Whittington Brenstar vs Gresley Rovers
Whittington Brenstar 0-2 Gresley Rovers
Scorers: Morton, Taylor
Team: Ian Parker, Joe Tomlin, Chris Smith, Dave Hatfield (c), Rich Foster, Tom Fletcher, Luke Taylor, Mark Shorthouse, Danny Gee, Sam Worth, Paul Morton
Subs: Nige Brewin, Dan Woodings, Craig Harrison, Matt Gee
We travelled to Lichfield to face Whittington, in the supplementary cup, and were without both Josh Gregory and Joe Swift through injury. It was a true reflection on both that they came to support their team, with Swift offering to run the line for me (much appreciated Joe).
We arrived at Lichfield late, with only 20 minutes to kick off, so we were a little rushed.
This could of been the reason that we struggled to get into our stride (or possibly we'd taken Brenstar too lightly) because we looked a far different team to last week. We seemed lethargic, and were guilty of trying far too much intricate passing, instead of keeping things simple. This in turn resulted in us losing possession unnecessarily, and putting us under pressure.
We never looked troubled, and when we did Parker was at hand to gather up the few attacks that breached our back four. We did have quite a few chances at the other end, but our shooting lacked accuracy. The only save their keeper had to make was from a great run from Foster, but his shot lacked power, giving the keeper an easy save.
At half time, Nigel and myself spoke about keeping things simple, because the effort was there but not the quality we know (and possibly expect).
Second half was a slight improvement, as we did lift things, and seemed to find our players better. With 5 minutes gone Smith crossed a great ball, Fletcher headed it down, and Morton hammered into the roof of the net. So we'd taken the lead, and although deserved, we'd made hard work of things. Soon after Taylor scored to ease the nerves, hitting a good shot leaving the keeper no chance.
Gee should of added another, when he shot just wide, and in frustration swore. The ref booked him, so we replaced him with Brewin (as we didn't want to risk him getting a second and missing the final) although he never saw it that way! With 30 minutes remaining we'd made our first change, and continued to control things although we were still far from our best.
With 25 minutes remaining, we swapped Morton for Woodings, as we searched for more goals. We had improved but if anything, we lacked a little quality on the final ball. With 15 minutes to go, we made our last change, bringing on Harrison for Taylor pushing two up front. This very nearly worked as Woodings headed down for Harrison, whose shot went just wide of the goal.
Today we've kept a clean sheet, and ground out a result, even when we were far from our best. Some games are like today, when the effort is there, but for some reason things just don't quite come right. However we've put ourselves into a good position to progress in the competition, but to do so we'll need a big improvement against league leaders Red Lion Horninglow, in our final qualifying game. I'm sure, that as always, we'll be giving it our best.
