Friday, 22nd August 2008

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- Richard Whitehead – Burton Mail

2nd November 1985
With their FA Cup adventure now consigned to the history books Gresley Rovers begin a crucial phase of the season.

The Moatmen’s flirtation with cup glory ended abruptly in East London on Saturday but the manner of their departure should not mask the class of performances which preceded it.

However, with Leyton-Wingate firmly shutting the door to more glory and possibly income Rovers now face the task of re-asserting themselves in the Banks’s Brewery West Midlands League table.

Tomorrow they step off the hectic treadmill of Vase-Cup-Derbyshire Senior Cup- matches and return to the bread and butter search for League points against Wednesfield Social at the Moat Ground.

And the full implications of that fixture are revealed with just a glance at the current league table.

While Rovers sit in fifth place with 15 points from nine games, Wednesfield are just one place above with the same number of points from 11 games.

Those statistics make tomorrow’s meeting just about as close to a ‘six-pointer’ as you can get at this stage of the season.

A further glance at the table shows just how well Rovers still are placed in the title hunt – despite their prolonged absence from league action.

They have five points less than leaders Harrison’s with three games in hand, four less than second placed Lye Town with four games in hand and three less than three-times champions Halesowen with two games in hand.

It doesn’t take a mathematician therefore to work out that if Gresley win those games in hand they can take over the leadership.

Much depends on Frank Northwood’s ability to get his men to concentrate their minds on more mundane matters after the glamour of the FA Cup.

Northwood is the most down-to-earth manager you could wish to meet and if he can bring his own sense of realism to the dressing room there’s no reason at all to suppose that Rovers can’t yet play a starring role in the championship race.

With difficult ties ahead in both FA Vase and the Derbyshire Senior Cup, Gresley could soon find themselves with only the league to concentrate on.

And after all, it’s a high league position which provides Rovers with their best chance of moving out of the Banks’s West Midland League and progressing up the non-league ladder.

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