Gresley FC vs Chasetown
Gresley 1 - 1 Chasetown
Scorer: Chris Burnham
Today we entertained Chasetown last year's champions so we knew we had to be firing on all cylinders from the first whistle.
I felt after watching the squad warm up we seemed to be a little sluggish and quiet, so myself Mat and Andy had to get amongst a few of them in the dressing room to get us going and I think it worked.
We started fairly well closing down in packs which we have worked on training and pressured Chasetown into some unforced errors.
As the first half went on we created some really good chances, with Tom Read going through and with their keeper advancing tried to lift the ball over him but it dropped the wrong side of the far post.
Then ten minutes later Jermaine Cunningham went through one on one but fired his shot at the keeper's legs.
At the end of the first half I was disappointed that it was still 0-0 with us having the better of the chances to go ahead.
Second half we came out again working hard closing Chasetown down and denying them space.
After a brief chat at the break with Andy Dunn I felt we would benefit a lot more if he sat in midfield and got us passing, switching play from left to right and probing there back four.
We did and it worked and with the game now getting stretched and both teams creating good chances we finally got our reward for our hard work.
Matt Draycott did well down the right, and laid the ball back to substitute Daryl Towle who delivered a quality cross straight on to Chris Burnham's head who finished from ten yards with a well directed header into the far corner.
With only about 10 minutes remaining we had some tied legs out there so I brought on Ash Franklin for Pete Collins who had received a knock on his knee, but to be fair to the lads they kept going.
But with only 3 minutes left Chasetown equalised which perhaps they felt they deserved but from my point of view it was just a case of us being a bit more clinical in front of goal and taking our chances when they arise.
Squad: Paul Hollis, Scott Allsopp, Pete Collins, Lee Stretton (c), Joe Tomlin, Andy Dunn, Matt Draycott, Jermaine Cunningham, Chris Burnham, Tom Read, Joe Swift.
Subs: Ashley Franklin, Daryle Towel, Martyn Rowntree.
