Shardlow St James vs Gresley Rovers
Shardlow St James 3 - 8 Gresley Rovers
Scorers: Morton 2, Shorthouse 2, Gregory 2, Taylor, Hanslow (pen)
Squad: Stu Haywood, Anthony Morris, Dave Hatfield (c), Rich Foster, Joe Tomlin, Matt Grice, Luke Taylor, Josh Gregory, Ian Parker, Paul Morton, Andy Lyons, Jack Moylan, Mark Shorthouse, Rich Hanslow
We played our second pre-season friendly against Shardlow, and thanks must go to both Martin (for arranging it) and Brian (for hosting us).
Shardlow play in the Derby league, so obviously we knew nothing about them and approached the game with open minds.
I was a little better prepared for the game, and was happy that we had three players back off their holidays making squad selection easier. I was also pleased that we could include both Josh Gregory and Rich Foster after they were un-available on Sunday. I knew that "on paper" we had a strong squad, with strength in depth.
So to the match, we started off okay, but certain players did look a shade rusty (which is expected), but that certainly can't be said for Morton who opened the scoring when Hanslow fed him through on goal. There was still a bit to do though, but Morton kept his head to beat their keeper and I was hoping this would "ease our nerves".
This was not to be, because through a bit of luck, Shardlow equalised when one of our defenders tried to clear but the ball hit the post and crawled into our net leaving Haywood stranded.
This was now going to be a test of our character, but Shardlow added another from a free kick that we failed to clear.
We kept our heads and Hanslow proved too skilful for their defence, and was brought down in the area and he converted the resulting penalty to draw us level. We were much the better side still, but showed our weakness when from a corner, their player had a free header to make it 3-2.
So again we needed to show" what we're made of" and Gregory certainly did with an absolute perfect chip, from some way out, to bring us level again.
We were unlucky to not go in at half time 4-3 up, when Shorthouse broke clear to score only to be ruled out by a very, very late off side flag.
Things became a little heated just before the break, but our team showed great composure from the intimidation that certain Shardlow players were trying to attain.
During the break, both Martin and myself, spoke about keeping our discipline (which for those who know me) is nearly as important as results.
Second half we did "as asked" and being honest completely dominated the game, adding another five goals. Shorthouse got two, Gregory scored a screamer from some way out,
Morton added another and I was delighted to see Taylor getting his first for the youth team.
We could (and should) have added more, we didn't, but this can't take away anything from a great result.
I came away pleased with our overall performance as a team, but also some great individual ones as well. We worked for each other and everyone can take a lot of confidence from the game. Also several players still show good signs of improvement but the teamwork was superb.
We swapped players into different positions, and they all coped well with the challenge. We have assembled a good versatile squad with outstanding commitment and attitude of which they can be proud. One small thing is the fact that we conceded two sloppy goals from "set pieces" so that's something we need to work on.
Overall though a good win which should bring a little confidence to us all, and the leadership of Hatfield, certainly helps with this too. Let's just keep working and believing and hopefully we can take this into our next game, because if we do, we should start to make steady progress with our results.
Also thanks to Kieran and Jack for running the line for me.
