One of the best games I think I've seen at the D&D, not only in terms of entertainment, but in terms of quality as well, two good sides and some great goals (Oulton's was a beauty!), thought Gresley did have the better of us for much of the first hour and deserved their lead, but it was good to see our resilience to come back from 2 down and seeing the goalie with egg on his face barely 60 seconds after he had that smug grin of his in front of the PDB was priceless
We were second best for a lot of the game, but in the end I think it would have been a bit harsh on us to lose in the last minute like that and Gresley look like a team that will be up there come the end of the season, so it's a good result in the end imo. And can't not mention Ross Oulton, hell of a player, his quality looks vital to our team.
First of all, I have to say what a great game that was and a great advert for the level of football. Fitting that both sides were applauded off at the end.
Rather than criticizing our defence, I'd rather we applauded their forward line who were outstanding. Meade has come on a long way and we should have known all about Mwanyongo from his time at Thurnby. He was in the St Neots team that many of us watched in our first-teamless season. The most frustrating thing for me is that we've been unable to lure any of those Thurnby youngsters to our club. I'd like to think we've tried.
Having praised their forwardline, their defence and central midfied wasn't anywhere near the same standard and we exploited that well once the subs came on. Tom Lorraine has been off the pace lately and didn't do a great deal today either in fairness, but by just being there managed to cause them major problems and swung the game in our favour. Full marks to the management for that one and I don't often say/think that about our substitutions which are often f*****g odd!
The winner coming so late was obviously a massive thrill and felt like a win in truth. It should provide a big confidence boost ahead of next week.
They say we've lost our money we're not famous anymore.....
diamondgeezer1 wrote:Wasn't a great first half performance from us, second half was much better.
Went 2-0 down which seemed to wake us up, Incredible goals from Oulton.
Gresley were a very good side, they'll definite be there or thereabouts at the end of the season. But their reaction when they went 3-2 up, as if they'd won the World Cup made our equaliser much more sweeter.
The reaction was very simlar to the one we saw when we lost at Thurnby Nirvana a couple of seasons back - with a similar cast.
Well yeah, we're a big scalp for a lot of teams, especially at this level.
I can't remember how the old team were viewed in their early years, only being a youngster myself. But I remember we were called the Man Utd of non league, so I can only assume teams back then saw us as the team to beat.
Would be interesting to see a comparison of Thurnby & the Gresley team on Saturday.
A fantastic game of football - both sides giving it everything, end-to-end drama and a load of very well taken goals.
Brad did another good job filling in at centre-back and obviously Oulton had a major impact, getting stronger as the game wore on.
I particularly liked that all the way through, even when 2-0 down, our players' heads never dropped and we never looked like giving it up. Fantastic attitude all round.
Great match in the conditions that was generally played in a good spirit. Vocal crowd on both sides and a nice ground that's as good as many you'll find at this level.
Crowd wise was fantastic, you'll find a lot of places where they struggle on gates of below 100 or 200 and there can be very little atmosphere. When you visit Newcastle & have the cycling track for example on a windy winters day or the two tonnes of sand at Sheffield FC where the ball doesn't bounce properly you appreciate surfaces like yours.
Think we did well to get to 2-0, the reaction for the second from our keeper comes from the amount of abuse he was taking from behind the goals for his weight. Don't think he did too badly with some saves for a "fat bastard" to keep us in the match though? We were incensed at the penalty decision, last weekend in the FA Cup we had one given against us similarly that was blasted and hit the guy on the forehead, you could see the ball mark on his face. This one was because of how close our lad was. I don't know if it hit his hand from where we stood but from that distance it's incredibly difficult to move your hands out of the way let alone make a conscious decision to deliberately stop the ball.
Your second goal was a fantastic hit, we maybe left him too open but he took it really well. Our "overreaction" was because after all that pressure and late in the game, a goal like Pearson scored was a fantastic hit and at that time could've won us the points against possibly the best team we've played this season so far. It's like how good your management celebrated and gestured to us near them after your second and is an indication of the spirit we've built which as fans and after last seasons dismal effort from some now departed players is a refreshing change. It to me is what non league football is about though, passion and emotion and hopefully why most of your fans have stuck with a side who also had to reform & work its way through the divisions. Matches like that are rewards on us as fans and why I choose to watch Gresley every week.
A very enjoyable day out, and only one negative for us, that your 8 seemed to spend most of his time diving. This was echoed to us by some of your fans who mentioned it to us a couple of times. I don't like seeing that going on but you'll see a few teams in this division who make a meal out of everything.
Thanks for the hospitality, the match and we'll see you later on in the season at our old ramshackle ground!
Re: the penalty, I felt there was a stonewaller literally 2/3 seconds before for a push on Tom Lorraine. The actual penalty award looked soft but the ref probably realised he should have given the first one and was presented with an opportunity to make it right almost straight away.
They say we've lost our money we're not famous anymore.....
Regarding our number 8, Robbie Parsons. He's only 18 years old and does get fouled a fair bit due to his direct running at players style and the fact he's a bit lightweight so does go down with a light push, a lot of times the refs miss them or just don't give them. He does tend to try to get fouls too often IMO, but has a hell of a lot of potential for his age.
Well deserved point after coming back from 2-0 to 2-2, conceding such a late goal then fighting until the end to equalise. Ross Oulton was unreal again, we look 10x better with him in the side. Overall performance was good, although I still think a couple of players need to put more of a shift in. Entertaining game to watch, which was made even better when the whole of Gresley FC decided to bundle next to our dugout, only for us to score 60 seconds later.
good to get a sensible opposition fans perspective on a game, so thank you Gresleyian.
A possible reason for the over excitement of the Diamonds management and fans could be because we have suffered some tough results against your management teams former club and players in the past. It was not so much anything against Gresley.
I could only listen to the game on Radio Diamonds and they conveyed the drama so expertly, I can only imagine what it must have been like to see it happening....shades of Barwell?.
