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Grantham Town march on in FA Trophy after solid win at Rugby Town




FA Trophy First Qualifying Round

Rugby Town 1

Grantham Town 5

Ethan Bojang
Ethan Bojang

By Graham Cowell

Grantham Town put last year’s disappointment at Rugby Town aside to record a comprehensive 5-1 victory in Warwickshire on Saturday.

Solid defending at key times combined with clinical finishing saw the Gingerbreads through to the next round.

“We all put a shift in today,” said Grantham Town assistant manager Steve Kirkham. “We settled into the game and created enough chances to have won by more in the end.”

Grantham negated the threat from the home side in the first 15 minutes. The game was played at a fast pace in the opening quarter of an hour. The Gingerbreads took advantage of their wide play after 14 minutes.

Rodrigo Goncalves laid on a low cross that Greg Smith always looked favourite to get to first. The Gingerbreads striker did so and fired past Matt Hill to open the scoring. Seven minutes later Grantham doubled their lead.

This time, Smith won a high ball and flicked on for Kuwesi Ofushine. Ofushine slid a perfect pass through for new signing Luke Hinsley to run on to and slide the ball past Hill to double the Gingerbreads lead.

The home side did not crumble and could have clawed a goal back late in the first half. Courtney Lashley was allowed to run across the Grantham defence and delivered a cross into the Gingerbreads penalty area. Ryan Sahota tried a spectacular overhead shot that Curtis Hall smartly grabbed in the Grantham goal.

Hinsley had taken a knock in the first half and was replaced by Harry Olivant just two minutes into the second half. The Grantham substitute almost made an immediate impact, getting on the end of a good through-ball, but Hill in the Rugby goal was out well to snuff out the danger.

Grantham extended their lead on the hour mark. Rodrigo Goncalves worked hard on the left to get a cross into the penalty area. Olivant got across Dan Summerfield to turn the ball into the net past Hill for his first goal for the Gingerbreads.

The home side looked to set up an awkward end to the game for the Gingerbreads. With a quarter of the game left, Rugby pulled a goal back. A free kick was played into the Grantham penalty area and dropped to Edwin Ahenkorah. He made enough space to curl a low shot past Hall into the bottom corner of the net.

The Gingerbreads did not sit back and try to hold on to a two-goal lead. They went on the front foot and earned a penalty with 15 minutes left. Sam Muggleton had gone forward and was fouled just inside the penalty area. Smith slammed the penalty home to double his personal tally on the day and restore Grantham’s three-goal lead.

The game still continued to flow from end to end. Rugby could not hit the target as shots flew well over the top and Jordan Wilson shot across goal from a dangerous position.

The Gingerbreads went close to a fifth goal with five minutes remaining when Smith played on the ball for Olivant. But he shot wide.

With three minutes remaining, the Gingerbreads got the fifth goal they were seeking. Smith and Olivant combined again and got the ball out to Ethan Bojang. Bojang fired in his second goal in two games to seal the win for Grantham.



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