Grantham gained their first points of 2016 with a 1-0 win over Whitby Town at the Meres
Adam Stevens made some changes from the side that started at Buxton with Jamie McGhee and Grant Ryan dropping to the bench with Lee Shaw and Dylan Burns making the starting line-up. Rhys Lewis also returned after being unavailable for the Buxton game and took over the captain’s armband from Jamie McGhee.
Grantham began brightly but it took a well-timed tackle by Lewis Carr to stop Whitby’s Michael Roberts after just 3 minutes. Lee Shaw saw his drive from 30 yards on 6 minutes turned over by Shane Bland in the Whitby goal. Whitby countered and Stefan Galinski making his home debut did well to get a foot to a through ball turning it back to Jake Turner. Michael Emmott fired wide before Whitby had a real chance on 13 minutes but Roberts screwed his shot wide of Turners far post when well placed. Bland punched out on 15 minutes but when the ball was returned there was a scramble in the area before the referee blew for a foul on a Whitby defender. Matthew Waters fired over for Whitby after being played in by Kieran Weledji as Whitby threatened. Galinski got a challenge in on Roberts as the striker threatened again on 20 minutes. Grantham were working hard and on 28 minutes Emmott’s in swinging corner was fractionally too high for Ben Saunders at the far post. Despite the wet and windy conditions Whitby persisted with their passing game which was causing Grantham problems especially down the right hand side. Grantham had the next chance on 36 minutes but Emmott’s free kick from the edge of the box after Shaw had been brought down was straight at Bland who saved comfortably. Grantham ended the half strongly with Hollingsworth seeing his shot from distance deflected out for a corner and Rhys Lewis going close in the final minute of the half
Kicking into the wind and rain in the second half Galinski saw his header go just wide before Danny Meadows got to a ball over the top as Roberts closed in for Whitby. Rhys Lewis went close to opening the scoring for Grantham on 54 minutes but his shot from outside the box came back off the bar with Bland beaten. Lee Shaw delayed his shot on the hour when in a good position and Whitby were able to get the ball out for a corner. Grantham were now pressing but on 63 minutes Whitby had another chance when Roberts got on the end of a cross from Callum Martin but the Whitby striker blazed over from 10 yards. Grantham returned to the attack and Lee Shaw was closed before he could get a shot away and Michael Hollingsworth twice had shot blocked by defenders. Whitby went close on 71 minutes when defender Richard Pell just failed to get on the end of a free kick. Grantham finally made the breakthrough on 74 minutes. Ben Saunders was brought down in the box and Danny Meadows despite facing the driving rain converted the spot kick to give Grantham the lead. Grantham introduced Ben Harris for Michael Emmott and Jamie McGhee for Dylan burns on 87 minutes and Grant Ryan came on for Ben Saunders in time added. There was one final scare for Grantham as Jake Turner had to make a superb save in added time to deny Whitby an equaliser

Grantham
J Turner, D Meadows, E Storey, M Hollingsworth, S Galinski, L Carr, D Burns (J McGhee 87), R Lewis, L Shaw, B Saunders (G Ryan 90), M Emmott (B Harris 87)
Subs not used S Bilyk, M Holwell

Whitby
S Bland, C Martin, A McWilliams, K Weledji, R Pell, L Bullock, A Gell, D Hopson, M Roberts, M Waters, D McTigrnan
Subs not used M Robinson, T Scarth, J Poole, R Gardiner, D Dixon.

Referee H Karaivanov

Red Cards 0
Yellow Cards Grantham 1 Whitby 2

Fouls committed Grantham 13 Whitby 12

Corner count Grantham 9 Buxton 2

Attendance 225