Gresley Rovers vs Shobnall Sports
Gresley Rovers 1- 5 Shobnall Sports
Scorer: Joe Tomlin
Team: Ian Parker, Danny Gee, Chris Smith, Joe Tomlin, Dave Hatfield (c), Luke Taylor, Josh Gregory, Rich Foster, Joe Swift, Sam Worth, Paul Morton
Subs: Tom Fletcher, Dan Woodings, Craig Harrison, Nigel Brewin, Jamie Stevens.
We were at home today in a cup quarter final against Shobnall who are riding high two divisions below us. So hard to understand? Did we really think that it was going to be easy! Well, if so, that was our downfall.
We pride ourselves in good football, but today it was sadly lacking. Yes we've improved this season, but today there was something lacking.
We started off poor, and things got worse, because Shobnall took the lead and it was much deserved. This was with only 10 minutes gone, but we were out of shape, and being honest we weren't doing the basics. I was hoping that last week was a blip, but today shows we've got ourselves in a rut.
With 20 minutes gone, Shobnall were awarded a dodgy penalty, so we were 2-0 down. Things got worse, as from a great goal, we were trailing 3-0 with only 26 minutes gone.
We'd lost belief, desire and everything else, and we were run ragged. So instead of getting things sorted, we decided to argue with the opposition, which lead to our first sub. We replaced Danny Gee with Tom Fletcher (as Gee was heading for a sending off) with 4 minutes until half time.
Half time couldn't come too early for us, because Shobnall had many chances, and hit the bar once with Ian Parker well beaten.
I spoke about things, but obviously my message fell on deaf ears, because second half we started in the same poor manner. To be fair though, the young ref struggled to get a grip on the game, as some nasty challenges flew in from Shobnall (but he will improve with age). A great comment from their player was "yes it was studs up but they're plastic!!".
Shobnall added a fourth from another poor decision (from me) when I ruled a player onside thinking our defender headed it back, when later it was obvious it was their striker (hey I'm human).
So 4-0 down we got our first break, when from a great Smith free kick, Joe Tomlin was on hand to make it 4-1. It was then that we had a little belief, so with 30 minutes remaining we added Dan Woodings to partner Paul Morton up front at the expense of Josh Gregory.
We had endeavour, but little belief, and Shobnall added another from a cruel deflection. With 20 minutes remaining, we made our last substitution, bringing on Craig Harrison for Morton.
As the game ran it's course, a Shobnall player received a red card for a dire challenge on Fletcher. He stated it was harsh (because he said sorry) well Burton A&E is full of "sorry people" but it wasn't that sort of game.
So today we got found out (again) and being honest if we'd lost 10-0 today you wouldn't heard me moaning. What we need to do is start believing again, because I do, and continue to put things right. Yes we work on things at training, but in games we seem to switch off!!
Heads up and hopefully forward we go.
