Progress in the Lincolnshire County Cup and Junior Premier League Cup for Grantham Town Under 16s

Two victories within a week have seen Grantham Town Under 16s progress to the latter stages in two different cup competitions.

A week last Saturday they beat Appleby Frodingham 6-3 in the Lincolnshire County Cup to reach the final held in late March.

They then travelled to face Chesterfield on Saturday in the last 16 of the Junior Premier League Cup, winning 2-1 to move into the quarter-finals.

However, it wasn't easy for Town as the Derbyshire side made it a real test.

They forced a sequence of corners in the early stages and, having made the first contact on more than one occasion, Chesterfield would have been disappointed not to take the lead.

However, it was Grantham who broke the deadlock after Nikolas Adamopoulos was upended in the box as he tried to round the goalkeeper.

Adamopoulos picked himself up to stroke the penalty past the keeper who could only palm the ball into the corner of the net.

Chesterfield responded well and a low cross was easily allowed to enter the six yard from the left, with the ball falling at the feet of the home number nine to tap in the equaliser from close range.

There was no let up in the scoring with Town immediately going on the attack.

The ball bounced in the Chesterfield penalty area and was handled by a home defender.

The referee pointed to the spot for the second time to give Grantham another opportunity from 12 yards and this time Aston Taylor took responsibility and side-footed confidently to the keeper's left to restore Town's lead.

The second half became scrappy and Grantham struggled to create any clear opportunities.

Rhys Stevens and Harley Webster tried their luck from long range but they failed to trouble the keeper.

Chesterfield, however, went in search of the equaliser for the second time in the game, but Town keeper Harri Bexon was in inspired form.

He firstly parried a low drive out to his left, the ball fell to the on-rushing striker with the goal at his mercy but Bexon somehow sprung to his feet to spread in front of the follow up shot and block for a corner kick.

As the minutes ticked away, Chesterfield forced a late corner. The ball was headed towards goal and looked to be looping into the far corner until Bexon leaped to his left to claw the ball out from under the crossbar, seeing out the victory and securing Grantham's place as one of the last eight nationwide JPL teams remaining in the competition.

A week earlier the young Gingerbreads saw off a spirited Appleby Frodingham in the County Cup semi-final.

A 6-3 win with goals from Davies, Taylor (two), Webster, Loureiro-Brooks and Coleman sent Grantham through to a County Cup final on March 27 at Lincoln United.

Their opponent from the other semi-final is still to be decided. Ticket details for the final will be released in due course.