Gresley FC vs Kidsgrove Athletic
Midland Floodlit Youth League - Northern Division
Gresley Youth 1 - 4 Kidsgrove Athletic Youth
The bottom two teams in this division met at the Moat Ground and after a fairly even first half with only one goal in it, the visitors turned the screw after the break to finally settle the outcome and take home the points.
Keeper Luke Hemingway was brought into early action for
Gresley and Athletic also spurned other opportunities to open the scoring with shots either being dragged wide or pulled across the area.
The visitors were the first team to get off the mark, however, as a corner from the right on 32 minutes was headed in at the back post by an unchallenged Jordan Flattley.
This sparked a brief spell of pressure from the hosts, Will Simpson firing in a long shot straight at the keeper and Rikki Birch putting an effort just wide, before a header down from Birch in the area was gathered up by Danny Jones who burst past the defenders, rounded the keeper and slotted home left-footed.
With half-time looming and both teams looking to be fairly evenly matched, Kidsgrove were awarded a surprising penalty decision just before the interval, when an innocuous looking challenge by Matt Gee in the area was adjudged to be a foul by the Referee's assistant.
Charlie Knott was the player who strode up to confidently put away the spot-kick.
H/T 1 - 2
Now playing down the slope, it was the visitors who looked the more confident on the resumption of play and early pressure, with one shot going over the bar, resulted in them extending their lead on 56 minutes when a cross from the right by Knott presented Danny Bull with an easy tap-in at the far post.
Kidsgrove then struck the bar shortly afterwards with Gresley being restricted to mainly long-range efforts, Birch twice firing wide, the second being a first-time hit from a Luke Watts cross.
With a two goal advantage, Athletic were now looking to hold on to what they had got and were playing possession football with some clever passing movements, eventually putting the game beyond reach just before the final whistle, Bull and Matt Sherman both firing over the top to be followed by Ryan Ball weaving his way through the home defence to round the keeper and hit the back of the net.
Hemingway avoided any further suffering for his team by saving at the feet of an attacker in added-on time.
Scorers: Jones 40 (Gresley): Flattley 32, Knott 44(pen), Bull 56, Ball 90 (Kidsgrove)
Gresley: Hemingway, Curtis, Gee, Hickman (Morton 55), Metcalfe, Simpson, McBride, Kirk (Francis 68), Jones(Sharpe 58), Birch, Watts. Sub not used: Bodill
Kidsgrove: Fiedorowez, Donaldson, Bochenski, Holdcroft, Higginbotham, Knott (Sherman 60), Flattley, Ball, Bull, Biddulph, Chadwick. Sub not used: Moore
