Evo-Stik NPL Division One South
Watnall Road, Hucknall
Saturday, 24th November 2012, 3.00pm
Gresley Win On The Road
Gresley made changes to their starting eleven with defender Michael Nottingham playing his first game since the Loughborough Dynamo game three weeks ago due to a dead-leg.
Young keeper George Woodward retained his place and Jamie Barrett took the right back slot. New signing defender Ryan Walker was absent after pulling his back at work yesterday.
Hucknall themselves had made changes as they looked to get only their third win of what has been a horrible start to the season for the Yellows. Jordan Hall, Matt Glass, Alistair Asher, Alex Ford, Tristram Whitman and Francis Green have all recently signed. However, Green was unfortunate to suffer a fractured leg last week on his debut against Kidsgrove Athletic which will see him out of the Yellows' side for at least eight weeks.
On a very wet afternoon and with a heavy and slippery surface both sides found it difficult to retain their footing but Gresley's Rob Spencer soon found Jordan Nadat whose shot from left was pushed onto the base of the near post by Town's keeper James Martin.
Town then tested Woodward as Matt Glass headed at him but the keeper held on to the slippery ball well. The home side won a corner on the left but it was cleared and a sweeping move down the pitch ended with Nadat hitting a shot which was blocked by Martin.
Town took the lead on 19 minutes when Alex Ford raced into the area only for Woodward to bring him down. Julian Topliss took the spot kick sending Woodward the wrong way.
The lead only lasted six minutes as Gresley hit back well. Awarded a free kick just outside the area James Jepson hit the perfect shot over the wall and into the far top corner leaving Martin a spectator.
Gresley began to take control of the half and went close to taking the lead when Spencer picked out Nadat who struck a low shot which was well saved by Martin at his near post pushing the ball away for a corner.
The second half began with Gresley having the driving rain in their backs and were close to slipping behind almost immediately when Glass latched onto a loose ball raced forward but could only fire a weak shot straight at Woodward.
Town were soon to rue wasting that good chance as Gresley took the lead themselves. Four minutes into the half Mickey Lyons slid a pass through to Nadat who took one touch turned and hammered the ball into the far bottom corner of the net. Minutes later Topliss brought out a fine save from Woodward as Town looked to hit back quickly.
At the other end Nadat's cross from the right was met by the head of Spencer but his effort was blocked by Martin but unfortunately Spencer could only fire the rebound over the bar from close in.
A corner from the right from Jepson was spectacularly overhead kicked into the path of Phil Massingham who raced forward only to have his shot blocked by Martin. Massingham was thwarted again minutes later as once more his shot was blocked after being put through. Nottingham then went close but could only put his header from Jepson's cross wide of the far post.
With the surface becoming more and more wet by the driving rain, a slip by Nottingham almost gave Town an opening. Glass managed to collect the ball but Woodward reacted quickly and made a good block to deny him.
On 80 minutes Marc Goodfellow replaced the hard working Spencer and the change brought immediate results. Goodfellow made his way into the area and saw his first shot blocked. However, the ball came back to him and this time he made no mistake curling a superb shot across the keeper and into the far corner of the net.
Gresley went close to adding a fourth goal deep into added time. Substitute Richard Hanslow was sent through but had his shot blocked by the advancing Martin and Nadat following up saw his shot from the rebound cleared off the line.
Manager's View
"It crept into the back of my mind that 'here we go again' for a couple of minutes when we conceded. Up to that point I think we had most of the creative possession.
"The surface did concern me and the first time Hucknall got into our box I'm not sure whether it was George Woodward or Marc Stzyzewski gave the penalty away- George I believe and he wasn't able to keep it out and we were a little bit worried that we might have another difficult afternoon against one of the bottom sides but James Jepson stepped up with a really good free kick and we relaxed a bit after that. We couldn't quite make the breakthrough in the first half but fortunately we managed to in the second.
"Mickey Lyons had a fairly decent game today. He still gave it away a bit too much for my liking but out there he was probably one of the most creative players for both sides and he managed to get the ball in to Jordan Nadal who finished well. Jordan was unlucky as he had a couple of good chances in the first half, he was lively and you could see how happy he was when he put that one in so really pleased with Mickey and Jordan's finish.
"George Woodward made a couple of good saves particularly the one when he got out and managed to make a good block with his legs. I wasn't too happy with his kicking today but I'll give him the benefit of the doubt with the conditions but what he did he did reasonably well. He bounced back from one of the first kicks he had when he came out of his area and miss kicked the ball. I did wonder how he'd cope with that but he did admirably and it's another win, the second on the trot.
"I'm not sure if Gary Hateley is still away to be honest. I've not spoken to Gary. We made the decision on Thursday that George would keep his position. As far as I'm aware, Gary was due back this weekend in time for today's game. If he isn't back in the country that isn't the reason why he isn't playing, George would have been picked ahead of Gary had he been here or not.
"There is nothing to report on any new players. There are still some possibilities. We've been a bit frustrated on one of them but we'll announce anything if there is anything to report in due course. There is one new signing Ryan Walker but doing some boxing aerobics last night pulled his back so. He was going to start today with Michael Nottingham being eased back onto the bench but we gave Michael a fitness test today and he's played and done alright so we are pleased with that. We hope to get Ryan back sooner rather than later. We haven't got a midweek game so hopefully he'll be available for the next game."
