Barton Royal Oak vs Gresley Rovers
Barton Royal Oak 0-1 Gresley Rovers
Scorer: Shorthouse
Team: Ian Parker, Joe Tomlin, Chris Smith, Dave Hatfield (c), Rich Foster, Danny Gee, Mark Shorthouse, Luke Taylor, Sam Worth, Joe Swift, Paul Morton.
Subs: Tom Fletcher, Nige Brewin, Dan Woodings, Craig Harrison, Sean Rudge
We met Barton Royal Oak in The Memorial Cup semi final, which was hosted by Marstons. With a bright sunny morning turning into a wet and windy afternoon, conditions were not ideal.
We were missing Josh Gregory through injury; however fortunately, this was our only player unavailable. Warm up was good, with a great atmosphere, so things looked promising. We knew very little about our opponents, however what we did know was that they'd be "up for it".
The pitch was good, but a strong wind blew its length, so our skipper won the toss, and cleverly chose to play with the wind behind us. I'd opted to go with a 4-5-1 formation, this meant Morton up front on his own, but gave us a good defensive dimension.
We started off much the brighter team, and for most of the early exchanges we were camped in their half. This was due to our battling, not the wind, but it did help as they struggled against it. Our midfielders were in top form, winning the majority of challenges, and distributing the ball with a fair bit of accuracy.
Swift had the first real change on 15 minutes, firing just wide. Gee soon afterwards had another good strike, but again it went just wide. Morton's pace beat the defence, and he hit a sweet shot beating the keeper, but crashing off the crossbar. With this many chances, we needed to stay patient, because I felt it was only a matter of time before we scored. Smith hit a low shot, rebounding off a defender, and Shorthouse reacted to hit a quality strike from way out. It was the sort of shot that when you watch them, you know it was going to be a goal. With 30 minutes gone we'd got the all important first goal and we finished the half as strong as we'd started, and if I remember rightly, Barton hadn't had one chance at goal.
We spoke at half time about the wind, so we needed to be switched on, because they had a pacey striker. Overall though, I was delighted at our first half performance.
Second half got underway, and as we expected, Barton came out determined. They forced us back into our half as they searched for a reply. Our defence, although under pressure coped well, and were being helped by our midfielders. This was going to be very much the next 45 minutes. We did have quite a few chances though, both Morton and Taylor came close, and also Gee was unlucky from a great challenge when through on goal.
With 15 minutes remaining, Barton through "caution to the wind", and went three up front. We still coped with the pressure though, and rarely looked too threatened, with Parker only called into action two or three times. Barton came close twice though, once their striker diving in at the back post and heading the post not the ball (fortunately uninjured because it looked nasty), and a goal bound shot being blocked by Tomlin. It was one of them "just throw yourself at it and hope" blocks but very effective. It was a great relief to hear the final whistle if I'm being honest, but I feel that the win was deserved as celebrations began.
Before the game today we said it would be a battle, and it certainly was, however I feel that we deserved the win against a hard working and skilful team. We battled for every ball, and created a few more chances than Barton, but take nothing away from them because they never gave in. Must mention that I cannot remember any bad challenges, or afters throughout the whole 90 minutes, so both teams were a real credit to themselves. Our efforts this season has been rewarded with a final at The Pirelli Stadium, and it shows what a difference a year makes, everyone today played a vital part in this. That goes to the subs as well, although none got on, they're still a vital part in this seasons improvements. Well done lets take it one more step on May 8th and lift some silverware, because what an end to our season that will be.
