Lichfield Brenstar vs Gresley Rovers
Lichfield Brenstar 1 - 1 Gresley Rovers
Scorer: Rich Hanslow
Team: Stu Haywood, Danny Gee(c),Tom Gregory, Carl Wymark, Tom Fletcher, Rich Hanslow, Todd Foster, Dean Acton, Andy Morrison, Tom Allan, Paul Morton
Today we travelled away to play Brenstar ,in the supplementary cup, with a daunting task ahead of us. They are in division one and we were without Mat Holmes and Nath Venning through injury, and Gaz Jones, Chris Smith and Mark Shorthouse being called up for the reserves. So Ivor and myself needed to discuss how to compete with a team two leagues higher, with 11 players (2 being
goal keepers).
We decided to go with Stu Haywood in goal, three at the back Danny Gee, Tom Gregory and Carl Wymark leaving the 5 mid-fielders of Todd Foster, Tom Fletcher, Rich Hanslow, Dean Acton and new signing Andy Morrison. That left Tom Allan and Paul Morton up front.
For the first 10 minutes we were under pressure, which was to be expected, considering how many players were playing out of position. But we then settled down and rose to the challenge, and from then on in, were the better side creating all the chances with Allan and Hanslow testing their keeper many times. With the keeper being on top form it was going to need to be something special for us to score and on 25 minutes Foster hit a cracking shot that the keeper failed to hold and Hanslow, who reacted, quickest put us 1-0 up. We were still looking very strong and again controlled the game until half time.
Stu Haywood hurt his wrist and Dean Acton took an elbow to the head so we swapped them for the restart. Allan again made the keeper make two brilliant saves to deny us extending our lead and Morton was unlucky when the ball
bobbled on his strike at goal. They hit the post but apart from that never threatened until the last four minutes when they broke to equalise.
So today we proved yet again how good we are, with a great squad and spirit and drew a game against all the odds: one that we deserved to win. It was great to see Gregory back and he was outstanding, also Andy Morrison impressed with his skill and pace and settled in to his first (of many I
hope) games for us. The mid-field was full of quality with all five giving their all. The back three stopped everything and up front Allan and Morton created havoc. The work rate and attitude, as always, was there in abundance so two games left so let's keep it going boys well done.
Mom: Tom Gregory, gave everything and just hoping you choose football instead of rugby mate!
