With the final game of the league season competed, Moulton’s attention now turns to The Sports Ground Development UCL Cup Semi-final on Saturday when they make the 59 mile trip into Derbyshire to play Gresley Rovers.

The original Gresley Rovers were formed in 1882 in the small mining village of Church Gresley, which is near to Swadlincote - the biggest town in South Derbyshire and play in the United Counties League Premier Division North. ‘The Moatmen’ play in a home kit of all red. They kept the name Gresley Rovers until 2009, when they were reformed under the name of Gresley F.C. In July 2020 the club readopted their original name, Gresley Rovers.

Gresley played only friendlies and cup games before joining the Burton Junior League for the 1892–93 season, winning their first title in 1894–95. Rovers acquired a new home, the Church Street Ground, in time for the 1895–96 season. Despite the ground's lack of facilities - with teams even having to change at the nearby Boot Hotel, the club was accepted into the Midland League for the 1903–04 season. At the end of the 1907–08 season, the Church Street Ground was acquired for building, so the club moved across the road into the current home, Moat Ground. Gresley were promoted twice and joined the Central Alliance, before entering the Birmingham Combination in 1925. Despite reaching the FA Cup First Round Proper in 1930–31, financial difficulties forced Gresley to exit the Birmingham Combination and return to the more local Central Alliance in 1933. Rovers then moved to the Leicestershire Senior League and succeeded in the immediate post-war years; winning the league twice (1946–47, 1947–48) and finishing runners-up once (1948–West Midlands League; six league titles, four Derbyshire Senior Cups, and a FA Vase final

Following brief stints in a number of divisions, Gresley rejoined the Central Alliance (later merged into the East Midlands Regional League) at the start of the 1959-60 campaign. There they embarked on a period of major success winning the title on four occasions. In fourteen seasons from 1961 to 1975, the lowest Gresley finished was fifth (4x 1st, 4x 2nd, 3x 3rd, 2x 4th, 1x 5th).
From 1975 to 1976, the club moved to the West Midlands (Regional) League. The Moatmen initially struggled in the more senior WMRL, but a runner-up spot in 1985–86 began a run of 4th, 4th, 2nd, 3rd, 1st, 1st in six consecutive seasons. The team also claimed the Derbyshire Senior Cup on four successive occasions in the same period. In 1990–91, Gresley earned the right to compete at Wembley in the FA Vase final. Opponents, Guiseley, lead 3–0 after 31 minutes but Gresley fought back to strike an injury-time equaliser. The Rovers then went 4-3 ahead in extra time before Guiseley scored an injury-time equaliser of their own to take it to a replay. Some national newspapers reported it as 'the most exciting Wembley Cup Final ever'. The replay at Bramall Lane saw Gresley lose 3–1 and denied a treble-winning season.

Successful application placed Gresley in the Southern League Midland Division for the 1992–93 season, achieving promotion to its Premier Division at the first time of asking as well as reaching the FA Vase semi-final. Life in the Premier Division began as Derbyshire Senior Cup winners and Southern League Cup finalists in 1993–94, an FA Cup First Round Proper appearance against Crewe and the appointments of Paul Futcher (and ex-England international Garry Birtles as assistant) in 1994–95, a Derbyshire Senior Cup win yet again in 1995–96. 1996–97 records the current highest ever league position achieved by Gresley as Southern League Premier Division champions. Rovers were unbeaten in their first seventeen league games (won 10 drawn 7) and were league leaders for 31 weeks. The title was finally won with a 3–1 home victory against Gloucester City on 26 April 1997. Gresley Rovers became the first Derbyshire side and first village side to win this prestigious trophy but ground grading meant that they were unable to gain promotion to the Football Conference. Derby County were willing to lend Gresley their recently vacated Baseball Ground until the required standards could be met but this was rejected by the footballing authorities. This disappointment of not being promoted to the Football Conference saw many Gresley players leave the club. Manager, Paul Futcher, also left and replacement Garry Birtles (former Assistant Manager) could only achieve a bottom half finish in 1997–98. Relegation struck in 1998-99 during a season that saw Gresley collapse from a top six position in December. The defeat on the final day against Bath City pushed Gresley into the Midlands Division just two years after being crowned Premier Division by 11 points. The last time Gresley had been relegated was in the 1958–59 season (from the Birmingham League Division One to Division Two.)

