Gingerbreads ready for Brigg challenge

The Gingerbreads start their 2012 campaign with a trip north to Brigg Town.

For the second successive season, the two sides face each other at Hawthorne Avenue in the opening fixture of the New Year. Both sides go into the game on the back of a good sequence of results in December.

Although the Gingerbreads last two performances have come in for criticism from some parts, joint manager Jimmy Albans doesn’t necessarily agree they were poor performances.

“There tends to be a reason why opponents have commented that their team has played poorly.” Albans observed. “That is usually because we have played better than them. That was the case on Monday. We were fitter than Stamford, and we played better than they did all round the pitch. We dominated the game. If we are average with our recent record, then I am quite happy to finish the rest of the season being average. The first half was one of the most one sided halves of football I have seen in a long time. If we had taken out chances, the game would have been over by the break. It says something when the opposition goalkeeper is wasting time at 0-0 with 70 minutes still to play. If that is the way Stamford and other sides want to come and play against us, so be it, but to play like that from the first whistle in my opinion deserves nothing from a game.”

The way that Grantham took the game to Stamford from the first whistle was something that Albans was particularly pleased with. The week before, they hadn’t been as dominant early on in such an aggressive manner against Loughborough.

“We didn’t allow Stamford to play.” Albans said. “We got on the front foot from the first whistle and kept the pressure up. They had no corners or shots in the whole first half. They only had a couple in the second half with the wind at their backs while we still created the better chances. We will always go out there to try and win the football match. Part of that is stopping the opposition beating us. We will do that by being disciplined throughout the game. That is a big part of winning matches. 1-0 wins are good enough as long as we have done the right things throughout the game.”

As the year turns, Albans reflected on the first part of the season. With the Gingerbreads having moved from the foot of the table in August to the top at the end of the year, it is not surprising that he is generally pleased with how things have worked out.

“We couldn’t have had a better first four months to our season.” A happy Albans said. “Our strong bench proved its’ worth again against Stamford on Saturday. When we had to re-shuffle, we were able to bring Damien Magee into things and go to a flat back four as though nothing had changed. A second goal at any time would have killed the game off, but I love beating teams 1-0. We set out to not concede goals. We always tell the players, if we don’t concede a goal, we will always create enough at the other end to win the game. We have got Ben and Paul in the top goalscorers for the division and we take any criticism that is thrown around from other teams with a pinch of salt.”

The second half of the season is expected to bring different pressures to the club. Albans expects that opponents will have a different attitude to playing Grantham than maybe some of them have had in the first part of the season.

“Every game brings its own pressures.” Said Albans, in a philosophical mood. “We want to have our home games seen as hard games to play by our opponents. But at this level we know everyone is going to raise their game a bit because of the facility and that they are coming to play the league leaders. They all want to take something away from us. I do think it will be a tight league, so the more wins we can get behind us now, the better. We have been stronger in the second half of each season Wayne and I have been here, we need to do it again.”

The first of the remaining eighteen games comes against a Brigg side that were unbeaten in December. As a result of their form, they have pulled themselves clear of a relegation struggle into a mid-table position.

“Brigg are a bit of an unknown to us at the moment” Albans admitted. “Their side has been pulled about and changed around since we played them earlier in the season. They seem to have turned a corner recently in their performances and are clearly getting things right on the pitch. A good start against them is important for us. We think it will be our sort of game as the pitch is a big one, so we will look to get our wide players into the game early. Paul Grimes is going to relish playing against his former side. We will have everyone in on Thursday night and it will be nice if we can start the new year as we mean to go on to the end of the season. We maintain that the biggest game of the season is always the next one. Brigg is no different. The most important thing in our minds is getting the right result recorded at 5 o’clock.”

While Grantham go into the game with an unchanged squad from that which got the win over Stamford, Albans hinted at additions in the non too distant future. While Tom Maddison will return from a month’s loan at Dunkirk in the next couple of weeks, there could also be a new face into the squad. Fans have been critical of the amount of cover at centre half and that could be addressed shortly.

“We have made a seven day approach for a centre half from a Premier Division side.” Albans revealed. “If we get him, it will really strengthen our side there and in centre midfield at a time when we may need it. Now Sean Cann is with us, we can see he is fitter than he has seemed in a long time. He wanted to come here, but didn’t think himself fit enough, he looks it now. We know that the whole of the squad will play a big part between now and the end of the season, so it is important to keep things fresh.”

The Stamford game saw the biggest crowd at the Meres since 2005 at just over 500. The reaction from the Grantham public was exactly as the Chairman and managers had hoped.

“The crowd reaction on Monday to our league position was magnificent.” Albans enthused. “If Stamford brought a hundred, that still means there were over 400 Grantham fans there. To get that is great. We really need to see all those fans again when we play Romulus and right through to the end of the season.”