Gresley Rovers vs Ashbourne United Reserves
Gresley Rovers 1-2 Ashbourne Utd Reserves
Scorer: Morton
Team: Ian Parker, Danny Gee, Joe Tomlin, Dave Hatfield (c), Rich Foster, Luke Taylor, Josh Gregory, Tom Fletcher, Sam Worth, Joe Swift, Paul Morton.
Subs: Mark Shorthouse, Chris Smith, Craig Harrison, Dan Woodings, Sean Rudge
We hosted Ashbourne today, and were looking to push for a top 3 finish in our league, so work rate was going to be vital. As the game got underway, in blustery conditions, we soon got into our stride. Although disappoint we were still giving the ball away cheaply at times, but on the plus side we looked hungry to win it back.
We certainly had most of the possession, but attacks broke down with that little composure missing at times, but Ashbourne rarely caused any problems. With 22 minutes gone our pressure paid off, when Morton scored, after several good passes unlocked their defence.
We could of (and possibly should have added more) because both Swift and Worth came close, but their keeper stood strong denying us on numerous occasions. We split their defence with relative ease, but were found very guilty of lacking the "finishing touch" that win you games.
With only 9 minutes to half time, we again lost possession (without pressure), and although we had numerous chances to clear we failed. This led to Ashbourne drawing level, and although totally against the run of play, our naivety cost us a deserved lead going into the break.
At half time, Nigel and myself spoke about our disappointment, that we had let them back into a game that they hadn't deserved.
Second half, we switched off a little, as we started to get involved in niggles, instead of concentrating on the game. I know some of the refs decisions were "baffling", but as I'd said before the game, in his mind he never gets anything wrong.
On the good side though, we were still outplaying Ashbourne, but to a far lesser degree. Yes they became a little irritating, but us reacting played into their hands. With 30 minutes remaining we made our first change, bringing on Shorthouse at the expense of Fletcher. This was to give Morton more support up front, and again we were guilty of not taking chances. We made a lot but either their keeper made good saves, or more often we squandered them.
Foster came close, with a great header that their keeper saved, but instead of being patient, we tried to force things. This was ultimately going to be our downfall, as from our corner, we all pushed up leaving numbers lacking at the back. From this Ashbourne scored, when they broke in numbers, and as we tried to get back into position, they out numbered our defence scoring the winning goal.
This was a huge disappointment for me, because we had shouted for players to come back, but it fell on deaf ears. So with 15 minutes remaining, we made two quick changes, bringing on Smith for Taylor at first. This was to push an extra striker on, and soon after, we replaced Gee for Harrison pushing 3 up front and going 3 at the back. However Ashbourne used all their experience, to run the clock down, and retain the 3 points that they never really deserved. But we should learn from that, because they were patient, and kept their shape and played to their beliefs.
We've today shown a little bit of naivety (but will considering our ages) because if I remember right Ashbourne had 4 clear chances and scored two of them. On the other hand we probably had a dozen and scored only one. As we know goals win games, and we cannot keep relying on Paul EVERY game (although he never fails us) so today was a costly lesson. We need to turn more chances into goals (but doesn't every team have that problem!!). It's cost us today, and I'm sure that Neil (their manager) has travelled back to Ashbourne, happy in the fact that they got a result possibly against the run of things. Credit to them though, we'll learn from it I'm convinced, and we really don't want to let ALL OUR HARD WORK slide now and I'm sure it wont.
MOM: Josh Gregory, quality performance today and at times throughout the game Ashbourne had very few answers to his talent. Well done mate more of the same please.
