Gresley Rovers vs Castle Hotel
Gresley Rovers 1 - 6 The Castle Hotel
Scorer: Rich Hanslow
Team: Tom Allan, Danny Gee, Carl Wymark, Tom Gregory, Gaz Jones(c), Nath Venning, Mark Shorthouse, Zak Venning, Chris Smith, Rich Hanslow, Todd Foster
Subs: Stu Haywood, Dean Acton, Steve Pepper.
Today we played The Castle Hotel in the supplementary league cup, and knowing they are 4th in Division One we knew what we needed to do! So, with another two players away with the reserves, the challenge we faced was even more daunting.
For the first 15 minutes we were camped in their half, although we never really looked like scoring, we were on top. However with 18 minutes gone we went 0-1 down and by half time we were 0-4 down. The goals we did concede were a total lack of concentration and belief and we had our chances at the other end but it was 0-4 at half time.
We had a good talk at half time, airing our views, and went out second half making one change, swapping Zak Venning for Steve Pepper. Within 10 minutes though, everything went anyhow, because there was a mass brawl when Danny Gee tackled some one fairly and was pushed in his face, Gee pushed back and 10 players ran to get involved! It was the quickest most of them had moved all game, and I couldn't believe that one of their subs was on the pitch head butting our players! I got involved and at one time was dragging the offenders apart, I spoke to Ivor about abandoning the game, but we agreed to carry on. So the referee decided to send Gee off and book their players???
We've had discussions on the fans forum about refs, and to be fair, the ref today deserved a hard time because he was really poor.
At 0-5 we decided to give Stu Haywood his chance, not that any goals were Tom Allan's fault, and Haywood made two or three great saves. However we went 0-6 down before Chris Smith found Rich Hanslow to give us a consolation goal with 5 minutes left.
So summing up, yes we lost 6-1 and didn't deserve to win, but we weren't out played and we were dignified in defeat. We showed great self-discipline with the farce the referee dealt with in a dire manner. I can't argue with the sending off but it should have been 10v10 because both should have should have walked, that was Castles view as well as mine. But, lets remember, we're still top of our league and in two semi finals so lets bounce back because I know we can!
Keep the belief because I do in all of you so you should too! Beacon next week, what a time to bounce back?
MoM: Danny Gee because he showed true grit, and was fouled and just got on with it, and should never been red carded for sticking up for himself???
