfully obvious. Kieron Smith headed over from a promising position before half time, Laws produced his ill-fated shot from 18 yards that passed inches the wrong side of the post, and Fernihough held his head in his hands in despair after heading substitute Peter Perry’s late, late free kick the wrong side of the woodwork. And that just about sums up Gresley’s attacking efforts for the afternoon.
Hinckley, despite hitting the woodwork an incredible five times, were very little better. An in-form Rovers would have despatched them without effort.
But Gresley are not in form. It remains to be seen if a further influx of new faces can do anything to remedy that.
Hinckley Town (0) 1
Gresley Rovers (0) 0
Scorer: Taylor 74.
Hinckley Town: Chamberlain, Williams, Purser, Lane, Bullions, Wilcox, J Massey, A Massey, Ebrey, Tedds, Taylor. Subs: Storer, Pratt.
Gresley Rovers: Aston, Skeemer, Dick, Laws (Perry 66), Fernihough, Page, Lovell, Beattie (Hill 45), Bottomley, Astley, Smith.
Gresley man-of-the-match: John Bottomley.
Referee: A G Bonsall (Nottingham).
Attendance: 220
