After a bright first half Grantham were outplayed by Matlock in the second half and slipped to a 3-1 defeat.
Grantham went into the game with the same line up that had lost narrowly at Blyth 3 days before.
The opening exchanges were even with Lee Shaw just failing to get onto the end of a Ben Saunders pass whilst at the other end Jake Turner just collected the ball at the very edge of his area as Matlock’s Joel Purkis closed in. Purkis then fired over before Grantham had a chance on 6 minutes when Rhys Lewis got onto the end of a Mickey Emmott cross but his header went over. Matlock pressed and on 8 minutes Michael Hollingsworth finally cleared after the Grantham defence had struggled to clear the ball. Grantham forced the games first corner on 13 minutes. A weak Matlock keeper George Willis resulted in a goalmouth scramble which finally resulted in the ball going out for a goal kick. Willis was out to clear as Lee Shaw closed in before at the other end Turner was out to collect a cross from Matlock’s Craig Nelthorpe. Matlock took the lead on 25 minutes. Grantham conceded a free kick 35 yards out and former Gingerbread Laurie Wilson curled the free kick into the top corner. It took just one minute for Grantham to draw level. Lee Shaw found Jamie McGhee on the right and the Grantham skipper volleyed home into the far corner. Grantham had the ball in the net again on 33 minutes when Willis punched a corner into his own net but the goal was ruled out for a foul on the keeper. Emmott had the next chance for Grantham when he cut in from the left but his curling shot to the far post was superbly turned away by Willis at full stretch. Matlock winger Nicky Travis was running at the Grantham defence and it took a saving tackle from Hollingsworth on 37 minutes to stop him. Emmott tested the Matlock defence again on 38 minutes with Matlock defender Adam Yates slicing his cross over the bar for a corner and when the kick came in Willis did well to block the in swinging kick on the line. Grantham failed to close down Matlock defender Nelthorpe who ran from deep in his own half but his final ball from the edge of the box was cleared. The half ended with Laurie Wilson put a corner right under the bar but Jake Turner did well to punch the ball clear.
Matlock made a half time change replacing Andy Gaisgoine with Tom Burgin which allowed Laurie Wilson to return to a midfield role. Early action saw Matlock’s Niall McManus turn in the box but Sam Purcicoe was on hand to clear the ball. Matlock pushed Grantham back and on 49 minutes Purkis found himself with time in the box and he made no mistake firing past Turner to put Matlock back in front. Grantham’s play became disjointed and Matlock took advantage pushing Grantham back. Laurie Wilson spotted Turner off his line on 56 minutes but the Grantham keeper was able to recover to turn his 40 yard shot over for a corner. Purkis ran at the Grantham defence but put his final shot wide and then it took a last ditch tackle from Lewis Carr to stop Nicky Travis as the Matlock winger ran at the Grantham defence. Grantham were making little impression going forward and made a change on 63 minutes with Alex Simmons replacing Lee Shaw. The change didn’t change Grantham’s fortunes and on 65 minutes Matlock added a third goal. The dangerous Travis found space on the edge of the area and his shot bounced over Turners dive to put Matlock two up. Grantham had a chance to pull a goal back on 77 minutes but Ben Saunders delayed his shot and the ball was cleared. Grantham made a double substitution on 80 minutes with Ben Harris and Stefan Bilyk coming on for Jamie McGhee and Michael Hollingsworth. Matlock substitute Danny Holland burst through but lost the ball and the chance was gone. Matlock were able to control the final minutes of the game to condemn Grantham to their 5th successive defeat.

Grantham
J Turner, D Meadows, E Storey, M Hollingsworth (S Bilyk 80), S Purcicoe, L Carr, J McGhee (B Harris 80), R Lewis, L Shaw (A Simmons 63), B Saunders, M Emmott
Subs not used J Beckett, R Dearle

Matlock
G Willis, M Harcourt, C Nelthorpe, L Wilson, A Yates, A Gascoigne( T Burgin 46), N Travis, L Needham, J Purkis (D Holland 80), N McManus, B Algar (J Orrell 73)
Subs not used C Dawes, L Gaughan

Referee J Wilson

Red Cards 0

Yellow Cards – Grantham 2 Matlock 0

Free Kicks Conceded – Grantham 15 Matlock 8

Corner Count – Grantham 6 Matlock 4

Attendance 220