Gresley FC vs Stapenhill
Gresley came into this game against neighbours Stapenhill on the back of three wins on the spin, knowing a win at the Moat Ground would of taken them to the top of the table albeit having played more games than the other sides at the top of the division.
Gresley manager Steve Gee was without key trio Albert Lansdowne, Trafford Pickering and Charlie Stoddart so had to shuffle the pack accordingly, in came debutant John Hall at left back, Harry Bourne started in central midfield where he impressed last week and Kai Thompson was given a first start upfront with Harry Hughes reverting to the right wing.
Stapenhill started the game strongly putting Gresley under early pressure all over the park, however it was Gresley who opened the scoring in the 27th minute when Arckless and Thompson exchanged passes on the left before the former crossed the ball to Hughes coming in from the right who hit the ball back across the Swans keeper into the far corner of the net.
Stapenhill drew level only three minutes later when the Gresley back line was caught far too square and the pacey Disney raced through before coolly lifting the ball over the advancing Jack Mills in the Gresley goal into the top corner.
The Swans then had the chance to take the lead in the 40th minute when Mills was deemed to trip a Stapenhill striker inside the box despite getting a clear touch on the ball, Mills however saved the resulting penalty and made an even better save from the rebound, enabling his side go in level at halftime.
After the break Gresley seemed to raise their game a touch and took the lead again in the 54th minute as Jordan Taylor hit a long diagonal pass to Connor Ward who threaded a ball between the Stapenhill defence for Kai Thompson who beat the keeper to it to score his second Gresley goal in as many games.
Gresley were not reaching the highs set against Caterpillar and Coalville in recent weeks and this showed when Stapenhill again drew level in the 61st minute when a left wing cross into the box was met by Disney who headed the ball into the far corner as he and two more Stapenhill players queued up to get onto the cross.
After that both sides had chances to grab all three points, although Gresley did have the better chances as Callum Riddell who was subdued by his own high standards on the night, broke through into box and flashed his shot narrowly over the bar and in injury time a corner from the right was met by the head of Hickman but cleared on the line and the follow up shot by Hughes was also stopped on the line.
So the game ended level which overall was probably a fair reflection on the night's action, leaving the young Moatmen in third place in the Leicestershire Midweek Floodlit Youth League North Division.
Gresley: Mills, Taylor, Hall, Gee, Hickman, Bourne, Hughes, Jenkins, Riddell, Thompson, Arckless.
Subs: Westwood, Bagnall, Ward, Evans, Binks
