REPORT | Gresley Rovers 1-2 Quorn

With the sudden departure of Management team Rich Lavery and Tom Cherry, Ant Carney and Matt Green stepped up to take charge as Quorn stretched their unbeaten streak to six matches. Goals from Paddy Webb and Ryan Beswick, either side of a Jack Ekins-Tyson response for the hosts, helped the Reds to a third straight win.

Quorn dominated the first half, with wave after wave of attacks seeing constant pressure on the hosts goal. Louie Turner kept his side in the match, early and often, with a string of fine saves, but he was helpless in the face of Webb’s fourth minute strike as Courey Grantham did the damage on the left, picking out the striker to finish the move.

Turner got down well to turn a Cain Noble effort wide and some desperate defending denied Grantham as he broke through twice in the opening fifteen minutes. In a rare foray forward, Jenson Cooper fired narrowly over for the hosts before Tyrell Shannon-Lewis had a chance at the other end. The powerful forward had won the ball with dogged determination and almost got his reward when Webb returned the ball to him in the middle, but he couldn’t make a clean connection and the ball flew wide.

Grantham had a chance to add the important second, but a well timed challenge saw him poke his effort wide of the left-hand upright. Ekins-Tyson was lucky to only receive a yellow as he dragged Charlie Marzano to the ground in a tussle that would have looked more at home in last weekends Super Bowl.

Devon Kelly-Evans got himself in a good position on the edge of the box, but his powerful shot was blocked. Jordan Gough received treatment after an untidy tackle from Cooper, who also had his name taken by the Referee. The soft surface was beginning to have a major impact on proceedings as both sides struggled to keep their footing.

Noble displayed his trademark persistence to win the ball high up the pitch and create a chance for himself, but the free-scoring midfielder couldn’t get his shot on target on this occasion. After the break, Noble was in the thick of things again, seeing two efforts saved by Turner in the opening ten minutes.

Gresley finally began to get in to the match around the hour mark, but their increase in possession couldn’t be converted in to chances as Quorn held Rovers at arm’s length. Shannon-Lewis almost put the game to bed when he met Webb’s cross, but a defensive touch did just enough to make the chance more difficult as he met it at the back post. Kelly-Evans was next to break free, but was brought down from behind when he was through on goal.

Gresley had done just enough to stay in the game, and when Ekins-Tyson shot in to the bottom corner with 15 minutes to play, it looked as though they might snatch something from a game in which they had been second-best by some distance. Rovers came very close to winning it with ten minutes to play. Noble’s shot had been saved for a corner, and the hosts broke away as they cleared it. An initial effort came back off the base of the post and Gough was well positioned to block the follow-up.

After surviving that scare, Quorn reasserted themselves and Grantham’s driving run was only halted when he was clumsily brought down from behind. The Referee didn’t hesitate to point to the spot, and, after a long delay, Beswick sent Turner the wrong way and stroked home a confident penalty to seal the three points for the Reds.