Saturday sees Grantham make the trip to Glapwell for the second time this season as the two clubs face each other on the fourth occasion. Joint manager Jimmy Albans is looking forward to the trip.

“We are going to Glapwell with confidence.” Albans said. “We are not going there haunted by them being in third in the league. We are going there with confidence that we can get a result. We have played Glapwell three times this season and only lost once by an odd goal. I don’t fear us going to any one in this league.”

The Gingerbreads had been on a good run of recent form with two home wins against Willenhall and Market Drayton under their belts. It was unexpected when they went to Quorn and lost.

“Both goals against Quorn were the sort of thing you see once in a blue moon!” Albans observed. “But we did contribute to the goals. We didn’t face the free kick and they whipped it in and scored. We only played the side we started against Quorn as personnel were not available. Other than that there was no way we were going to change the personnel. They hardly got out of their half after the break, but that was only as we pushed on and chased the game.”

Albans went on to put the game into perspective as this year has seen an upturn in the fortunes of the Gingerbreads.

“Four wins, two draws and only three defeats in the last eight games shows the form we have come into since the Witton game.” He said. “We are playing better and are harder to beat. If we had shown the sort of form and performances from the start of the season, we would not be in 16th in the table. At the moment we aren’t playing the prettiest football, but we are giving ourselves a chance to get something out of the game. We have got some stability in the club now and even the games we have lost, we haven’t played badly. We didn’t play badly at Quorn by any stretch of the imagination.”

As far as Albans is concerned, the performances players have been putting in recently has made the job of choosing the side easier than at any other time this season. Although the recent signing of Matt Milns has given Albans and fellow joint manager Wayne Hallcro a lot to think about.

“At the moment the eleven are almost picking themselves with one or two exceptions.” He said. “That is not to say the lads on the bench are not good enough, just that those on the pitch have been playing well enough. Wayne and I have made a decision regarding Matt Millns. We haven’t brought him to the club to sit on the bench. I have had Matt Millns for the last three seasons and I don’t think there is a better centre half in this league, or many in the league above. Players like Alistair Asher, Gary Sucharewycz and Matt Millns, we are fortunate to have players of that quality here. We have worked hard to get players like Ash and Scrabble here and don’t want to lose them across the summer to other clubs in our league. They are what we are building for next season on.”

With the season drawing to a close as Grantham have less than a third of their games remaining, Albans and Hallcro have already started talking to the Board of Directors at the Meres about next season. Their work for the rest of the season will be shaped accordingly.

“The Chairman has made it very clear that we have some security as managers.” Albans revealed. “He has said this week that he wants us to build for next season. That gives me and Wayne licence to get people in to look forward. Everything at the club is buoyant at the moment. Over the last few weeks, it has been refreshing for us. We appear to have turned the corner with the results and things are much more positive. The remit from the Board now is to win as many games as we can while we build for next year. So we have got fourteen games to get the best out of the three at the back within the style of play which suits us best. Matt will start centrally on Saturday in the three which will be a strong three. We have also been speaking to two players with experience at the next level and the one above. We would love to bring them in and get them settled by the end of the season. That may or may not happen. We want to build for next year by getting players in now and securing their services for next season. The two we are talking to would improve the squad if we can get them.”

Albans and Hallcro have moved this week to further strengthen things at the back. The Gingerbreads have signed another goalkeeper. Rob Murray has been training with Grantham recently and has now signed UniBond forms. 22 year old Murray came through the youth ranks at Grimsby Town and was second choice for the Mariners two years ago. He has since been at Kings’ Lynn and Hucknall Town, featuring in the Yellows opening three games of the season. Murray joins the squad which should be featuring Danny Brooks again in the next couple of weeks.

“Danny Brooks and Danny Hargreaves both got another 90 minutes in for Lincoln Moorlands on Tuesday.” Albans said. “Brooksie is beginning to get his feet back again. When he comes back in a couple of weeks or so, we will have a fully fit Brooksie which we haven’t had so far this season.”

Glapwell will include Jamie Clarke in their squad as the former Gingerbreads’ striker has now extended his loan from Boston United to the end of the season.

Squad: Richard Stainsby, Rob Murray, Sam Saunders, Gary Sucharewycz, Wayne Hallcro, Alistair Asher, Matt Millns, Danny Hargreaves, Niall O'Rafferty, Ian Robinson, Dennis Rhule, Lee Potts, Sam Persicoe, Gio Carchedi, Ben Saunders, Nick Langford, Chris Hewitt, Kieron Davies.