Grantham away.

Another ground that deserves twinning with planet Zog…..what a god forsaken place at which to watch football,no wonder their fan's are such a miserable,whining,charmless bunch……..characteristics their team displayed in abundance,a pity the weak ref waited until after the final whistle to issue a red card to one of their players.

A really superb second half performance from our boys after a terrible opening 30 minutes in which we appeared to still be on the team bus,that said Grantham's two goals were quality finishes past a blameless Gould.

Once again we allowed ourselves to be bullied by the long ball merchants and we fell into the trap of trying to play the same way……it's hard to fathom how we keep falling into this trap,once we wake up and get the ball on the deck we play teams like this off the park like we did for 60 minutes tonight.

Broadhurst and Geddes played well,Dodd gradually became a massive threat and Hawley was class as usual but Justin was a bit off the pace again.

We improved once Tonks and Junior entered the fray and Scarr's towering header from Tonksy's long throw was well deserved,in truth we had the chances to have won by three or four in the end.

On a bitter night it was good to see 50+ from Stour in a pitiful crowd of just 152 so well done to our large selection of "coffin dodgers" for once again making the effort to travel.

A cold night at a horrible ground, but worth it to see our second half performance after a shocking start.

After a superb 1 hour 50 minute drive from Birmingham city centre to the ground, I spent almost as long either finding the right turnstiles or waiting for the game to start. One of their players was late, so the officials allowed the game to kick off late, which was a shambles to start with.

Finally kicking off at 8, we were very poor for the first half an hour or so, albeit going two goals down to two superb finishes; almost an identical curling finish into the opposite corner from both sides of the box. We didn't help ourselves in this spell by playing lots of long ball which played right into their hands.

We got a bit of a scrappy goal back, with Hawley finishing it off and from then on I don't recall Grantham having another chance at scoring as we pressed for the remainder of the game.

The second half was largely all Stour and we gained momentum through the half, especially with some wise substitutions in bringing the more attack minded Smikle on as well as Vincent, who replaced the ineffectual Lait. Tonks also came on and one of his long throws saw us equalise as Scarr put in a towering header.

Their keeper had a great game (once he'd turned up) and made some good saves, including from a Hawley overhead kick not too dissimilar to the one against Frickley on Saturday.

The officials were woeful throughout, including a linesman who, it's not exaggeration to say, did not have a clue and more often than not looked to the ref to make his corner/goal kick and throw-in decisions for him. In the second half, we had a clear as day corner and a goal kick was given, and then later on Broadhurst clearly headed wide and a corner was given.

Their lack of a grip on proceedings saw some robust challenges - an absolute shocker from their No.10 on Hull in the first half, and a 'take one for the team' tackle by Tonks as Grantham looked to break - and general frustration from both sides throughout.

A continual frustration was their lack of ball boys - in the stadium they are in, they should be made to provide at least one person behind both goals to get the ball back quickly - presumably they would have done had they been 2-1 down at half time.... Fordy did a superb job in the second half in getting the ball back quickly - bet he was knackered at the end!

All of this culminated in some ugly scenes at the final whistle on and off the pitch, which saw their number 10 receive a long overdue second yellow. Neither club can be particularly proud of themselves of their conduct but it all stemmed from woefully weak officiating which left both sides very frustrated.

Will it be a point gained or 2 points lost? We won't know until the end of the season, but the most crucial games are this Saturday and Monday as we match up with two of our main play-off rivals.

Superb support from our fans - made up for the miserable sods their lot were.

Another cold night with a good Stour turn out of the crowd of 152! Can't realy comment any more on the match which have not already been said,was my first time to Grantham and i hope my last! Can't believe anyone has not said about Bruce and his live stream on facebook on the coach and his tamberine.

Man of the match voting was as follows;

KARL HAWLEY 6 votes

Matt Dodd 5

Sean Geddes } 2
Leon Broadhurst

Joe Hull
Dan Scarr } 1


Wine was won by STEVE SIDAWAY

Thanks to all who took part.

Brian Handy wrote:Man of the match voting was as follows;

KARL HAWLEY 6 votes

Matt Dodd  5

Sean Geddes       } 2
Leon Broadhurst

Joe Hull
Dan Scarr  } 1


Wine was won by STEVE SIDAWAY

Thanks to all who took part.

So even with just 17 participants i still don't win Brian?

I reckon if we played a pre season match in my own back garden and i was the only entrant you'd still find a way of seeing that someone else won the bottle

A poor first 40 minutes, two very well taken goals though, after Hawley scored we where much the better team and had the chances to win it, great save towards the end, still a good fightback from 2-0 down, played some good football in the second halfs of the last two matches but need to be a bit more more clinical in front of goal. Feel Smikle should have been in the starting eleven and perhaps Tonks his long throws caused them problems.

My second visit to Grantham and am determined it will be my last! with the athletics track, some of the supporters, their management, awful place to watch football.