Shepshed Dynamo vs Gresley Rovers
Team From: J. Pemberton (c), K. Vernon, C. Mawbey, L. Gadsby, P.Grosse, G. Smith, S. Heer, D. Williams, A. Cheetham, P. Rowell, C. White, D. Cox, A. Dunn, J. Miller, M. Holmes.
Gresley Scorer: S. Heer.
Gresley didn't get off to a great start through a small hic up I take full responsibility for. So used to relying on Reg it lead to a late and short warm up, which meant we weren't fully prepared for the start of the game. However, if we could play ourselves into the game in the opening fifteen minutes we would be fine.
Shepshed are a much-improved side from last season, especially upfront. They work hard and create problems going forward, especially early on. Shepshed did this, but our back four looked to be coping. Unfortunately, a bit of bad luck was to give us a start we really didn't want. A Shepshed player shot from the edge of the box, it hit Paul Grosse as he closed it down and looped high into the air towards James Pemberton far post. Pemberton back peddled and managed to tip it onto the post, but as it came back off the post it hit him on the back of the head and bounced into the goal. So we were one down.
I was really concerned as the last thing we needed was to concede a second. Fortunately the lads responded really well and we put some decent moves together and upped the tempo. Although we couldn't quite get the final shot in we forced a lot of corners. Shepshed didn't seem to deal with these well and off our third corner; Suki Heer was on hand to fire us level.
We came close a couple of more times in particular from a thirty-yard drive from Chris White that skimmed the crossbar. A few headers went by the posts but there was no change in the score. Shepshed attacked well but our defence was good and Pemberton is so fast off his line he snubs danger before it happens. The half finished fairly even and the scores level.
Shepshed are a good side but we felt confident at the break that we could win and that Shepshed would struggle to keep up the pace they were playing at. I thought on the whole we controlled the second half and had three clear-cut chances that should have sealed the win. Grosse should have side footed home from a corner but the ball stuck under his feet, Greg Smith put over the bar from such a close range it looked impossible to do and Pat Rowell should have scored but the keeper made a good save. Rowell also was poorly judged offside when clean through and a goal looked certain.
Shepshed had a couple of chances too, but didn't net either. The game finished a draw and although a fairly even game I thought Gresley did enough second half to win it. The lads were disappointed because we had a chance to go top of the table. This would have set us up nicely with recent results and Bromsgrove to play this Saturday.
However, we must be fairly pleased. It was a good result away from home against a decent side. We put in a good performance. Both White and Andy Cheetham finished ninety minutes. So all in all not a bad day and still much to play for.
Dave Acton
