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Rathbone & Lovell miss cup game
Story courtesy of Burton Mail
Striker Carl Rathbone and midfielder Neil Lovell miss Gresley Rovers’ Derbyshire Senior Cup semi-final against Matlock Town at the Moat Ground tonight (7.30pm).
Rathbone has failed to recover from a neck injury, while Lovell has work commitments.However, manager Frank Northwood was today relieved to have “nearly a clean bill of health” as Rovers prepared to continue their bid to lift the trophy for the fourth consecutive season.
And he vowed: “We shall be going all out to win tonight. It took Gresley a long time to bring the Derbyshire Senior Cup to the Moat Ground – and we want to hang on to it. It’s a bit special to the people of Gresley.”
But Northwood anticipates a stern challenge from the HFS Loans side, insisting: “Never mind their league record – Matlock are a good side with some very good players.”
Last season Gresley came back from 2-0 down to snatch a dramatic 3-2 victory in the second leg of the final against Matlock at the Moat Ground but Northwood insisted: Every time we’ve beaten them in this competition we’ve deserved to.
“Yes, there was a bit of controversy last season and they had a player sent off. We were two goals down and should have been dead and buried but we deserved to win because we came back and scored three.”
