Gresley FC vs Coalville Town
Gresley 2 - 0 Coalville Town
Gresley reserves kept up the pressure on the leaders with a fine home win against Coalville managed by former boss and including former players in front of a crowd of around 60 on a cold Moat Ground afternoon.
Coalville had a lucky escape when Hollis flapped at a corner but the ball hit a player and just missed the post.
The 23rd minute saw Coalville have their first real chance when a cross by Stewart was put over by Beeby. Good play by Birch saw Gresley threaten but his cross was too near the 'keeper.
Halftime was reached with the teams evenly matched in the scoreless first 45 minutes but the game came alive after the break.
First Browne shot wide then after 47 minutes Birch
collected a ball on the right hand corner of the penalty area and he hit a superb shot across the goalkeeper into the far corner of the net to give Gresley the lead.
This really opened the game up and in the 67th minute a mix up in the Coalville area saw the ball just bobble away from McBride.
The away side made their three substitutions in an attempt to get back into the match but in the 80th minute Franklin who had just come on made a mazy run from the right across the area, the ball broke clear to Towle who passed to Birch whose shot deflected off a defender past the keeper to seal the game for the home side.
Although the referee somehow found 6 minutes of added on time the team kept calm to achieve yet another victory in what is becoming a season of fine promise.
Gresley 1.George Woodward 2. Brad Metcalfe 3 Darryl Towle 4. Eion Bradford(capt) 5 Adam Stockdale 6. Adam Hallifax 7. Alex Rowland (Ash Franklin 79) 8. Ryan Browne 9. Callum McBride (Thomas Curtis 87) 10. James Purslow 11. Rikki Birch (Nathan Moore 94).
Subs not used: Ben Hickman, Steve Dennahy.
Attendance: 60
