Hallcro, Albans disprove curse with late win

The Gingerbreads disproved the curse of manager of the month at Brigg on Monday with two late goals and joint managers Jimmy Albans and Wayne Hallcro will pick up their second successive award this Saturday before the game against Romulus.

With Carlton Town also taking all three points on Monday in the New Year games, the win was vital for Grantham to maintain their lead of the Evo-Stik Division 1 South.

“Brigg are on a good run at the moment and you could tell they had some good momentum to the way they played.” Said Hallcro reflecting on Mondays’ game. ”They are like us in some ways in that they are doing things which clearly work for them. They did a good job on us early on. We got on with trying to play our game, but looked after ourselves and each other as well when we had to. Ben got involved in the game a lot and as the game went on, we got on top of their defence.”

During the first half of the season, one of the things that Hallcro and Albans have repeatedly referred to is doing some things a bit different to keep opponents on their toes. The tactic of playing Ben Saunders off the front two has certainly been a problem teams have had to deal with and has worked so far. The Gingerbreads joint managers are not standing still as they look to replicate last seasons’ run in.

“For the second half of the season, we might need to do something a bit different again to make opponents think.” Hallcro mused. “Some sides will be thinking that they know how to stop us playing. We will need to react to that and make sure that we make them think about us even more. Tony Battersby, for example, gives us an alternative because of the way he brings other players into the game. He plays the same role as Ben, but slightly different. We could be using that more to break teams down as we did at Brigg. Batts kept the ball well and looked after it in the final third.”

One thing that neither manager will want to change is one factor that this season is turning draws into wins. Some Brigg fans were heard expressing the view that the Gingerbreads 89th minute equaliser meant it would be all over at 2-2. Just as they were not prepared to accept that late last season, Grantham showed again that they will play to win until the last minute of injury time.

“We have clearly got belief in ourselves, even late in games.” Hallcro agreed. ”It is a good habit to be in when you are committing players forward late in the second half. The players on the bench were there to make the changes we needed when we needed to make them. We went onto the front foot at Brigg and got the result. We played across the front of their defence in the first half. After the break, we were more direct with our running.”

In the last couple of weeks, Hallcro and Albans have brought experience inot the squad with the return of two former Gingerbreads. Sean Cann and Chris Glarvey have both returned to the Meres in moves that Hallcro thinks will be of huge benefit to the club in the remaining 17 games of the season.

“One of the things needed when a club is in the position we are in, is good players in the squad.” Hallcro stated.

“Chris Glarvey is a great example of a player with the right attitude and approach. We know he will fit straight into the dressing room. Footballers like to be part of a winning set-up and that wasn’t happening at Stocksbridge. Chris knows what the standards are that we expect at Grantham and is more than willing to fight for a starting shirt. We want players who want to play for Grantham. Both Glarvs and Canny are like that. Canny is sowing in everything that he does that he wants to be at Grantham for the right reasons. He wants to learn to do things the way we do them.”

Grantham convincingly beat Lincoln Moorlands in a friendly on Wednesday night in a game intended to give time on the pitch to those who may not have had too much of it in recent weeks.

“The friendly against Moorlands was an opportunity for the new signings and the lads who have been on the bench recently to prove that they can do what they have been telling us they are capable of.” Hallcro said.

“It helps to keep them all in the right condition ready to get more time on the pitch when it is needed. That includes Tom Maddison and Joe Briers. We will use the game as a chance to look at what we might do for the Rainworth game when we have a couple of suspensions kicking in.”

Gio Carchedi was not involved against Moorlands due to an injury he has been carrying and Sean Cann picked up a knock on his ankle. Both are questionable for Saturday, although Hallcro felt Carchdi had a chance of being fit..

“He has been carrying a bit of a knock for a few weeks now, so needs the rest to give him the best chance of being involved against Romulus.” Hallcro said. “He has been playing with it as he wants to be involved and doesn’t want to give someone else the chance to take his shirt from him. That is why we took him off at half time on Saturday, his groin injury was making him struggle a bit, so we changed it. I expect he will be ready for Saturday. Paul Grimes has a rib injury from one of the challenges on Monday, but he also should be fit.”

The Gingerbreads opponents are another team who will have a confident swagger about them. Unbeaten in their last six league games, Romulus have begun to put some form together after a start that was not expected, given their league form last season.

“We will make a couple of calls to find out what we can about Romulus,” Hallcro said, “But we do think that you can do too much work about the opposition. Our focus will remain on doing what we do and doing that. Their season looks to have been a disappointment after last time around. It may be that playing on plastic one week, then grass the next is causing them some problems. They will possibly be more worried a bout what we might do to them than the other way round, but there is certainly no room for complacency in our game.”