Mickleover Sports vs Gresley Rovers
Mickleover Sports 2 - 3 Gresley Rovers
Scorer: Lonsdale 3
Team: Dave Doy, Scott Harper, Jack Moylan, Joe Tomlin, James Manley (c), Craig Tucker, Abbs Kannan, Tom Betteridge, Sam Ingley, Rich Hanslow, Rich Londsdale
Subs: Danny Gee, Paul Hollis, Cal Keenan, Matt Grice
Dave (Fleary) was un available due to work commitments, so he asked if I'd take charge, which I obviously agreed. He'd already sorted his squad, whichincluded both Moylan and Tomlin who had impressed on their debuts on Saturday. I asked Martin to assist me and he thankfully agreed at short notice, because Mickleover are a good side and are pushing for the title.
The game was kicking off 30 minutes early due to a problem with a floodlight, but we never let this hamper us, and team talk was just to work as a team from the off. We did start off well, and although their midfield were controlling things,(mainly due to the fact we gave them too much time and space) our back four were comfortable.
Manley and Tomlin were winning everything in the centre of defence, with Doy firmly behind them, and when called upon coped with ease.
On about 20 minutes Lonsdale opened the score with a quality finish, and added another on 28 minutes from a great run (and even better ball) from Betteridge. So we were 2-0 up and it was no less than we deserved and it was
pleasing to see Lonsdale with such desire and quality.
Halftime came and 2-0 up we were pleased, but as we all know complacency can be dangerous, so we spoke about the need to keep up the same work rate and performance as the first half.
We were expecting Sports to raise their game, and push to get back in it, but it was Gresley who looked most likely to add another. Lonsdale smashed a strike off the crossbar, with the keeper truly beaten, and Ingley was just
beaten to the rebound by a defender.
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Sports then pulled a goal back andwith 27 minutes left, the next goal was going to be vital, and fortunately for
us Lonsdale completed a well deserved hat trick.
With 23 minutes left we replaced Kannan (who had took a knock) for Keenan as a defensive midfielder, because 3-1 up we wanted to defend things a little more. With 18 left we replaced Ingley for Hollis and still looked comfortable. Betteridge broke into their area, and hit a sweet shot which beat the keeper (but hit a defender on the line with his hands up) but the ref dismissed our appeals for an obvious penalty. The result was a break from
Sports (fouling Tucker in the process) and them pulling a goal back.
We then made our last substitution bringing on Gee for Moylan who had worked his socks off, and we knew that Mickleover would push for an equaliser. At times we rode our look as we played out the remainder of the game, and even had chances to score. A little disappointment was that we gave the ball away when all we needed to do was keep it as we had worked to hard to let Sports get anything. So to our relief the whistle blew and we'd got a much-deserved victory and the 3 points to go with it.
Tonight was an outstanding performance from all involved, and anything less than "the win" would have been unjust. Many good things can be taken from the match, and the players should be proud. Doy was superb with not only his
saves but his positional play and his organisation, Manley showed just how good he is tonight. It was pleasing to see that the team encouraged each other and Tucker (as always) got behind them and organised certain things.
Betteridge showed his experience (and undoubted quality) and was still running his socks off at the end even though not still fully match fit. The whole team can and should take enormous pride from that performance and take the confidence into their next game well done everyone.
