Gresley Rovers 0-2 Sporting Khalsa - Report
Sporting Khalsa stalwarts James McGrady and Josh McKenzie grabbed their first goals of the campaign in the first of a double header against Gresley Rovers.
The pair’s strikes secured the points at Rovers’ Moat Stadium and Sporting boss Ian Rowe is hoping that can give his side a psychological advantage ahead of Tuesday night’s return clash.
“It was good to see James and Josh get off the mark for the season and get them up and running for the season,” said Rowe.
“It tees us up nicely for when we play Gresley again on Tuesday and we just have to make sure we kick on and follow this result up with another good performance and try and get back into the top six.”
After getting thumped 5-0 at Halesowen on Bank Holiday Monday, Rowe was looking for a reaction from his players and certainly got one from McGrady who opened the scoring in the first half with a 20-yard strike into the bottom corner.
McKenzie missed a good chance to double the lead on 50 minutes but made no mistake five minutes later when Kieron Whittaker forced a good save from Lewis Fenney and the ball rebounded invitingly for McKenzie to smash home.
Rovers came close to pulling a goal back when Bekir Halil’s free kick hit the woodwork while McKenzie was unlucky to see his dipping strike rattle the post late on.
“Gresley is a tough place to come, they were coming into the match on the back of a couple of good results and we were coming into the match on the back of a 5-0 defeat at Halesowen,” added Rowe.
“I’m pleased the way we bounced back from the Halesowen defeat though it wasn’t a bad performance.”
