Atherstone United vs Gresley Rovers
The Reserves went down to a surprise 3-1 defeat at Atherstone after starting the game in an excellent Manner. Mark Shiels made his 1st appearance of the season after his long term knee injury and did very well making a few smart saves. Due to 1st team starting places for Timms, Moran and Slater, the midfield was completely reorganised seeing Jon Jenkinson on the right, Mickey Sandar and Greg Smith in the middle and Earl Alexander on the left. Jim Parkinson played in the centre of defence in a bid to boost match fitness after spending much of the last few weeks on the bench for the 1st team.
The game started excellently for Rovers as Ryan Yearsley opened the scoring on 3 minutes with his 13th and probably his best goal of the season. He twisted and turned his way past 3 defenders into the box before firing home past Carl O'Neil in the Shepshed goal. Earl Alexander almost made it 2-0 on 11mins but his effort was well saved by O'Neil. Greg Smith shot straight at the keeper when well placed and Mykey Pryce shot over from the edge of the box on the half hour when he should have done better. The first half hour was Gresley's best spell in the game but they only had one goal to show for it. The importance of taking chances when you are on top was soon to be evident as two goals in as many minutes put Atherstone ahead. John Jenkinson conceded a sloppy free kick and Sheils saved it well pushing the ball for a corner. From the corner Olney volleyed home from 20 yards. A minute later a sloppy pass from Dave Roberts let in an Atherstone forward and as Roberts tried to make amends he conceded a penalty which Ayres converted.
Gresley introduced trialist Umar Najeed in place of Dave Roberts at half time and went to 3 at the back in a bid to improve things. Najeed almost had an instant effect as his 1st pass released Mykey Pryce through on goal but the shot went straight at the keeper. Yearsley shot wide when well place after good work from Pryce whilst at the other end Paul Grosse, Jim Parkinson and Nathan Tate were doing they’re best to keep Rovers in the game. Mark Shiels made a breathtaking save from Chapman’s 20 yard effort on 55 minutes.
The 3rd goal came on 65 minutes when John Jenkinson lost possession in midfield and with players committed forward the resultant throughball found Andy Smith in space and although Sheils saved the 1st attempt the ball rebounded luckily to Smith to score.
Rovers huffed and puffed but disappointingly could produce anything of further note in the final minutes of the game.
Final Score
Atherstone Utd Reserves 3
Gresley Rovers Reserves 1
1. Mark Shiels
2. Dave Roberts
3. Nathan Tate
4. Paul Grosse
5. Jim Parkinson
6. Mickey Sandar (c)
7. John Jenkinson
8. Greg Smith
9. Ryan Yearsley (3 mins)
10. Mykey Pryce
11. Earl Alexander
12. Matt Brown
14. Gareth Burgess
15. Umar Najeed
