Grantham Town are beaten by Lye Town in the Northern Premier League Midlands Division

Head coach Louis Bland feels his Grantham Town side are already at a crossroads in their season.

The Gingerbreads have played just nine games in the Northern Premier League Midlands Division campaign so far this term.

However, they are currently third-from-bottom of the table with just one league win under their belts.

They went down to a 2-1 away loss at relegation rivals Lye Town on Saturday as their West Midlands hosts collected their first win of the season after a poor performance from Bland's charges.

He said: "It wasn't good enough on Saturday and it was another tough day for us.

"We've had nine league games and only one win. Sometimes you come to a crossroads in a season and we're at that now.

"Realistically, if results don't improve, none of us in that changing room will be here in six weeks or two months' time.

"We have to improve very quickly and we've two very tough games coming up against Quorn and Anstey Nomads.

"We have to play better than last Saturday otherwise we will get heavily beaten because it was that bad."

Grantham had recruited defender Luke Redfern for the crunch clash on Saturday after he joined on dual registration from Stamford.

The former Halesowen Town player went straight into the starting line-up with Richard Black missing out through injury.

Grantham took the lead just past the half-hour mark when Rodrigo Goncalves found Brad Munns and he pulled the ball back into the path of Luke Harris to net the opening goal.

Munns had a chance to double Grantham's advantage but they were unable to extend their lead and were pegged back eight minutes into the second half.

Keanu Cooper brought the home side level and then Lye took the lead with 14 minutes remaining when Andy Parsons scored what proved to be the winning goal with Bland feeling that both of the Lye strikes could have been prevented.

He added: "I thought we were very lethargic and didn't press with the intensity that we wanted.

"We scored a really good goal and then probably should have scored again so it was disappointing because tactically we did get it ok again.

"Both of their goals came from bad decisions. We lost the ball in the middle of the pitch for their first goal and were then counter-attacked on after a really poor clearance.

"We conceded the other goal from a second phase free-kick and how many times have we said that this season.

"It's a really disappointing day and we know that the pressure is on us.

"The fans didn't deserve that result because they have been brilliant and we hope that we can repay them in the next couple of weeks."

Grantham travel to third-placed Quorn on Saturday before hosting an Anstey Nomads side who finished in the play-offs last season on Tuesday night.