Manchester Wolves eased into the last 16 of the Chairman`s Cup after a hard fought but solid win against Gresford from North Wales.
A late cry-off from midfield general Jamie Rose left the management with two substitutes but luckily this was not to prove too costly.
Wolves were on the back foot for the first 20 minutes as they found themselves up against a team who had a bit of quality - which perhaps has not been as evident against league opponents so far.
Playing on a 3G surface, any pass over hit or misplaced ran away and the opposition threatened once or twice without making keeper Adam Kaye work too hard.
Slowly but surely Wolves started to get a foothold in the game and Marc Yaffe had an outstanding chance at the far post but sliced wide off his weaker right foot.
Chances were starting to come more often and Gino Re and Loz Newman came close - the latter's header hitting Wolves debutant Rob Greenstein when the ball seemed destined for the top corner.
Anthony Jacobs had limped off to be replaced by Rick Buxton and Marc Parry was moved into his preferred holding midfield role and the Wolves were in the ascendancy up to half time, without securing a lead.
The half-time team-talk saw the manager encourage pass and move football with the emphasis on possession and width.
Matt Jenkinson, club skipper, had a gilt-edged chance from a rehearsed corner but somehow missed when unmarked. He was soon to make amends.
Gino Re was coming in for some tough treatment and from a hard won free-kick, Yaffe whipped in the ball and Jenkinson rose to make amends for the earlier miss.
Despite going 1-0 down Gresford were not deflated and pinned back the Wolves for the next 15 minutes and the back five of Kaye, Addis, Sutton, Jenkinson and Buxton combined on a few occasions to keep Gresford out.
If you don’t take your chances against the Wolves you will be punished and so it proved on 70 minutes as after a bit of penalty box pinball Yaffe coolly curled the ball into the bottom corner –just reward for a day of fine wing play.
The second settled the Wolves down and Parry and Chaytow were now dominating midfield setting up attack after attack which culminated in debutant Greenstein capping a fine debut with a cool finish for 3-0 after being put clean through.
The Wolves never like to do things easily and conceded with three minutes to go before Gresford hit the post with the last kick of the game - but the Wolves were victorious again.
The next round is on January 10 and Manchester Wolves will face the winner of the tie between third division Sutton Junction or second division Partington Spartans.
There were a few contenders as the back four were outstanding none more than Bukky, Yaffe was unplayable at times and Rob Greenstein added verve in the 10 role but David Chaytow ran the midfield against some good players.
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