Long Eaton United vs Grantham Town
Northern Premier League – Midlands Division
21/04/2025 – 3PM KO – Grange Park, Family Only Stadium

It is a very quick turn-around for the boys as we host Grantham Town on Monday afternoon coming off the back of a 3-2 defeat to Sporting Khalsa on Saturday.

A win on Monday afternoon would secure our place in the play-offs with only one game left of the season.

The game against Grantham will be our last home game of the season, therefore we will need your support in order to get over the line on Easter Monday.

Grantham Town’s season:

Already relegated Grantham Town will finish bottom of the league this season, after only tallying 17 points from 38 games.

Yet to win an away game this season, they have one chance left to change that on Monday.

They have picked up three points on the road, all from draws. There two wins all season have come at the South Kesteven Sports Stadium.

Taking one point from their opening five league matches, Grantham claimed their first win of the season against fourth placed Worcester City. The Gingerbreads found themselves 2-1 down at half-time however showed fight to turn the game on its head. A 47th minute goal from Rodrigo Goncalves and an own goal from Elliott Knightley in the 69th minute, meant that Grantham secured all three points.

A reminder that anything can happen in this league.

Their second win of the campaign came a few weeks after on the 19th of October when

Grantham beat Coventry Sphinx 2-1. Two quick goals from Lewis Darlington in the 16th and 19th minute put Grantham in a strong position for the remainder of the match. Jordan
Hayward’s goal for Sphinx moments before the half-time whistle was not enough for them to get back into the game.

Potentially one of the biggest shocks in the Northern Premier League – Midlands Division this year was when Grantham held champions, Quorn, to a 2-2 draw in early February. Quorn went 2-0 up in this encounter but a penalty from Tom Pawson and a 90th minute equaliser from Max Cook halved the points between the two sides.

Lewis Darlington is their top goal scorer this season with nine in total.

The Reverse Fixture:

We travelled to the South Kesteven Sports Stadium on Boxing Day of last year and defeated Grantham Town by five goals to one.

Abdul Saad opened the scoring for us in the 12th minute however Grantham replied only minutes after with a goal from Sam Muggleton in the 18th.

Evan Garnett scored his first of the afternoon in the 40th minute to make us regain the lead and our striker bagged another, just minutes after the start of the second half to put two goals between us and Grantham.

James Shaw scored our fourth of the game in the 61st minute and Evan had his hat-trick as he scored his third and our fifth in the 90th.

Current Form:

We are currently eight in the form guide, taking nine points from a possible eighteen.

Three wins against Sutton Coldfield Town, Darlaston Town and Rugby Town have been followed by three losses against Racing Club Warwick, Coleshill Town and Sporting Khalsa.

However, we have the prize of the play-offs on the line, therefore Monday has the potential to be a special day at the Family Only Stadium.

Grantham Town sit at the bottom of the form guide, losing six games on the bounce. These have come against Coventry Sphinx, Hinckley LRFC, Sutton Coldfield Town, Wellingborough Town, Corby Town and Darlaston Town.

They have scored five goals in those six matches, whilst conceding sixteen.

Brad speaks ahead of Grantham at home:

What is the message to the squad after such a quick turn-around of games?

“Go and secure the play-offs in front of your home crowd, it’s as simple as that. It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.

“Let’s give the home fans a reason to cheer on Monday, let’s go and secure the play-offs and then let’s go and enjoy the last game on Saturday.”

Brad also spoke about the absence of Liam Loughlan in the matchday squad against Sporting Khalsa: “Unfortunately it is a little niggle to the hamstring and we did not want to risk it this close to the end of the season. Ok, yes, play-offs weren’t quite secured today or before but the last thing we need is, if we get them secured, then missing some of our best
players.”

“So we looked after him, but let’s go Monday and let’s go and do it for our home crowd.”
Saturday’s goal scorer, Connor Pace, has his say on Monday:

“We’ve just got to rest up and it is a short change-around.

“Again, the lads know that it’s a must win game especially with Worcester winning today and teams around us have won.

“We’ve just got to go into it with a positive mindset, take this game out of our heads (vs Sporting Khalsa) and go for it with a fresh brain.”

Match preview: Sam Hargrave