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Gingerbreads focused on staying top

Grantham Town returned to the top of the Evo-Stik League Division One South at the first time of asking on Saturday and have the opportunity to consolidate that position with a midweek trip to Rainworth Miners Welfare.

The game was only postponed a few weeks ago and Gingerbreads joint manager Wayne Hallcro was pleased with how his side played on Saturday after a three week lay-off due to freezing conditions.

"Saturday was a very professional performance,” Hallcro said. “There were some lackadaisical moments, but it was a good return to action. We would have been happy just to have won, irrespective of the performance, but I think we got a good performance from everyone. Rob didn’t have a save to make in the first 45 minutes against a side that were one of the form teams before the game. What Rob did have to do, he did well. His clearances were well made when he was called on. Maybe we didn’t deserve to win by three goals, but that is football. Carlton slipping up was a bonus for us.”

The Gingerbreads have been prone to showing some ring rustiness previously when they have suffered a lay-off, but there was none of that in evidence against Kidsgrove as Grantham got on top of the game from the opening minutes. Hallcro laid out how the game plan he and fellow joint manager Jimmy Albans went with worked out.

“We didn’t allow them to get comfortable on the ball,” said a happy Gingerbreads boss. “We didn’t let them settle on the ball, or get their heads up to pick out a player. We went in to the game wanting to dictate the pattern of play and we did that very well. We eased ourselves back into a match situation and kicked on from there. In recent weeks we have probably trained more with the football than we usually do. But with no games, it was important to do so to get back into the swing of things quickly. We got off to a perfect start and carried it on from there.”

The absence of Rhys Lewis gave Hallcro and Albans a few moments of thought before the game. Their final decision to play Damien Magee alongside Martin Ball proved to be a good choice as Magee put in a workmanlike short that had some fans marking him as man of the match.

“We chose to put Damien Magee in central midfield on Saturday rather than any of the other options that were available to us as we felt he was the most Rhys-like of all of those options,” Hallcro explained. “It was about keeping as much as normal as we could. The less changes anyone had to think about on Saturday, the better as far as we were concerned. Damo is a ratter in there which he showed in the game. He played in the middle in exactly that role for us at Shepshed. We knew he could do what we asked of him. Rhys is back to face Rainworth. We will give some thought to what to go with. It is a problem, but a nice one to have.”

The options available to Hallcro and Albans in the Grantham squad were enhanced late last week with the signing of Michael Jacklin from Worksop Town. He is a player who has been on the pair's radar for quite a while and it didn’t take much thought to bring in another new face to the squad.

“Michael Jacklin is someone we have wanted to bring to the football club since the summer,” Hallcro said. “It didn’t work out then, traveling was the issue, but he has realised that if he wants to get on in football, it is a choice you have to make. He went to Stamford, and then followed Simon Clark to Worksop. When we heard he was being released, we were straight in touch.

"He has impressed us in games he has played against us as a very good player. He is someone who is very conscious of what he does on a football pitch, and knows he will have to learn how we want him to play as like Grant Brindley, it is different to what he has been asked to do before.

"He will have picked up what it is about on Saturday, but needs to practice it before he is 100 per cent ready to get fully involved in games. We expect that will happen and that he will push Grant and Sam all the way for their shirts. We feel his signing now gives us all the right options available to us that if we need to change anyone for any reason, we have the players available to make the minimum number of changes.”

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