More misery at bogey side Gresley Rovers for depleted Skegness Town

Missing Kieran Wressell, Luke Rayner-Mistry, McCauley Parker and Kyle Radford, Town travelled extremely light, with manager Gary King and his assistant even named amongst the substitutes before losing two more players to injury before half-time.

With the Lilywhites still searching for their first-ever away victory at Gresley, the odds were always stacked against them, even after Rovers' Albert Lansdowne was sent off on 42 minutes.

“It was a tough one to take,” admitted head of football Chris Rawlinson.

“We always knew that going to Gresley would be hard – Skegness never do well there and I think we have lost every game there since they have been back in the league.

“We had three players away on pre-booked holidays and another drop out Saturday morning, so that left us really short.

“We had two subs and the management team on the bench.

“It's hard to play on their sloping pitch and we even had a broken toilet that flooded our dressing room to deal with before the game, so it was a tricky day.

“But no excuses, the team we had out was more than capable.

“It was reasonably even with chances at both ends and could have gone either way until a five minute spell just before half-time changed the course of the game.

“We had a breakaway but the linesman gave offside which was subsequently proven not to be offside.

“As he was through, their full back who was making him was 15 yards up the pitch and they played it to him, got a two v one and went ahead.

“Their centre half was deservedly sent off for a foul on 42 minutes. But by the time half-time came around we had lost two defensive players to injury and the only two on the bench were attacking players.

“It just left us completely disjointed and was bad luck.

“You still hope at 11 v 10. They defended deep and we didn't create much.

“It seemed the referee wanted to even things up as we got seven second half bookings to Gresley's one in a game that wasn't aggressive in any shape or form.

“They then went 2-0 up from a set play and we had a mountain to climb.

“We continued to dominate and Terry Cotton scored a good first goal for the club with 10 minutes left.

“But they scored a good goal before we had a player sent off in the 94th minute.

“It was a thoroughly frustrating day and we now have two more out injured. But we go again on Saturday.”

The early stages suggested that this would be a closely fought contest.

Gresley took the lead in the 15th minute, but not without considerable controversy from a Skegness perspective.

Immediately beforehand, Declan Johnson had received the ball in acres of space and appeared to have an excellent opportunity to attack.

However, he was judged to have been in an offside position.

The decision left the Lilywhites aggrieved, with those in the Skegness contingency believing that Declan had been well onside.

The incident was subsequently reviewed using the club's own matchday recording equipment, which appeared to support that view.

The officials' decision stood, however, and Gresley took advantage of the quick restart. Ryan King found the back of the net to put the hosts 1–0 ahead.

Town regrouped and settled back into the contest, continuing to create opportunities and showing that they were still very much in the game.

On 42 minutes, Gresley were reduced to 10 men when Lansdowne was shown a red card for a poor challenge on Jordan Nuttell.

Skegness looked set to have an opportunity to make further headway into the game. Unfortunately, the Lilywhites were soon dealt another blow.

Conor Marshall and Matt Ward were both forced off through injury, with Toby Cotton and Theo Kitt-Bushell coming on as replacements.

The changes left Town seriously unbalanced, with only two recognised defenders remaining on the pitch — one centre-half and one left-back.

It was a difficult situation for the Lilywhites to manage, particularly against a side capable of exploiting space on the counter-attack.

Despite the disruption, Skegness continued to compete and enjoyed plenty of possession in the opponents' half.

The Lilywhites were not short of endeavour, but whenever possession was lost, the lack of a strong defensive presence left them vulnerable to Gresley's counter-attacking threat.

On 56 minutes, Gresley doubled their lead.

A free-kick set play was delivered into the box, and Macauley Homes was left with a free header at the back post, which he duly converted to make it 2–0.

A card-heavy period followed the Gresley sending-off, with seven yellow cards shown during the second half.

From a Skegness perspective, the game increasingly felt as though it was being evened up, with the Lilywhites frustrated by what they felt was an excessive amount of play-acting and the use of the darker arts.

Nevertheless, Town continued to push forward and remained determined to get something from the game.

The Lilywhites' persistence finally paid off in the 85th minute.

Toby Cotton found the back of the net to reduce the arrears to 2–1 and register his first-ever goal for Skegness Town.

“It was a moment of real encouragement for the visitors, who had battled through a challenging afternoon and now had a glimmer of hope.

Unfortunately, that hope was short-lived.

Just two minutes later, in the 87th minute, Samuel Grouse restored Gresley's two-goal advantage, scoring to make it 3–1 and effectively putting the game beyond doubt.

There was still further drama in stoppage time, as Bailey Forth received a second yellow card in the 96th minute and was dismissed.

The final whistle confirmed a 3–1 defeat for Skegness Town, but the scoreline does not tell the full story of an afternoon played under extremely difficult circumstances.

There will be disappointment at the result, particularly given the opportunities created and the circumstances surrounding the goals conceded.

However, the Lilywhites must now regroup, recover from the injuries sustained and turn their attention towards Saturday's visit of Leicester Nirvana.

SKEGNESS: Sykes, Thompson, Ward (Theo Kitt-Bushell 46), Marshall (Toby Cotton 45+8), Forth, Morrall, Dakin, Adams, Nuttell, Clarke, Johnson. SUBS NOT USED: Jackson, King, Robinson.