UniBond League Division One Playoff Semi-Final
Lambeth Stadium, Woodley, Stockport
Monday, 1st May 2006, 3.00pm
90 Minutes Away
Gresley Rovers are just 90 minutes away from UniBond Premier Division football next season. A comprehensive drubbing of Woodley Sports on their artificial turf put Gresley through to the playoff final against Kendal in Cumbria on Saturday.
On a cold, showery and blustery Bank Holiday Monday Gresley immediately took the game to their hosts putting them on the back foot almost from the off.
After just 6 minutes top scorer Aaron O'Connor put the Moatmen in the lead when he collected fellow striker Paul Edwards' headed pass, beat the defender and fired the ball low and hard past Sports keeper Liam Higginbotham.
Two minutes later Gresley had doubled their score when Mickey Lyons found Edwards who's shot hit defender Matthew Taylor and re-bounded to the frontman who then got the faintest of touches to put it into the net for his twentieth goal of the season.
The closest Woodley came to causing any concern was on 16 minutes when Taylor hit a very weak shot that went straight to Gresley keeper Tommy Whittle.
Play swung to the other end where Carl Slater ran onto a pass from O'Connor down the right before unleashing a terrific shot that Higginbotham did well to fingertip over the bar.
On 19 minutes another half-chance for the home side ended with Carlos Meakin firing well wide after making a surging run through the middle of the park.
Woodley almost grabbed a goal back on 26 minutes when Ashley Crank's cross from a corner found Gavin Salmon who's header was cleared off the line by Nicky Carter. The home side were having their best spell of the game and Meakin again was wayward with his shooting and Taylor sent an inviting low cross into the goal area but there was no Woodley play able to get on the end of it.
Gresley regained the upper hand and on 34 minutes were awarded a free kick after Mickey Lyons was brought down on the edge of the box. Allan Davies hit a curling free kick that was deflected away for a corner.
On 44 minutes Slater put a superb pass through for O'Connor down the right but Higginbotham was quick off his line to clear the danger.
Seconds later, however, Gresley further increased their lead when Matt Millns met Lyons's corner from the left to power in a header leaving the keeper stranded and the home supporters stunned.
The expected all out effort by Woodley in the second half didn't really materialise and they were reduced to firing over high hopeful balls and speculative long-range efforts as the Gresley defence proved more than a match for their front men.
One glimmer of a chance for the home side came on 54 minutes when Mario-Sergio Daniel sent over a great cross only for Salmon to head tamely wide of the mark.
Gresley were playing the far better passing football on a surface that should have favoured the home side and with only a quarter of an hour remaining looked in total control of the game.
On 73 minutes Slater made a good run through the middle before passing to O'Connor who fired first time but his shot sailed over the bar.
The game was wrapped up on 80 minutes when Tom Betteridge put a superb long pass through to O'Connor and with Higginbotham well off his line the UniBond Division One's top scorer sent the perfect lob over the keeper's head and into the net.
Three minutes later one last chance for the home side but again the final long-range shot from Taylor flew high over the bar with Whittle, who'd been largely untroubled for the whole of the game, watching it all the way.
With five minutes remaining Gresley had another chance when substitute Stave Gomm's cross was almost touched home by Slater but the ball was a fraction of an inch too far in front of the midfielder.
Woodley, a mere shadow of the team that beat Gresley so comprehensively at the Moat Ground only a few weeks ago, had two more shot's on goal that rugby football's Johnny Wilkinson would have been proud of.
At the final whistle Woodley were well and truly beaten and trudged solemnly off the pitch as the many Gresley supporters, players and officials celebrated their victory.
Manager's View
"I think I'm going to wake up in a minute and it's Bank Holiday Monday morning and I'm nervous thinking we've got a play-off game this afternoon. Yes, we are pinching ourselves after that first half performance.
"We said to the lads before the game that Woodley Sports were the only side to have done the double over us in the league this season and we wanted to come and do ourselves justice. We didn't feel we did that in the two games against them but we knew that on this surface that if we could get the ball down and play the type of football we're capable of and we've shown it on many occasions this season we'd have a good chance.