After financial difficulties, Gresley Rovers liquidated at the end of the 2008–09 season, forming a new football club, Gresley F.C. In the 2009–10 season, they were placed in the East Midlands Counties League. After finishing their first season in second place they went one better by winning it in 2010–11. The following season they also won the Midland Football Alliance earning a place at Step 4 of the pyramid. In the 2013–14 season, Gresley finished 9th in the Northern Premier League Division One South. The 2014–15 season also saw Gresley go on their best Derbyshire Senior Cup run since reformation, finishing runners up and knocking out holders Ilkeston. The Moatmen reached the play-off semi-finals in 2014-15 but lost narrowly away to Leek Town. Gresley had a tough start to the 2015-16 campaign and between 28 November and 26 January, the Moatmen had no home league games due to numerous postponements. Gresley had a thin squad due to the loss of income the postponements brought and were also playing twice a week most weeks from February to the end of the season. A lot of the re-arranged home games were on Tuesday nights meaning attendances fell but this was also due to poor form. A run of nine straight losses came in March, as injuries, suspensions and availability issues - as well as some below-par displays - took their toll, Gresley eventually ending the season in 16th place.

Prior to the start of the 2016–17 season a number of players left the club but the season began strong with 16 points from the first 8 games. However, only five wins followed from the next 32 games which lead to two influential forwards leaving the club. However, the side went on a good run in the Derbyshire Senior Cup reaching the final. However, Gresley finished the season in 18th place.
The following pre-season saw another of their forwards leave the club after picking up 4 awards for the 2016–17 season. The 2017–18 season was one to forget for Gresley supporters. Gresley featured towards the bottom of the table all season but they retained their place in the Northern Premier League Division One South with 4 games remaining. The following week saw the chairman, vice chairman and manager all step down with most of the first team squad leaving with 3 matches still to play and the danger of being relegated. Former Moat boss Gary Norton stepped in to steer the club to the end of a trying season and using a mixture of reserve and youth team players managed to keep the club in step 4 finishing 17th. Norton agreed to take on the role of manager for season 2018-2019 and started to rebuild a side that hopefully would be more competitive than the previous two seasons. Unfortunately, at the end of the season, Gresley were relegated from the Evo-Stik East to the Midland League. The following season 2019-2020, Gresley’s results failed to improve resulting in a 19th place finish when the league was suspended due to Covid lockdown in the middle of March 2020 and with no prospect of the games starting again the FA cancelled all league football from below step 2 with results and tables expunged.m

During the summer of 2020, the Gresley FC board met to discuss the possibility of re-naming the club and a unanimous decision saw the Gresley Rovers name return to non-league football.

The last 6 seasons has seen the following results:
2020-2021 Midlands Premier Division, 7th of 19 (P11, W6, D1, L4, Pts19). League was cut short due to Covid.
2021-2022 UCL Premier Division North, 2nd of 18 (P34, W26, D5, L2, Pts86)
2022-2023 Northern Premier League, 16th of 20 (P38, W11, D58 L19, Pts41)
2023-2024 Northern Premier League, 20th of 20 (P38, W7, D8 L23, Pts29)
2024-2025 UCL Premier Division North, 18th of 20 (P38, W9, D7, L22, Pts34)
2025-2026 UCL Premier Division North, 10th of 20 (P38, W16, D5, L17, Pts53)

The last 4 league games for Gresley Rovers has seen two wins and two defeats;
11/4 Gresley 1-0 Eastwood CFC (Win)
6/4 Gresley 0-2 Ashby Ivanhoe (Defeat)
4/4 Blackstones 3-0 Gresley (Defeat)
28/3 Gresley 2-0 Wisbech Town (Win)

Saturday’s referee is scheduled as Aidan Murphy, another new name to officiate a Moulton match