Lee Shaw brace shatters Glassboys

Two late goals from leading scorer Lee Shaw earned Grantham all three points in a top of the table clash at Stourbridge. Both sides are living up to their pre-season billing and showed it in a close encounter.

The first half was a close affair. Both goalkeepers were alert in the early exchanges to get to through balls first. Grantham had to do more defending than the home side across the first 45 minutes, but did it effectively, denying the home side clear shots at Kieron Preston.

Midway through the first half, Stourbridge had two clear chances. Both fell to debutant Luke Shearer. On 20 minutes he got on the end of a cross from Matt Dodd, but his effort was blocked. Two minutes later he won a header and picked up the loose ball, but fired over the bar.

Both sides looked brighter after the break in a high energy start to the second half. He started on the front foot with chances falling to Curtis Burrows and Lee Shaw, but neither made the most of them.

After 51 minutes Grantham almost took the lead. From a corner, Danny Meadows shot hit Stourbridge goalkeeper Matt Gould and bounced around the penalty area before the home side cleared their lines.

Stourbridge came back to put the Gingerbreads defence under pressure. Jordan Archer created two chances in a couple of minutes. First Rhys Lewis blocked his shot, then a combination of the post and a good save from Preston to deny Tom Tonks kept scores level.

Two dangerous crosses from Matt Dodd were defended well by a strong Grantham rearguard. The solid defending by Grantham kept Stourbridge at bay and allowed Grantham to build a platform to win the game in the last ten minutes.

With 81 minutes on the clock, Grantham took the lead. Danny Meadows' cross found Curtis Burrows. His shot looked goalbound, but Lee Shaw got a touch to take it past Matt Gould.

Stourbridge tried to get back into the game and pushed forward, but got caught out in injury time. As the home side tried to clear their lines, Grantham got the ball back to Shaw 30 yards out. Spotting Gould off his line, Shaw coolly lobbed the Stourbridge goalkeeper to clinch all three points for Grantham.