Jekyll and Hyde show earns point

Published on 21st February 2008 in Sport

Goole AFC 1

Gresley Rovers 1

A Jekyll and Hyde performance from the Vikings saw them held 1-1 by fellow play-off contenders Gresley Rovers at the Victoria Pleasure Grounds on Saturday.

At the end of the day, a point may not be a bad result, and with results elsewhere favourable enough in terms of their rivals, even more so.

And further, in view of 25 minutes in the second half where they completely lost their way, it was no more than they deserved on a superb afternoon for football.

Yet for 45 minutes, Nigel Danby's side played seemingly without a care, enterprising, skilful, intelligent and with more luck would have led by more than the single goal taken in style by Duncan Bray, his 11th goal of the season, however for the second Saturday in succession they were all over the place for a period in the second half, and this time were unable to rectify it.

James McDaid replaced the suspended Brad Hill as the only change to the side that beat Wakefield and the visitors, one point behind but having played two games more than Goole, were without their leading goalscorer David Blenkinsopp.

A hard overnight frost had seen the VPG rock hard in the morning, but by kick off time conditions were absolutely perfect and the largest home crowd of the season to date were treated to Goole at their best in the first half.

Chris Tate, clearly still affected by his knee injury, nevertheless showed why he will be so important in the run-in to the season end, and he could have been on the scoresheet after 18 minutes, but his overhead volley was saved by Clarke.

As it was he was instrumental in the Vikings going ahead in 28 minutes when he linked superbly with McDaid, whose cross was headed home by Bray, and had McDaid then scored with a header the game would have been totally different.

Certainly the opening half was as good as it can get, but a warning before the interval as Stefan Marshall contrived to shoot straight at a grateful Craig Parry from less than six yards after a rare slip by Chapman.

Whereas the first half was superb, the second saw a nightmare spell for the hosts where they were distinctly second best, and if the visitors had taken toll courtesy of six set pieces in good areas, it may have been a different story.

As it was Gresley, for all their dominance in the midfield, where they had room to operate with Goole defending deeper and deeper seldom tested Parry, although one suspected a goal had to come from somewhere.

And it did from a familiar source in terms of conceding goals for the Vikings of late - the penalty spot.

A sliced clearance from a right wing cross put them in trouble and a goalbound shot struck Chris Tate's hand on the line.

After much delay, and the referee clearly didn't see it was the Vikings striker who handled, or else he had to go, Tom Groves kept a cool head for Gresley and beat Parry easily to restore parity.

Having worked so hard to level, the visitors then had few moments in which they looked like winning as the Vikings with Steve Rollinson and Joe Brown introduced, recovered some poise at least.

In fact they looked as though they had snatched a win when more trouble for keeper Clarke from a high ball allowed a Chapman header to be cleared desperately off the line, and although the crowd level with the goal line berated the assistant, he got it right in the eyes of most of the crowd.

And then it was a case of seeing out time and whilst Goole pressed for a winner without any real conviction, the point will benefit the Vikings more than the men from the Moat Ground, who have a chance of revenge for an earlier defeat on their own patch on Tuesday week.