Date: Saturday 20th October 2018
Venue: Craik Park, Morpeth Common, Morpeth, Northumberland, NE61 2YX
Kick Off: 3pm
Competition: Evo-Stik Northern Premier League Division One East
Match Coverage: Twitter
Highlights: Highwaymen TV
History
Gresley FC was formed in 2009 and enjoyed a very successful first season in the East Midlands Counties League. The side, managed by Gary Norton, finished as runners up and therefore narrowly missed out on promotion.
Gresley also enjoyed a long run in the FA Vase by beating Spennymoor, Dawlish and Long Buckby. The Dawlish tie in particular will live long in the memory as the original tie was abandoned in extra time and the Moatmen won the replay in South Derbyshire on penalties. The Vase run came to an end in front of the home fans in disappointing fashion at home to Whitehawk in the quarter-finals.
New Directors joined the club looking to turn the dream of moving to a new stadium into a reality.
Manager Gary Norton and his assistant Martin Rowe invited Martyn Rowntree to step up from the reserves to become first team coach.
2010-2011 Gresley’s second season as a club and also their second in the East Midlands Counties League saw another good FA Vase run getting to the last 32 and then going one step further from the previous season by winning the league after an exciting run-in. Being a few points behind the leading contenders Gresley could not afford to slip up again after an unexpected home defeat in early January if their dreams were to be realised.
An amazing 20 game unbeaten run with the final 8 all victories saw Gresley crowned as champions and promoted into the Midland Football Alliance.
Season 2011-2012 saw another good run in the FA Vase reaching the last 16 and to top off a superb season Gresley achieved a remarkable back-to-back title success as they lifted the Midland Football Alliance title at their first attempt and promotion to the Evo-Stik NPL Division One South.
Last Match
The Highwaymen were in action in midweek but suffered a shut out as a resolute Sheffield FC side held firm. New signings Jack Foalle and Dominic Moan but came close to opening the scoring but were unable to break the deadlock.
The Moatmen of Gresley were knocked of the Buildbase FA Trophy losing 2-1 at home to Newcastle Town. Harry Lansdowne opened the scoring for the hosts before Newcastle hit back. Matt Lowe restored parity in the first half before the winner was scored by Michael Conlon after 67 minutes.
Manager
Gary Norton – Gary has been involved with Gresley for approaching 20 years. He is made his debut for the club in 1999. He was appointed manager of the reserve team in the 2001-02 season before making the change to first team manager in 2003. He hung up his playing boots in 2004 to concentrate on management duties.
