Tom Senior and Feyi Afuape have joined Grantham Town on work experience from League One side Barnsley

New manager Nathan Arnold feels the introduction of some fresh faces into the Grantham Town squad will help the other players to raise their game.

Teenagers Tom Senior and Feyi Afuape both made their debuts for the Gingerbreads at the weekend after joining on work experience from League One side Barnsley.

Senior produced an assured display at the heart of the Grantham defence while Afuape added to Grantham's attacking threat in the 2-1 home defeat to Loughborough Students in the Northern Premier League Midlands Division match.

Arnold said: "We are building and getting there.

"We've brought two young lads in and it won't stop because we will always look to support the group the best we can.

"I thought there were promising signs that I saw from everybody on Saturday."

Afuape has spent time on loan at Northern Premier League Premier Division side Guiseley this term but Saturday's match at the Meres was Senior's first taste of non-league football with both impressing boss Arnold.

He enthused: "Feyi was excellent. He was a handful throughout.

"He was really consistent with his hold-up play and ball retention and we're delighted to have him on board as well as Tom who I thought looked really comfortable.

"This is the first time that he's come out into men's football and I thought he was man of the match because he was outstanding.

"He was on the front foot and aggressive and showed a good level of composure that we need.

"For a boy so young, for him to put in that kind of performance should give him loads of confidence. I was really proud of his performance.

"It gave a lift to the other players and they raised their game and I felt a lot of individuals did that for large parts of the match."

Grantham had taken a first half lead through Freddie Allen before the Students struck back twice after the break.

Halim Bangur equalised six minutes into the second period before Quinton Dlodlo grabbed a late winner.

Arnold added: "We played well to a man but it was always a case of whether we could sustain it.

"Loughborough are a full-time side who ask questions of you. I thought we were resolute for large parts against a 90-minute team.

"We wanted to keep the intensity and consistency within our organisation but it was two mistakes that led to the goals so fair play to Loughborough for their good character to get back into the game."

Grantham now travel to Coleshill Town on Saturday with Arnold taking plenty of positives from the weekend defeat.

He continued: "The lads were all gutted and I was gutted for them because I definitely felt we deserved a point on Saturday.

"We posed a threat all game and created chances. We had more entries into the box than they did but it was the decision-making and end product which was lacking.

"We were physical on them but just couldn't quite recycle and sustain attacks which is obviously something that we will look to work on.

"There were pleasing signs, not just with our defensive organisation, but we punched back and looked a threat as well.

"There were plenty of things to be positive about and a lot of what we did was really encouraging."

Grantham remain at the foot of the table, 12 points adrift of safety, after Saturday's home defeat.