Grantham Town beat Coventry Sphinx in the Northern Premier League
Lewis Darlington struck twice as Grantham Town started a run of three crunch clashes with victory at the Meres on Saturday.
The former Peterborough United youngster netted two goals in three first half minutes to give Grantham control of the Northern Premier League Midlands Division match against visiting Coventry Sphinx.
A double injury blow late in the first half saw Grantham have to replace both Brad Munns and Ethan Bojang.
And, although Sphinx halved the deficit in first half stoppage time through Jordan Hayward, Grantham kept their hosts at bay after the break with Coventry finishing with 10 men following the late dismissal of Louis Guest.
It was a vital victory for Grantham and head coach Louis Bland felt the three points were more important than the overall performance from his side.
He said: "I thought it was a poor game overall but there have been a number of times this season where we've played really well and got zero points.
"It was nice to be on the end of picking up three points when you haven't played well.
"I was so happy for Lewis to get both of the goals and it's great for a striker to score.
"Overall, we probably shaded it on chances and deserved it but we still need to be miles better because we dropped our levels a little bit."
Grantham were boosted by the return after suspension of centre-half Richard Black while Amir Ward made his first start following his recent arrival from Wisbech Town.
Guest headed wide from an early Callum Woodward setpiece for the visitors who arrived at the Meres on the back of three successive league draws.
Ryan Ebanks then made a vital block to thwart Shay Willock after a swift Sphinx break following a Grantham attack.
Willock blazed another decent opening over the home crossbar before Grantham broke the deadlock after 16 minutes with a close range finish from Darlington following a corner.
The lead was doubled three minutes later as Darlington led the attack before playing in Ward who returned a low cross for the former Spalding striker to sweep home the second goal.
Darlington was denied his hat-trick shortly after as Guest got in the way of his shot before Sphinx had an effort ruled out for hand-ball after Roan Newey had charged down a clearance from home goalkeeper Curtis Hall following Woodward's long ball forward.
Ward whipped a cross-shot just past the far post of the Sphinx goal before the attacker saw an effort cleared off the line as he looked to bundle home Sam Muggleton's long throw into the penalty area.
Coventry then cut the arrears in first half injury time as both Willock and Newey headed the ball on for Hayward to break clear and slot his finish past Hall.
Grantham came close to restoring their two-goal lead after the break when Luke Harris curled in a free-kick that evaded a mass of bodies before rebounding to safety off the post.
The Gingerbreads' injury woes then saw Harry Olivant forced off but they could have added a third goal when Rodrigo Goncalves led a lively raid before teeing up Darlington who curled his shot just over the bar.
Sphinx then had strong appeals for a penalty turned down when Willock went over in the area under a Grantham challenge after Hall had bravely saved his initial effort.
Newey turned a close range effort wide of the Grantham goal as the hosts held out with the visitors finishing with 10 men following the late red card for Guest.
Despite the victory, Grantham remain in the relegation places but are only a point away from safety ahead of Saturday's home match with 16th-placed Racing Club Warwick.
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