Melbourne Dynamo vs Gresley Rovers
"GUTTED"
The reserves, or should I say youth team, played against Melbourne in the quarter final of the Derbyshire Cup.
Now I make no excuses, we are of a higher standard and we do expect to win, but then I expect to win against whoever we play. Melbourne are no mugs though. They, I believe, are top of the premier league and remain un-beaten.
I found them to be a fairly good Saturday team but nowhere near the level you expect from Gresley's standard. However, they have played together regularly, and work hard for each other, as well as having a passion for the win.
Due to the fact that numerous players we cup tied, many changes had to be made. Andy Dunn, Suka Heer, Alex Bolt, Dan Cox, Joe Miller and James Pemberton could not play because of the first team Matlock game. Ryan Yearsley and Adrian Colley were both cup tied.
However, the welcomed return of Rich Draycott was a bonus and the fact that I could play three out of my back four gave me confidence that they would struggle to score against us and at sometime we would get goals. It was a good opportunity for youngsters to have a run out too.
Gareth Wilson played in goal and Jack Coulson played left back for us, from the youth team. Andy Harrison, Lewis Gadsby and Chris Mawbey made up the rest of the defence. Gareth had played for us before and again had a good game and Jack Coulson looked excellent on his debut despite being slightly out of position.
Gresley got off to a great start, despite a poor pitch and terrible windy conditions. With a solid back four we got the ball down and played some nice football. A good kick from Wilson put in Chris Blackshields who controlled it well, beat his marker got down the line and pulled the ball back really well for Scott Perryman to fire home. Gresley put some more good moves together, especially down the left and when Chris Blackshields was slotted in he had no problem putting us two up. Gresley looked well in control, Draycott and Merry ran the midfield and Jak ward and Johnnie Guthrie looked dangerous down the wings.
Melbourne looked rattled and out of it and really Gresley should have finished them off. However, the game changed just before half time. Jack Coulson got injured and at half time had to come off. Gresley were forced to go to a 3-5-2 with Andy Harrison sweeping. Lee Mitchell from the youth team came into the middle. This wasn't great but with Harrison in fine form we felt it was enough to get us victory.
Early in the second half the real advantage to Melbourne was given. With about ten minutes gone Gresley should have finished the game off with a third goal when Blackshields fired over an empty goal from three yards out. We had already said the next goal could be the winner. To add insult to injury, Chris Mawbey, who had also received a knock just before half time had to come off. The loss of Chris to me was the biggest blow of all. Not eighteen yet, I cannot shout enough about the quality of this player. A lot of shuffling around now, Draycott had to drop to centre half, Scott Perryman went into the middle and Sean Barrett up front.
As you can probably guess Melbourne went up the other end and scored to make it 2-1. A well-taken goal through a crowd of players. From this point on Gresley struggled to get forward as was expected. Melbourne's long throws were causing us trouble with a now obvious lack of height at the back. One such throw saw Melbourne equalise and take the game into extra time. Gresley's luck finally ran out when in the first period of extra time a corner was whipped in and rebounded into the goal off Lewis Gadsby's chest. Gresley kept going and with about three minutes left could have equalised from close in but a final touch wasn't forth coming off a good corner and Melbourne scrambled it away.
I never like to call any officials; their job is hard enough. However, I was disappointed to not even hear a Melbourne player spoken too or asked to hurry up despite kicking the ball away three times, continually taking goal kicks from the opposite corner of the six yard box and walking away from throw-ins etc. Don't get me wrong, yes we would have done the same but rules are there to prevent it and well some decisions just left me with a few questions at the end, that's all.
Both David Clay and myself as well as all the players including those that were cup tied are all gutted to go out of a cup we all felt very strongly we could win. All the players were a credit to Gresley but unfortunately there is only so much you can do when things are stacked against you.
A full reserve side would have been in the semis now of that I have no doubt, without the injuries I'm confident the lads out there today would have done the job.
There are positives again though, the return of Rich Draycott, the continued improvement of Andy Harrison and the debut of Jack Coulson. We are still going in the right direction.
Today, it was not to be, however, I promise you that the lads will have their sights set very firmly on winning this cup next year and adding it to the League title.
A mention to Steve Thorpe who had his work cut out on his debut as Reserve Team Physio.
Team: G. Wilson, A. Harrison, J. Coulson, L.Gadsby, C. Mawbey, P. Merry, R. Draycott, J. Ward, J. Guthrie, S. Perryman, C. Blackshields, L. Mitchell, N. Croop, J. Blockley, M. Holmes.
