Match Photos
Gresley Rovers vs Clevedon Town
A couple of defensive slips were enough to see Gresley lose their un-beaten home league record against Clevedon Town.
The performance had been an improvement on recent games and, indeed, they deserved at least a point from their efforts.
Midfielder Chris Gray had been recalled from his loan spell at Coalville Town and for the first half put some energy into the Gresley attack playing just behind the strikers.
Gresley started off well and on 6 minutes James Parkinson went close when he got on the end of a Jamie Barrett free kick but his header went wide.
On 8 minutes it was Neil Kitching who this time went close. Gary White whipped in a corner but the striker’s header was comfortably saved by Steve Weaver.
Gresley continued to apply the pressure and Barrett sent a shot blazing over the bar from 20 yards.
On 17 minutes Gresley should have had a penalty. Andy Bourne made a tremendous run into the Clevedon box and was clearly pulled back when through on goal.
The opening goal came only a minute later after Gresley had been awarded a corner from the right. Gary White received a short corner from Jamie Barrett and his cross was headed powerfully home by James Parkinson scoring his first goal for the club.
On 20 minutes White was unlucky when his free kick just cleared the bar.
Gresley almost shot themselves in the foot on 32 minutes. A poor pass back to James Lindley by Ian Bluck was woefully short and Deion Vernon was quick to captialise but Lindley did well to race forward and to smother the ball.
On 42 minutes Clevedon were on equal terms. A cross was not dealt with by the Gresley defence and Vernon somehow managed to stick out a leg and put the ball past Lindley.
With two minutes of extra time played Gresley almost snatched the lead when Kitching headed White’s corner wide when well placed.
Within four minutes of the re-start Bluck was testing the Clevedon keeper who did well to push the ferocious free kick round the post.
On 58 minutes Gresley won a free kick. White sent in a cross which Bourne brought down, controlled, ran on and beat Weaver easily to give them the lead again.
Two minutes later Gray had a chance to put even more daylight between the sides. Kitching flicked on a long kick by Lindley which Gray did well to gather his shot was saved by Weaver’s legs and unfortunately the rebound was put wide by Bourne.
Gresley were to rue the miss and on 61 minutes the visitors were on terms again. It was a case of some careless defending that allowed Mike Wyatt to get between both Parkinson and Andy Cheetham before beating Lindley.
Seven minutes later it went from bad to worse for the home side. Another display of inept defending allowed Kris Rubens to run onto Lee Colliers through ball and he did well to lob the ball over Lindley to score his first goal for the Seasiders.
On 71 minutes a scorching 25-yard shot by Barrett was well blocked by Weaver who could not hold on to the ball and it was eventually scrambled off the line.
With time running out for Gresley they had one more chance to at least get the point their performance deserved. On 86 minutes Bourne hit a goal bound shot that somehow Weaver managed to get a finger tip to and pushed it away for a corner.
The Manager's view
"I know how we lost that game. We switch off when it comes to defending and we don't defend the second ball. We lose concentration and I just can't believe that they keep getting themselves into positions like that and keep throwing it away.
"Fair play to them, they kept going. The lumped the ball back to front and we didn't deal with that. What makes it even more galling is that we played three at the back, which gave us an extra man, and yet we still get done.
"If you play with a flat back four and someone ends up on their backside then fair enough. But that defending today is just nowhere good enough.
"Andy Bourne did great; he did really well. I was pleased with him and he scored as well. He was very positive especially how he started the game although he tired a little bit towards the end.
"There were a few positives come out of the game but at the end of the day you go and get beat 3-2 at home to a side that we shouldn't have done. In my opinion we dominated the game and we should have won it. I don't think anyone can deny us that except possibly those in the other dressing room.
"The dismal run we've been on is just not good enough and the players know that. Today's game was a perfect opportunity to go and rectify that. But we'll keep digging in and working hard. Apart from the last half hour I thought we'd done well but it's not good enough to just do well. We did well at Bromsgrove first half and we did well at Harrogate first half but I'd rather play badly and win.
"We did create a few more chances today and I thought we should have had a penalty in the first half. Bourney was clean through and the lad fouled him. I think he was too honest. If he'd have gone down then we might have got the verdict and the lad would have been sent off. Because he stayed on his feet the ref said play on which was ridiculous. We created a few chances, yes, but we were sloppy in the second half and we became desperate trying to get something, and we played like we were desperate. That's when you need somebody just to go 'hang on we'll keep this, keep doing that and keep doing the things that you've been doing in the game that have been positive' rather than falling into that trap. It's easy to say when you're sat watching.
"Chris Gray did well first half but I thought the game passed him by a little in the second so we changed it around a little but it didn’t work.
"What we've got to do now is to knuckle down and work hard to get ourselves out of a rut, because that's what we're in."
Gresley Rovers (1) 2
Clevedon Town (0) 3
Scorers: Parkinson 19, Bourne 58 (Gresley Rovers), Vernon 42, Wyatt, Reubens 69 (Clevedon Town).
Gresley Rovers: Lindley, Bluck (Crawford 82), Cheetham, Gray (G Smith 72), Parkinson, Wardle, Barrett, Hopkins, Kitching (Tomlinson 79), Bourne, G White. Subs not used: Peters, Clarke (gk).
Clevedon Town: Weaver, Lester, Dicks, A Smith, Price, Bryant, Collier, Zabek, Reubens (Bright 72), Bater, Vernon (Wyatt 43). Subs not used: Dew, Powell, Mogg (gk).
Rovers Star Man: Andy Bourne – full of running and looked a threat all through the game.
Referee: S Barrow (Tamworth).
Attendance: 355
