Saturday, 17th May 2008

Match Report

Brigg Town	2 - 2	Gresley Rovers
Grimes (pen) 90+4 Cochrane 90+5		Blenkinsopp 46 Hood 63

FA Carlsberg Trophy Preliminary Round, The Hawthorns, Brigg
Saturday 6th October 2007 - Kick off: 3.00pm

Manager's View

Rovers Denied Trophy Win

Gresley Rovers had victory snatched from them in the final seconds of this FA Carlsberg Trophy game.

David Blenkinsopp created the first chance for the visitors on 17 minutes when he left his marker for dead before playing the ball back to Carl Slater. The midfielder cracked a shot that took a deflection and away for a corner.

Shaun Ridgway's flag kick found the head of Paul Edwards but the ball just cleared the bar.

Brigg hit back when John Borland picked out Tommy Spall down the wing. The resultant cross was headed fractionally over by Jason Maxwell.

On 23 minutes Jamie Hood had a chance when Ridgaway's corner landed at his feet but his shot went well over.

Craig Hanson, making his first start of the season, tested the home keeper Damien Steer with a fine shot that was well blocked.

Brigg almost took the lead when a cross from Michael Jacklin picked out Maxwell in acres of space just yards out, the header although not the most powerful was not clooected by Rovers keeper David Clarke who allowed it to drop over the line for a corner.

They went even closer on 39 minutes. Grimes collected a throw-in on the edge of the Rovers area and smashed in a shot that Clarke had to punch away.

Rovers took the lead immediately after the break. Carl Slater stole the ball straight from the kick off on the edge of his own box. He found Hanson on the halfway line who in turn put a terrific ball through to Blenkinsopp down the right.

After easily beating a defender the prolific striker drilled in a low shot under Steer and into the far corner.

Rovers could have doubled their advantage four minutes later when Hanson again picked out Blenkinsopp who in turn sent Morgan Hurley on his way down the right. Hurley's cross found Edwards but his header just cleared the bar.

Brigg were close to getting back on terms when Clarke failed to hold Daniel Barrett's long-range shot, but Maxwell quickly on to the loose ball could only fire the rebound over.

On 60 minutes Rovers almost gifted their hosts a goal when Hood let the ball run to the bye-line for a goalkick.

However, the quick thinking Paul Grimes didn't give up on the ball and managed to keep it in play. He then picked out Martin Altoft, whose shot was superbly turned away by Clarke.

Rovers increased their lead just three minutes later. Ridgway's corner was not fully cleared and Hurley picked up the ball and sent it back into the danger area where Blenkinsopp sold his marker a superb dummy allowing the ball through to Hood who hammered in a low shot past Steer and into the far corner.

With the visitors on top Edwards almost scored moments later firing Hanson's pass fractionally wide.

What happened next seemed to take Rovers out of their stride as they looked to be certain to add to their lead.

On 70 minutes one of the assistant referees looked to have succumbed to a leg injury and a substitute was requested. After 12 minutes or so a replacement was found but Rovers didn't deem to settle into the same rhythm although the home side had keeper Steer to thank for keeping their side in the game when he denied Blenkinsopp his second acrobatically tipping the shot away.

With Rovers looking certain to go through to the next round Brigg grabbed a goal in somewhat debatable circumstances in injury time.

A high ball into the Rovers box saw keeper Clarke come to try and claim the ball. In doing so he dropped it he collided with Paul Grimes who had turned his back and made no attempt to get the ball.

The referee Mr Sullivan pointed to the spot harshly claiming Clarke had fouled the winger and ignored the Rovers protestations.

Grimes took the kick himself slotting the ball into the bottom corner..

It still looked odds on that Rovers would clinch their first away win of the season but there was more drama to come.

Rovers were still seething from penalty award and seemed to switch off allowing Lee Cochrane to fire home Maxwell's pass from close range past Clarke giving Brigg the chance to fight again and Rovers to wonder how they'd let a sure fired victory slip from their grasp.

Match Stats:	GR	BT
Shots on Target	7	8
Shots off Target	7	5
Corners	7	5
Fouls Conceded	12	13
Yellow Cards	0	1
Red Cards	0	0
Possession (%)	51	49

Brigg Town
1	Damien Speer
2	Michael Jacklin
3	Daniel Barrett
4	John Borland
5	Lee Cochrane (c)
6	Scott Hellewell
7	Tommy Spall
8	Kevin McLean
9	Jason Maxwell
10	Martin Altoft
11	Paul Grimes
Subs
12	Jack Muldoon for 8 - 46 mins
14	Rob Watson for 3 - 85 mins
15	Stuart Ainsley for 10 - 69 mins

Gresley Rovers
1	David Clarke
2	Dan Douglas
3	Chris Mawbey
4	Jamie Hood (c)
5	Martyn Rowntree
6	Shaun Ridgway
7	Carl Slater
8	Paul Edwards
9	Craig Hanson
10	David Blenkinsopp
11	Morgan Hurley
Subs
12	Karl Payne for 9 - 80 mins
14	Chris Sleath not used
15	Nicky Carter for 11 - 88 mins
16	Tom Groves for 2 - 64 mins
17	Adam Barradell not used

Referee:

Mr D Sullivan

Attendance:

120

Rovers' Star Man

Craig Hanson

Impressive debut worked hard and assisted in a good goal

Manager's View

"I thought the penalty decision was harsh to be honest.

"Dave (Clarke) got the ball, dropped it and the ball is going away from their player when he went down. It was just his momentum that took him into their player - there was nothing malicious in it.

"However, I can't complain too much after last week when we pinched a victory.

"It was probably our best away performance of the season and we defended superbly for 90 minutes, but in injury time, we just got deeper and deeper.

"We showed in two minutes of injury time what has been our problem all season - we lost our shape and our composure.

"We have now got to try and pick ourselves up and make sure we win it on Tuesday night."

Youth Team End With Cup Win

League Line-up Confirmed

Midland Floodlit Youth League

Next season's fixtures will be announced during the summer.

Ashfield In2Focus - Gresley Rovers sponsor