Grantham eight points clear

Midweek action saw the Gingerbreads record a 2-0 win against New Mills and in the process open up an 8 point lead at the top of the Evo-Stik League Division 1 South.

Although the win may have looked fairly routine, the approach from the opposition is something Grantham joint manager Jimmy Albans is expecting to see a few more times before the end of the season.

“Sides seem to be coming to play for a draw against us.” Albans observed. “At home or away, we are facing more and more sides who seem to be starting the game trying not to get beaten rather than win the game. New Mills in particular seemed to set up as though they though they couldn’t go out and win the game.”

Despite not taking the lead until just after the break, Albans thought his side did all the right things on Tuesday night. A five man New Mills defensive line strung deep across the pitch made it difficult for Grantham to break them down, but Albans maintained that his side had played well in the first forty five minutes, as well as the second when they got their goals.

“We put a lot of crosses into the area against New Mills, and a lot of it was well delivered, we just weren’t able to get the right contact on things.” He said. “We made Sam Purcicoe and Lee Potts stay wider to stretch them in the second half and it looked like there was only going to be one winner as the half wore on. We were by far the best for the last half an hour at least. We were so much on to that 2-0 doesn’t do us justice. We should have won by more, but you can only beat whatever is in front of you.”

The position Grantham find themselves in looks very rosy, just a week after the league looked a three horse race, both Carlton and Ilkeston have lost ground while Grantham continued to win. The record for February has given Albans and Hallcro their third Manager of the Month award of the season. A 100% record over the four games played drew the award from the league for February to go alongside those for November and December. Despite the change in view from the top, Albans refused to get excited and look too far ahead.

“Until it is mathematically over, the league title is not over.” Albans claimed. “We have got 7 of the top 10 to play and there is a lot of football still to go. It isn’t over until it is over. We can’t worry about what anyone else is or isn’t doing. If they help us by dropping points, than fine, we can only influence our own game.”

This coming weekend, the Gingerbreads play host to Coalville Town and Chairman Steve Boam again faces some emotional conflicts as he watches his side play the one from the town where his business resides. Earlier in the season, the Grantham Chairman had bragging rights as Grantham came from behind to beat Coalville 2-1 in a fast paced and hard fought game. As far as Albans is concerned, his side can expect very much the same on Saturday as they got in Leicestershire.

“Coalville gave us a hard game at their place and I don’t expect anything else at ours on Saturday.” Albans said.

“Fitness won it for us there. They have changed their squad substantially since then. They are a very tough side and will give us a tough test. They will raise their game because of the league position we are in, and I expect nothing less than the sort of performance that got them a draw against Ilkeston.”

Although one of the foundations of Grantham’s success this season has been a line up which has hardly changed from week to week, the number of games Grantham have got to go and the short time they are played in means Albans is expecting all of his squad to play their part.

“The ability to rotate players in all positions will certainly be important before the end of the season.” The Gingerbreads joint manager observed. “All 6 who didn’t start on Tuesday night will be fully used at some point before he season ends. When we can bring on the quality that we can at the time in the game we do so, it can be devastating from an opponents view. All of the 18 at the club could start every game, it is down to us to select the right players at the right time. On Tuesday, it helped us keep up wave after wave of attacks. We didn’t have to stretch ourselves too much to get what we wanted out of the game and hardly broke sweat.”

Grantham’s remaining eleven games will see them play against 8 of the ten teams immediately below the Gingerbreads, giving Grantham a big say in the play-off race as the season comes to a climax. Albans expects the relative positions of the opposition to keep a keen edge to games and for this week at least has led to Grantham taking a bit more of a rest than usual to stay fresh for the upcoming challenges.

“Teams that are outside the play-offs like Sutton Coldfield, Leek, Loughborough and Coalville will all think they have got a chance of getting into the play-offs and will play that bit harder.” Albans said. “We are right all round the club and with the number of games we have got coming up, chose not to train on Thursday night. Hopefully, partly because of the night off, we will be fresh and ready to go on Saturday.”