"What a start and what a first half and that was the platform for going on to win the game. Up until the fourth we were all still very nervous on the bench despite the fact that there was only maybe seventeen or eighteen minutes left.
"They never really troubled Tommy Whittle most of their stuff was from distance. We talked about that at halftime about the fact that they would throw the kitchen sink at us and commit bodies forward but they would leave gaps at the back. We defended very resolutely as we did against Mossley the other day and it's frustrating in some respects because a few more performances like, and I mean a few because we were only six points off automatic promotion, then it could have been a very different story.
"I'm absolutely delighted and thoroughly proud of our achievement even to get to the playoff final and we will give it our best shot on the day and try and do the UniBond League some credit and play a good game.
"Aaron has scored thirty five goals this season and there's more to come potentially. He's not the finished article yet and I keep stressing that to him and keeping his feet firmly on the ground and anybody who is taking an interest they've got to mindful that he's not the finished article. We're hopeful he'll stay and be leading us in the Premier Division next year leading the line with Paul Edwards. Both of them deserve a lot of credit. Aaron has had a little dry spell and has come good again today. Personally I'm going to credit Paul with the goal because he'd done enough and I think he got a touch in there somewhere, rather than an own goal and that's nineteen goals for him and thirty five for Aaron. I said at the start of the season that Paul Edwards is capable of scoring twenty goals this season and he's had twenty-nine starts and scored nineteen goals so he's justified that faith in him when earlier in the season a lot of supporters were on his back and were very critical of him. But, you can't keep a good goal scorer down and he's proved the critics wrong and Aaron has chipped in with goals all season. But, it's not all just about those two it's about everybody in a Gresley shirt including those players who have joined us for the run in, Steve Gomm, Tom Betteridge and Tom Whittle in particular. The input that they've had since they've come to the club has been a boost at the right time for us.
"We are thoroughly delighted but we've got one more massive hurdle. It's the best opportunity this club's had for a number of years to get back into the Premier Division and I'm very proud to have got us to that stage, Mick Curry and myself, and we want to follow it through and we're determined to do that. I've now got to cancel my flights for a stag weekend. I was going out to Magaluf on Thursday night but I'm very pleased to be cancelling the flights and to re-arrange them for Saturday night or Sunday but we'll see.
"I think everyone deserves credit today. We defended superbly well and I think that was Matt Millns seventh or eighth goal this season. For saying he had a big blip in the middle of the season and missed a lot of games through lack of form, injury or suspension he deserves a lot of credit as well as does everyone in a Gresley shirt today.
"A lot of supporters made the trip today and those supporters who that go home and away I'm pleased for them. Those that came today and added to the number and made it a good atmosphere deserve credit and I hope to see them at the Moat Ground to get behind us on Saturday or up at Kendal depending on who ends up winning that match - Kendal get good crowds.
"This is our best sequence losing just once in eleven games and it's come at the right time. I've said all along just look at Telford they showed how important it was to go into the playoffs in form and we've managed to do that. That one defeat was a mistake by Tom Whittle with a minute or two to go. The last time we got a spanking, and rightly so, was by Woodley Sports five-two. We played really well for the first twenty minutes and then went one-nil down midway through the first half. Their manager made a comment about what sort of side we were and I've remembered that and to have a little bit of revenge today is sweet.
"I sent all the players a text message last night saying that Woodley was the only side to have done the double this season and what more incentive do we need to come here and relax and play our football and we've done alright today and I'm pleased but we've got to keep it going.
"I'm one of the most nervous people out in football even at four-nil up with three minutes to go. Even at halftime we reminded the players of the Champions League Final last year. I said 'I know it sounds daft to be talking about it but just be on your mettle and make sure that they don't do a Middlesborough and allow them to come back in the second half. Woodley are a good side. They've scored the most goals in the division this year - they are a good young side, attacking and we knew they'd throw everything at us. They scored three in a four or five-minute spell at our place so we knew first hand what their capabilities are if we allowed them to play.
"It was very pleasing to see those minutes slip by and I started to feel a little more relieved but, it's just pleasing to have got there to be honest because there was a stage two or three months ago when I didn't think we would make the mix for the playoffs let alone the final. Now we're just ninety minutes away from Premier Division football and it's very satisfying."
