Evo-Stik South
Coles Lane, Sutton Coldfield
Monday, 18th September 2017, 7.45pm
Dismal Night For Gresley
To many this game was regarded as a six-pointer but to the Gresley faithful this was a chance to pull away from the relegation positions.
Sadly, for the latter it was a dismal performance on a dismal night and to be brutally honest as it stands at the moment, and from what was witnessed, one of these two poor teams will end up at the bottom of the pile come the end of the season unless there is a huge turnaround.
Gresley have been called a Jekyll and Hyde side but on tonight's showing that would be disrespectful to the character of that name. In the first half gone were the passion and determination evident on Saturday. Except for a few, some of the starting side looked disinterested and allowed an equally poor Romulus side to claim all three points.
One bright light on a dark night was the performance of new signing defender Acer Wake who settled into the side well in the place of the unavailable Josh Egginton.
Gresley were under pressure right from the start with the home side pressing resulting in Romario Martin turning well only to fire wide of the far post.
Courtney Meade made the first half chance on 24 minutes forcing home keeper Billy Spink to parry the ball away.
Gresley were unfortunate a couple of minutes later. Despite a foul in the build-up the referee Mr Walker allowed play to continue. Charlie Woolfe then ran into the area only to be upended in the area. To the anger of players and supporters alike, the referee brought the ball back for a free kick which was wasted.
Romulus took the lead on 38 minutes from guess what, another defensive mistake which is now unfortunately, becoming a regular habit. A long high punt down the middle was not dealt with and Martin muscled his way through to slot the ball past keeper Rob Peet.
On the first half showing, manager Damion Beckford-Quailey made changes with Jon Stevenson replacing Meade and Zak Evans Woolfe and the changes seemed to have an impact as Gresley looked far more threatening.
However, if it wasn't for Peet making a good save within seconds of the restart after the break, Gresley would have found themselves two behind.
Reece Morris forced a good save out of Spink on 64 minutes with a cracking shot which the keeper did well to react to parrying the ball away. The rebound fell to Stevenson but he could only steer his effort wide.
Morris was brought down on the edge of the area and Stevenson went close from the resultant free kick.
The introduction of Stevenson had had a marked effect and he was causing problems for the Romulus defence. He went close again on 80 minutes. A pass from Morris was sweetly struck by Stevenson but another good save from Spink saw the ball pushed away for a corner.
With Gresley pushing forward looking for something out of the game a quick break almost cost them dearly with Martin flashing a shot across the face of Peet's goal.
Gresley's last chance came from Jamie Barrett who unfortunately headed Stevenson's well-placed corner just wide of the far post.
