Gresley Rovers vs Chasetown
Gresley Rovers 8 - 2 Chasetown
Team: Steve Harris, Lewis Gadsby(c), Chris Mawbey, Martyn Rowntree, Sebastian Kalinowski, James Manley, Andy Elliott, Craig Tucker, Chris Smith, Rich Lonsdale, Paul Hollis.
Subs: Tom Allan, Todd Foster, Rich Hanslow, Gaz Jones, Mark Shorthouse, Tom Astle, Danny Gee.
Scorers: Lonsdale 6, Hollis 2
This was my second game in charge, whilst a new manager is appointed, and I decided to go with a mixture of last season's reserves and youth team with the bonus of four first team members. I decided to go 4-4-2 with the back
four of Gadsby, Rowntree, Kalinowski and Mawbey. This gave us a midfield of Tucker, Elliott, Manley and Smith leaving the front pairing of Lonsdale and Hollis.
We started brightly and played the ball round in relative comfort, against a young Chasetown team, and Lonsdale was causing problems for their defence early on. The back four were at ease and never really looked troubled, with the midfield shading their battle. Lonsdale and Hollis worked well together, and Lonsdale's pace soon paid off, when he broke free to make it 1-0 on 8 minutes. He added another soon after and Hollis made it 3-0 before the 20 minute mark. As in every game, Chasetown then had a purple patch, and reduced the deficit to 3-1 with a little help from some hesitant defending. This gave the opposition a lift, and we lost our way a little, and at times looked to have lost both desire and our shape. The lead was soon extended however when Hollis struck a sweet shot from 20 yards out, giving their keeper no chance. We made a couple of changes before half time, Lonsdale hit the woodwork, but as the whistle blew the score was 4-1..
Second half we changed keepers, with Allan replacing Harris, not that he'd done anything wrong. We continued to shade things, even though they had put three in the centre of their midfield, and made a few more changes to try to give every player a chance. Lonsdale added another two before they scored to make it 8-2 and that's how it stayed.
Today wasn't really about the result; it was about trying things and players for the start of the season. We lost our shape a little at times, which was probably due to the many changes that I made, but on the whole I think it was a good, solid performance. I was pleased with the fact that we battled and worked for each other, and happy that the youth players never looked out of place. What did show was that some players looked a little unfit, something that needs sorting. Lonsdale was true class and looked lively, dangerous and worked hard as did every other player.
Good result well done every player for their attitude and commitment.
