Evo-Stik NPL DIvision One South
Central Ground, Coles Lane, Sutton Coldfield
Tuesday, 30th October 2012, 7.45pm
Gresley Suffer Royal Defeat
Gresley's Jekyll and Hyde season continued with a dismal performance at Coles Lane with their defensive frailties clearly on show again conceding three goals from set pieces and one from a soft penalty.
The visitors made just one change to the starting eleven from Saturday's game at Market Drayton with Mickey Lyons replacing Rob Spencer. Danny Holmes and Lavell White were given a place on the bench alongside Ben Minshull , Jordan Nadat.
It was soon evident that the Royals had made some changes to their side as they looked a far more proficient side to the one Gresley faced in the FA Trophy back in September and were soon forcing the Moatmen back winning two early corners.
Sutton had the ball in the net on 18 minutes from a well taken free kick but it was ruled out for offside. That was an indication of what was to come but unfortunately Gresley didn't heed the warning and it was to lead to their downfall later in the game.
Gresley were unlucky not to have taken the lead when Michael Nottingham powered James Jepson's free kick from the centre circle against the bar. Richard Hanslow could only place his header from the rebound straight into the hands of Royals keeper Lee Evans from close in. Jamie Barrett then went close putting his header wide from Marc Goodfellow's free kick.
Just after the half hour mark Sutton took the lead in somewhat fortunate circumstances. Jordi Gough was clearly fouled but the protests were ignored by referee Leslie Sinclair and the ball rolled over the bye line for a corner. Louis Keenan slung over the resultant flag kick and Joel Kettle rose unmarked to head home.
Nine minute later Gresley were two down when they conceded a soft and needless penalty. Another high ball into box saw Marc Stryzewski climb all over a Sutton player giving the referee the easy decision of awarding a penalty. Despite Gresley keeper Gary Hateley trying his hardest to put him off Keenan made no mistake calmly smashing the ball home from the spot.
Gresley had two chances to at least reduce the deficit in the dying minutes of the first half with Strzyzewski heading Jepson's corner wide and Goodfellow firing wide of the upright.
Sutton tested Hateley early in the second half with Luke Chapman forcing the Gresley keeper to fingertip his long range shot over the bar.
More poor defending from the visitors saw Sutton add another goal when a long throw from Kristian Ramsey-Dickson was tapped in at the near post by Daryl Taylor who had raced in apparently un-noticed from ten yards out.
Things could have got worse for Gresley when Jamie Sheldon got the better of Strzyzewski just outside the area but the outstretched leg of Hateley spared the defender's blushes.
Gresley needed to change things as the game was rapidly slipping away from them so two substitutes were made on 58 minutes with Danny Holmes and Jordan Nadat replacing Sam Woods and Richard Hanslow and Nadat was soon in the thick of things. His cross found Goodfellow in a great position but the final shot went disappointingly wide of the far post. Nadat was the author of the next chance when he picked out Phil Massingham whose shot was blocked.
Gresley had a glimmer of hope on 69 minutes when Goodfellow's free kick was eventually rammed home by Nottingham.
Nadat was having the affect of injecting some urgency into what had, up to his introduction, been a lacklustre Gresley performance and his looping shot from distance brought out a rare save from Sutton keeper Lee Evans.
The substitute got his just reward on 85 minutes as he steered Holmes' deflected shot into the net but unfortunately it was a false dawn as two minutes later some shambolic defending allowed the Royals to score their fourth goal. A free kick from Dean Rathbone saw the Gresley back line and keeper standing motionless possibly waiting for an offside flag which wasn't forthcoming and indeed wasn't deserved and Kettle running through had the easiest of headers totally unchallenged.
Gresley may have grabbed an unlikely and undeserved share of the points late on with Nadat firing wide and Nottingham heading Goodfellow's towards goal which Evans pushed away.
Manager's View
Martin Rowe
"We conceded four goals from set plays so the goalkeeper and defence have got to take responsibility for that. We've not played well tonight but once we made the change in the second half bringing Danny Holmes and Jordan Nadat on I think it changed the game and I felt we could have gone on and most likely have got a draw out of the game if not nick it in the last few minutes but when they conceded the fourth it just about sums us up.
"A ball into the area Marc Strzyewski and Gary Hately not communicating and the lad has just come in between them and put it in the back of the net. So for the first time for a bit we'll have them down for training on Thursday and see if we can sort that situation out.
"It's very disappointing considering we scored two goals tonight but we've got to keep going. Just when you think we've turned a corner we keep getting upsets and we've got to look at the squad a bit more and see what more we can do to sort that situation out but Saturday we played away and got a clean sheet. We know we can do it, it's just the matter of doing it on a regular basis and being more consistent in our games.
"The situation with James Jepson is still ongoing but I think we should concentrate more on the team if James does decide to go. There's nothing as a club we can do because we can't match the money Kings Lynn's got but I hope the time James has been at Gresley he may show a bit of loyalty to us. He's got a long way to travel but it's James's decision. The management and the club want to keep him, the supporters love him as well and we'd love it if he stayed but there is nothing we can do about it.
"We won't have Marc Goodfellow on Saturday through suspension but we'll have Rob Spencer back. I felt Jordan Nadat showed a lot again tonight and that's twice we've brought him off the bench and he's shown a lot of promise so there might be a shout for Jordan having a start on Saturday!"
