By Grantham Reporter -  comment@granthamjournal.co.uk 

Match Report courtesy of The Grantham Journal

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Despite seven first half corners, Grantham Town continued their shot-shy 2022-23 season at league leaders Worksop Town on Monday.

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By the time home goalkeeper Seb Malkowski was seriously tested with 12 minutes to go, Grantham were already two goals behind and the game was gone.

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"I don't think they deserved a two goal win," said Gingerbreads manager Matt Chatfield. "We pushed them hard for the first half, but weren't clinical enough in their area. We must put this one behind us and look to future games for points."

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Both sides had half-chances without stretching each other's goalkeeper. Liam Hughes and Jay Rollins missed the target for the home side in the opening 10 minutes, whilst Lee Shaw did the same for the Gingerbreads.

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The two sides largely cancelled each other out as Worksop looked to play long balls forward to Hughes, which the Grantham defence coped with well. The Gingerbreads pressed hard, but in possession could not find the right pass to open up the home defence.

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Three corners led to nothing for Grantham before Worksop took the lead on 20 minutes from a dead ball delivery of their own. A free kick from Vaughan Redford was flicked on by Hughes for Rollins to loop a header over Dan Haystead.

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Grantham continued to take the game to their hosts, but could not find the target. Nathan Tyson fired wide after 25 minutes.

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A long free kick fell to Aleks Starcenko after half an hour, but he fired wide. Hughes had two half-chances for the home side but could not hit the target with a shot or a header, as Grantham went into the break trailing by the one goal.

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Worksop looked more in control of the game after the break without troubling Haystead for a long while.

Hughes and Rollins again were the biggest threat to Grantham, but despite four good chances for the pair in the first 15 minutes of the second half, neither threatened Haystead. Terry Hawkridge put in a good cross for Hughes four minutes after the break, but he headed wide again.

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The game burst into life around the hour mark. A quick Worksop break set up Rollins, but once again, he missed the target.

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The Gingerbreads were guilty of over complicating things as Tyson and Shaw beat the Worksop defence. Shaw played in Declan Dunn when a shot was on for the striker and the chance was gone.

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Grantham were second to the ball a lot of the time as the game wore on and it seemed inevitable that Worksop would get a second goal. It came 20 minutes into the second half.

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Hawkridge started the move with a pass wide to Starcenko. He played the ball wide to Josh Wilde. Wilde delivered a perfect cross into the penalty area for Hughes to head home.

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Despite Kieron Hayes' deflected shot that Malkowski comfortably gathered, Grantham showed little to get back in the game.

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MATCH STATISTICS

POST MATCH INTERVIEW

ED MAYES PHOTOGRAPHY

HIGHLIGHTS COMING SOON ........

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