Grantham Town secure their place in the Northern Premier League after victory at Sheffield FC
A second win in three days has ensured Grantham Town's survival in the Northern Premier League.
The Gingerbreads followed up Monday night's 2-1 win at Liversedge with victory by the same margin at Sheffield on Wednesday evening.
Goals from Sisa Tuntulwana and Harry Olivant secured a fourth successive East Division win for the Gingerbreads who head into their final game of the season on Saturday at Winterton Rangers with their step four status guaranteed.
The victory capped a remarkable turnaround for Grantham who had spent the majority of the campaign in the bottom two, writes Graham Cowell
Head coach Louis Bland said: "We've deserved this for the performances in recent weeks."
"We defended the way we wanted to and you can see what it meant to the players and fans.
"I've said that if we get the tiny details right things will start to happen for us and that has been the case.
"We had the chances to take, we scored at important times and defended solidly for all the added minutes."
Grantham started the game brightly, forcing an early corner, where Olivant got on the end of the delivery but volleyed wide of the mark.
Rodrigo Goncalves created a couple of early chances for Grantham, but both he and Brad Munns missed the target.
Sheffield settled after a torrid opening and got on top of the game where a good ball into Nathan Modest saw him draw a challenge from Tom Ward that had the former Gingerbread claiming a penalty, but referee Grace Lowe turned the shout down.
Cameron Johnson and Rory Coleman combined after 16 minutes to try and open the Gingerbreads defence, but good work from Ward denied Sheffield a chance.
A minute later Curtis Morrison ran in behind the Sheffield defence, but a good recovery from Connor Cutts denied him a shooting chance.
After a spell of pressure from the home side, Grantham came back and took the lead after half-an-hour.
Sam Muggleton delivered a trademark long throw that was flicked on from the near post and Tuntulwana timed his run to perfection to head Grantham in front.
A couple of minutes later Muggleton almost set up a second goal for the Gingerbreads as another long throw fell to Matt Doyle, but he could not keep his shot down and fired over the crossbar.
The home side pressed for an equaliser in the dying minutes of the first half, but their desperation turned to frustration culminating in a booking for Johnson as the half drew to a close.
In a similar start to the second period, Grantham came out of the blocks quickly.
From a fourth minute corner, Munns sent over a deep delivery for Doyle whose volley drew a great save from Edd Hall in the Sheffield goal.
Sheffield made changes and began to look dangerous whenever Benni Ndlovu got the ball.
A long throw after 57 minutes found Ndlovu, but Curtis Hall was in the right place to save his header.
Four minutes later, Grantham relieved the pressure in emphatic style.
A well-placed clearance found Olivant inside his own half and he ran straight for goal, holding off the challenges of three defenders and firing past Hall to double the Gingerbreads' lead.
Grantham were in charge of the game for a good spell immediately after the goal.
Goncalves set up Olivant again three minutes later but this time his shot hit Morrison not the target.
Ryan Rushen came on for Grantham with 25 minutes left and almost repeated his quick goalscoring from Monday night.
He had only been on the pitch a minute when he ran onto a through ball and held off his defender but slid his shot past the post.
Rushen went close again with 20 minutes left but Hall bravely saved at his feet to keep Sheffield in the game.
As the game entered the last 15 minutes, Sheffield built up pressure again.
Muggleton gave away a free kick in a dangerous position and a good delivery came through to Harry Mitchell, but his shot flew wildly wide.
The home side set up a nervy end to the game on 77 minutes. Mitchell played Johnson in and he was brought down inside the penalty area. Johnson got up to fire the spot kick home with Hall going the wrong way.
Solid defending from Grantham gave Sheffield very little chance for an equaliser in the remaining 13 minutes and the added 11 at the end of the game.
Rushen brought another good save from Hall as the game moved into added time where esolute defending from the whole Grantham team denied Sheffield any clear chances.
After finding an extra six minutes to add the five shown at the end of the game, referee Lowe eventually blew the final whistle to set off wild celebrations from the whole Gingerbreads team, management and the large travelling contingent.
