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Dolby hands out a Wembley reminder
Story courtesy of Burton Mail
Coach Steve Dolby had to console distraught Gresley Players after last night’s Bramall Lane defeat.
Dolby said: “The lads are extremely disappointed. Some of them were beside themselves because they felt they had let our supporters down – but I told them they should remember that we gave the same people a day out at Wembley that they will never forget.”And the Burton schoolteacher gave another good reason why Rovers should feel no sense of shame.
“I think we have lost to probably the most up-and-coming side in non-league football. Guiseley were certainly as good a side as any I came up against in my playing days. They were so strong in every position and if they keep progressing along the same lines there is no reason why they shouldn’t go all the way to the Conference.”
Dolby thought the turning point came in the 68th minute with Rovers trailing 2-1.
“We thought we might have had a penalty when Stuart Stokes was brought down,” he said. “But the referee didn’t see it that way and they went straight down the pitch and scored their third. It could have been 2-2, but instead it was 3-1 to them.”
Central defender Gil Land, a member of the Burton Albion team beaten in a replay in the 1987 FA Trophy final, probably took defeat hardest of all.
A disconsolate Land said: “I went through this with Burton and now I’ve had to suffer it again with Gresley. You could say I’m well chuffed off. Probably we missed our chance at Wembley. We let them off the hook and paid for it tonight.
“We were confident before the game, but they stopped us from playing our normal game. I have to say they were a very good side.”
