Grantham Town Under 16s are top of the NPC Midlands Division of the Junior Premier League

Grantham Town Under 16s are sitting on top spot in the NPC Midlands Division of the Junior Premier League..

They were 6-3 home winners on Saturday when they faced a Halas Hawks side from Birmingham.

When the sides met before Christmas, Town won a tight affair 2-1 and since then results for bottom-of-the-table Halas have been much improved.

Therefore nothing could be taken for granted, with the Gingerbreads determined to eradicate any sign of complacency in the opening minutes.

Will Phillips was a constant threat on the right for Town and his early ball Into the box was latched onto by Henry Thomas but he could only roll it wide of the far post.

However, Grantham didn’t have to wait much longer to take the lead. This time Thomas worked himself a yard of space on the edge of the box and hit a low shot into the corner of the net.

Five minutes later it was 2-0.

A quick move from back to front, involving Bexon, Nowak and Loureiro-Brooks sent Thomas clear down the inside left channel. Bearing down on goal he slotted past the feet of the keeper to round off an incisive attack.

Loureiro-Brooks then lofted a cross-shot over the head of the keeper and into the net to make it 3-0, following a dominant opening 20 minutes for Grantham.

Harley Webster then picked the ball up 25 yards from goal and drilled a shot into the net, shaving the post on the way, to give the Gingerbreads a deserved 4-0 lead.

But then inexplicably Grantham seemed to lose their way and allowed their control on the game to slip a little.

Their general play became scrappy and Halas began to see more of the ball.

Subsequently, keeper Bexon had a snap-shot from 12 yards to save comfortably, but moments later he was having to pick the ball out of the net.

A break down the right saw the Halas winger cut the ball back for the striker to hit home from close range just before half-time.

At 4-1 the game was far from over and that was more evident when Halas scored a second goal minutes into the second half.

Some poor defending from Town allowed the visiting forward to drive down the left, into the box and get his shot away. The effort was blocked only for another Halas player to stroke the rebound into the corner to make it 4-2.

The next goal in the game was vital as Grantham struggled to find their excellent form from the first half.

However, after a corner was forced on the left by Town’s Rhys Stevens, the ball was swung into the six yard box for Will Harris to head towards goal.

His effort fell down to the feet of Stevens who smashed in from close range, to restore Grantham’s three-goal advantage.

Halas weren’t finished though and converted a penalty following a hand ball decision to make it 5-3.

Town wrapped things up in the dying minutes following a fantastic counter-attack goal.

A throw into the Gingerbreads penalty area was headed clear to the feet of Nico Fossey, who took the ball into his stride and drove towards the halfway line.

His slide-rule pass into the path of Ollie Harness down the right enabled Harness to switch a low first time ball across the edge of the box for Stevens to run onto.

His clinical first time strike into the net capped a wonderful move, a 6-3 victory, and a goal that would grace any level of football.