Red Lion Horninglow Reserves vs Gresley Rovers
Red Lion Horninglow Res 1 - 3 Gresley Rovers
Scorers: Taylor 2, Morton
Team: Stu Haywood, Joe Tomlin, Dave Hatfield (c),Rich Foster, Tom Fletcher, Josh Gregory, Luke Taylor, Sam Worth, Jack Moylan, Chris Smith, Paul Morton.
Subs: Joe Swift, Matt Grice, Craig Harrison, Andy Lyons, Danny Gee
We were supposed to be at home, but a problem outside our control, rendered the Old Hall unavailable so Mark from The Red lion kindly agreed to reverse the fixture thanks to him for this.
We were still missing Mark Shorthouse and Ian Parker through injury, also Gee was not fully fit from last week, but luckily we benefit from a large squad.
Red Lion Reserves have made a great start to their first season in the top flight, after easily winning the division lower last season, so we needed to be at our best. Last week's results had seen us slip to 5th in the league so today was going to be a test of character.
Red Lion started the brighter, with us very much on the back foot, and I think it was our first real break when Morton's pace beat their defence to make it 1-0 with only 5 minutes gone so we'd taken the lead with our first real attack so early in, that was a little fortunate being honest.
It was pretty even in terms of possession (but Red Lion looked a little more dangerous in attack than us).In spells we got the ball down and played it around nicely, and when we did we looked very sharp. Morton's pace, linked with Smith's strength, were causing problems for their defenders and they were getting good support from Worth and Moylan down the flanks. Our defence was getting pulled out of shape at times, as they were out numbered when Red Lion broke forward. With 10 minutes to half time Haywood produced a fine "point blank" save only for their forward to draw them level. Haywood made another couple of saves before half time and 1-1 was fair going in at the
break.
Second half started and we seemed to move up a gear, we passed it around with pace and tempo and Gregory was controlling things in midfield with the help of both Fletcher and Taylor and we were knocking the ball about in
style. With 25 minutes left we made our first substitution replacing Smith for Swift and we searched for a goal to get us back in front. Moylan was working tirelessly down the right, and we forced pressure on our opponents. Foster carried the ball out of defence, and with a neat 1-2 with
Worth, he found Morton wide on the right who crossed to Taylor who struck it cleanly first time to make it 2-1.
So 2-1 up we made our second substitution, bringing on Grice for Worth (who's still struggling with a back injury) with about 18 minutes to go. Red Lion's keeper was far busier than Haywood by now, and he did well to save a back pass with his chest from their number 2. Possession wise there was only one team in it and we continued to push forward with great link up play. Moylan struck a shot which the keeper failed to hold, and after a goalmouth
scramble, Taylor finished to make it 3-1.
We could of increased the lead on numerous occasions, but the good thing was we were still working hard together, so when the ball broke we reacted quickly to support our defence. With 6 minutes to go we made our last substitution replacing Morton for Harrison and we rode out the remainder of the game.
Today was a great result, but just as importantly, we showed in the second half just how we can play. We had belief in ourselves to be patient and pass the ball around to feet, at a great tempo, which is very hard for opponents to cope with. Our mid field was the best I've seen this season with Gregory looking like the class we know he is. Taylor and Fletcher battled for everything along with our wide men. Our defence looked like a solid unit most of the time and up front Morton's pace creates problems for any defence, and this linked up well with Smith. We had a strong subs bench today, which means
that changing things are a lot easier. Today the performance was a pleasure to watch, against a good Red Lion side (as we've come to expect). A good afternoon's work played in a truly great spirit from both teams so a big "pat on the back " for both sides and also the ref who I thought did well (even though it was easy for him). Well done lads shows true character to bounce back from last week and today you showed how good you can be.
MOM: Rich Foster, showed great determination and strength as always, totally awesome in the air and skilful on the floor. Well done Rich much deserved I feel.
