The Gingerbreads led, then came back from behind, but lost out in the end to a late goal, a performance which didn’t please joint manager Paul Rawden.

“Defensively, we gave away poor goals tonight.” Said Rawden. “We got ourselves into good positions in the game, then undid the work with sloppy defending. We have to stop doing that as it costs us points.”

The game set off at a high tempo and kept it up throughout the 90 minutes. In the early exchanges, the home side exposed the Gingerbreads defence on the flanks. Jake Green struggled to contain Declan Walker and Jonathan Ustabasi as they made space and delivered quality ball in to Craig Hobson. Fortunately for the Gingerbreads, Tom Ward and Jack Broadhead dealt well with the threat from the big striker. Tom Nicholson palmed away an early effort, but Stalybridge found converting their possession into chances hard going.

The Gingerbreads grew into the game and nullified the wide threat from Stalybridge. They began to get some joy with their front pairing of Gregg Smith and Craig Westcarr winning a lot of the challenges against the home defence, but chances were few and far between.

The surface caused problems all night for some players as the ball skidded of the wet top. An error by Kallum Mantack six minutes before half time led to the Gingerbreads taking the lead. The Stalybridge full back let the ball skid towards him and missed his clearance, leaving James Baxendale with space to advance into the penalty area and pull a cross back for James Berrett. The Gingerbreads midfielder neatly turned and fired low past Alex Fojticek.

The home side had to thank the leniency of referee Mr Strain for finishing the half with all eleven players on the pitch. Nathan Valentine dived into a challenge with Danny Racchi that the Gingerbreads skipper had to avoid high studs. Mr Strain gave some weight to the wet surface and only showed a yellow card when many expected a red one.

Grantham looked to take the lead into half time, but were undone by slack marking at a corner a minute into added time at the end of the first half. Stalybridge changed their delivery and attacked the near post. Craig Hobson lost his marker and from 8 yards out powered home a header giving Tom Nicholson no chance.

With the slope in their favour in the second half, Stalybridge changed tack and played more through the centre. Hobson held the ball up well and laid chanced on for Darius Osei and Ustabasi. The shots from outside the penalty area only found Nicholson well positioned.

Grantham seemed to have weathered the storm, but the home side took the lead on the 58th minute. A cross-field clearance beat Racchi and Green and gave Osei a clear run on goal. He made no mistake with a powerful shot.
Again the Gingerbreads fought back. A tactical switch putting Michael Tweed in to bolster the midfield dried up the flow of Stalybridge’s play. Grantham came more into the game and levelled again on 68 minutes from a Racchi corner. Gregg Smith got the first touch onto the flag-kick delivery and Broadhead steered it over the line despite the best efforts of the home defence.

As it seemed Grantham had earned a point, again, they were opened up at the back. Stalybridge substitute Scott Bakkor gave AJ Adelekan a torrid time for the last 15 minutes. Time and again he found space and delivered good crosses. With seven minutes to go, he skipped past a challenge and pulled a pass into the path of Osei who curled in his second of the night to put his side back in front.

The Gingerbreads had nothing left and although they put a lot of ball forward, there was no final shot. The offside flag stopped the Gingerbreads too often while Bakkor ran riot through the Gingerbreads back line, beating five players before shooting wide as he helped his side run down the clock for their second home win of the season.