First silverware for Grantham duo

Grantham Town update, by Graham Cowell

Grantham return to Evo-Stik League Division 1 South action with their first trip of the season to Sutton Coldfield.

The performance Grantham put in against Boston United on Tuesday night n the Lincolnshire County Shield final has given joint manager Wayne Hallcro cause for confidence. The Gingerbreads first trophy under Hallcro and Jimmy Albans was a moment to savour for Hallcro.

“Winning something as a manger is different to doing it as a player.” He said. “As a player, you can build your own pressure, the pressure to play well and not let your teammates down. As a manger it is the opposite. There are more things to think about the right team, formation, substitutes, everything and as well trying to lift the pressure off the players. At the end of the day, it still feels very good and it is something that has been coming for a while for us.”

The changes that Hallcro and Albans made to the side on Tuesday didn’t affect the style and swagger with which Grantham have been playing of late. Sean Cann and Chris Glarvey made their first starts this season while Tony Battersby was in the starting line-up for only the second time. All three looked as though they had played in those positions all season as the Gingerbreads swept aside a youthful Boston side.

£We looked a very good side last night.” Hallcro stated. “It doesn’t matter what sort of side Boston put out, you can only beat what is in front of you and at no point last night did we look under pressure. We got a great response from both the lads who had not been playing and those who had. IT was the total opposite of what happened at Chasetown. On that day we let ourselves down. Last night we could be proud of how we played.”

As the Gingerbreads head into their last 10 games of the league campaign, Hallcro was at pains to insist that the Gingerbreads still have a lot of hard work to do to get the results they want from those games. Despite their record so far, Hallcro and Albans are refusing to get carried away and insist that their side continues to concentrate on one game at a time and look no further than what they need to do in the next 90 minutes.

“We need to keep looking at where we are winning games.” Hallcro explained. “We are like a well oiled machine at the moment. Players are going out there and not just looking at what to do when they have the ball. They are looking at what to do the rest of the time too. Over the rest of the season, we need to do things a little differently on the pitch. Side will think they know how to play against us. We have seen that in the last couple of league games at the Meres. It is down to us to keep the thinking and do things differently, but at the same time make sure the team is doing the same thing. Our first goal last night came by doing it differently. Instead of taking touches and thinking what to do, for a change we played two quick balls and put their defence off balance. We made the most of the opportunity and scored. Teams will get used to what you are doing if you are not careful and it makes sides easy to defend against. The next ten league games will be the same, it is as much our variety that will see us through as it will be doing the same things.”

In winning the Lincolnshire Shield on Tuesday night, Grantham put in one of their best team performances of the season. Apart from the changes to the starting line-up, the Gingerbreads also coped seamlessly with changes to formation within the game and late on a re-shuffle after Phil Watt took a knock. The performance was so strong that Boston hardly had a shot at Rob Murray and the Gingerbreads goalkeeper was not troubled at all.

“We delivered a very strong performance against Boston.” Hallcro proudly stated. “We showed off a bit of football too and at times it looked like men against boys. We deserved the win easily. On the night we were technically, physically and mentally the stronger side in all departments. Batts played very well in the hole for us. His movement, ability to hold the ball up and bring others into play was a different class on Tuesday. Glarvs dropped into the midfield role as though he had been playing it all season. It will be a case of picking horses for courses over the coming games. Everyone in the side showed how much quality we have in the squad.”

When it was announced that Sutton were laying a 3G pitch, there was concern that this could give a side which were on the fringes of the play-offs last season an advantage this time around. With four draws and five defeats at Coles Lane, the Royals home record is nothing special for the position they occupy in seventh place in the table. The Gingerbreads have prepared well for the surface and Hallcro does not anticipate it playing a major part in the game.

“We have trained on 3G pitches quite a few times over the last couple of seasons.” He pointed out. “Mainly when the weather has been not fit to train on grass. We will train on it again on Thursday. It is a surface that you can play football on and I think that will bring out the best in us. We like to play that way. Our system works at the moment that sometimes we don’t play a much football as we would like. On a 3G surface, our passing looks very crisp. We are working just as hard when we don’t have the ball as we do when we have got it. That is getting us into winning positions. Everyone has brought into the mentality we want them to have. Everyone is looking after everyone else in the side.”

Sutton recently announced that top scorer Craig Marshall will miss 12 months with a cruciate ligament injury. The big striker has caused Grantham problems in recent games between the two sides, but his replacement will also give the Gingerbreads a hard time.

Club legend Mark Bellingham returned to help out his former club. The Gingerbreads will take a full squad as although Phil Watt took a knock on his knee on Tuesday, Hallcro and Albans are fairly sure he will be fit. As far as Hallcro is concerned, recent comments from Coles Lane are an attempt by the management team to lift pressure from their players for the run-in to the end of the season.

“Sutton are still right in the play-off mix.” Hallcro said. “There has been a bit of kidology from Toothy (Royals' assistant manager Neil Tooth) in recent weeks. They are only 8 points behind Sheffield. No way have they given up on a play off place and no way will they have given up on getting something from us on Saturday. We will just approach it in the same way as any other game, do our jobs, work hard, keep going, play our way. If we do that, I am positive we will come away with something. The surface is as good quality as you are going to get anywhere in the league. We are a team of good footballers and the pitch will help that.”

Hallcro and Albans have some serious thinking to do ahead of the match, Hallcro admitted. The performances on Tuesday mean picking the right eleven to start against Sutton will not be a straightforward task.

“Tuesday has given us a headache for picking the team.” Hallcro commented. “Everyone did fantastically and enjoyed the night. We need to keep that in mind as we have still got ten cup finals to go.”

Where next?

Youth United Day - 24th March Free entry for under 18s to Worksop Town clash
Gladiators look for late season push Matlock Town update, by Ian Richardson

Match centre

Northern Premier League - Premier
Northern Premier League - East
Northern Premier League - Midlands
Northern Premier League - West

Latest photos

The Pitching In Northern Premier League newsletter

Keep up-to-date with our exclusive email newsletters.

Subscribe