Boldmere St Michael's vs Gresley Rovers
Challenge Bowl 2 Semi - Final First Leg.
On Friday night Gresley had no more than 14 players available for this game. The reasons for this being injuries, work and mainly the competition rules. By Saturday morning, Gresley were down to a bare eleven. Alex Bolt was out due to a back injury, Suka Heer with flu, Scott Berriman a calf injury.
Arriving at the ground we discovered that Boldmere's first team did not have a game and are able to use first team players. The pitch was flat but not a blade of grass to be seen anywhere, and as the rain came down you can hardly walk across it, let alone play football on it.
So, a massive up hill task for the lads, but there is still plenty of confidence and spirit in the dressing room and we all know how many obstacles we've already overcome. A very important point to keep on reminding ourselves was that at the end of the game today it would only be half time. So if we could take any kind of result back to the Moat, we would hopefully be in a better position and give ourselves a realistic chance in the second leg.
We had to shuffle the pack again, which I know frustrates the players, but the team and result is what matters and when everything returns to normal, long term it will be well worth it.
Boldmere started the stronger and played some good football. They created a couple of good chances and we probably rode our luck for a while. However, after the initial fifteen minutes Gresley began to play themselves back into things. Draycott and Colley coped well again against Boldmere's midfield three. Pemberton was forced into a couple of good saves, but on the whole the back four of Dunn, Harrison, Gadsby and Cox defended really well.
Dunn flashed some good crosses in on the over lap, which any kind of a touch would have seen Gresley take the lead. Guthrie again impressed. Boldmere's defence was very strong and it was difficult for Yearsley and Blackshields, but both worked hard.
As the rain continued to fall Gresley went into the break with the scores level. When I took on this job the one single most important thing I asked of the players was to always give me 110%. So that when you leave the field at the end of the game you can honestly say to yourself I couldn't give anymore. Our games and results have shown the lads have done exactly that and the game today; especially the second half was a prime example of it.
Andy Harrison had thrown himself in front of a definite goal scoring chance for Boldmere, Adrian Colley covered every blade of mud and limped all the way to the end. Gresley had to defend a lot and try to play when they could so the good moves were limited, but they did create some and the best came with about twenty minutes into the second half when Gresley broke down a Boldmere attack, Guthrie brought the ball out of the back and played it forward to Blackshields. He played it sideways to Draycott, who then slid a lovely pass between the defenders to Yearsley. Yearsley ran with it towards the far corner of the box where he shot from about twenty-five yards. The ball stayed about an inch off the ground as it screamed into the far corner of the net. Gresley had the lead.
Boldmere made some changes, a luxury we didn't have. The game was fairly even for a while, staying mainly in the middle of the park. With less than ten minutes left Gresley were on the back foot, two more great saves from Pembo kept Gresley's lead and in the dying minutes as it looked as though Gresley had done enough to win the game. Boldmere whipped in a cross and the substitute scored with a great diving header. There was a strong case for offside, but nothing given. The Gresley lads saw out the remaining time and finished with really a very pleasing result.
You couldn't help but feel disappointed at the result because we were so close to the win, but at the start of the game I would more than have settled for the draw.
The lads were excellent today, as they have been for a few weeks now. They have shown a lot of spirit, are well organised (well done David Clay), and are playing in a manner they can be proud of. However, there is still an enormous way to go before we achieve our real targets, so lets hope the lads just continue to build upon what they have started. For now though, a huge well done. Half time 1-1.
Boldmere St Michaels 1 - 1 Gresley Rovers
Team: J. Pemberton, A. Harrison, D. Cox, L. Gadsby, A. Dunn, A. Colley, R. Draycott, J. Guthrie, R. Jarvis, R. Yearsley, C. Blackshields.
