Wilcox’s men weathered an early Grantham start, with the first chance of the game going the way of the visitors, Lewis Darlington picking up a loose pass half way inside the Trinity half, his drilled effort across goal forcing Dylan Wharton into a comfortable save. Trinity retorted inside sixty seconds, as Declan Howe looked to break away quickly on the counter. The Trinity striker did well to cut inside onto his right foot, but his effort was straight at Curtis Hall.

Dayle Southwell tried his luck from nearly thirty yards. His free-kick to the left of centre, a yard or so wide of the top left hand corner of Hall’s goal. Aaron Simpson was looking to get forward at every opportunity down the right, and he was next to test Hall. He fired an effort goalwards. That required the intervention of Hall at his near post to make a strong save to deny Simpson.

Simpson was becoming more involved, and when he sprayed a glorious ball from right to left, to set fellow wing back Lewis Butroid forward, the Gainsborough left sider controlled well on the run, taking a touch to settle himself, before whipping a fine ball into the near post, where trapped the ball dead, swivelled, and leaving the defender motionless, slotted the ball into the bottom right hand corner – giving Hall no chance, and settling Trinity nerves.

Straight from Grantham’s restart, Simpson intercepted the ball high up-field. Playing the ball into the box towards Southwell, the former Alfreton Town and Boston United striker saw his attempt blocked, Butroid seeing his right footed follow up effort fly just over crossbar. Will Lancaster stepped out from the back and looked to pose the visitors more problems, winning Trinity a corner. Clever link up, saw Butroid deliver a teasing cross from the left, the centre finding the head of Will Lancaster – but his bullet header whistled the wrong side of the goal frame.

Aaron Simpson again set Howe free down the right hand side. Howe did well to keep the ball in play, picking out Fraser Preston with the pull back. Initially he seemed to lose the ball, but his perseverance saw him win it back. Curling the resultant effort just wide of the post! As the sides entered the final five minutes of the half. Howe settled a few Trinity nerves. Receiving the ball into feet from Simpson – Howe turned and left three me for dead, before firing a composed finish beyond Hall, to double up his and Gainsborough’s advantage.

Approaching the break, visitors’ captain Sam Muggleton stopped a quick Trinity attack, with a brave block, but injured himself in the process, forcing the Gingerbreads into half time change. Harvey Henderson replacing the long throw expert.

Half Time: Gainsborough Trinity 2 Grantham Town 0

The second half was only five minutes old when Grantham reduced the arrears. The lively Darlington setting himself and firing home under Wharton, to the delight of the noisy travelling support. Next, Curtis Hall pulled off an incredible save to deny Fraser Preston from close range, after good play down the left from Butroid, he squared for Preston – who saw his attempt smothered. Howe then saw his near post effort well saved by the visiting ‘keeper as the Holy Blues looked to try and extend their two goal cushion. Preston’s ball splitting open the visiting backline.

Shortly after, a number of substitutions for both sides took the sting out of proceedings, with the game still being played in bright sunshine. The Referee waved away appeals for a Grantham penalty when Sisa Tuntulwana seemingly bundled Mason Lee over in the box, but despite the protests, play was allowed to continue.

Grantham looked to continue peppering the Trinity box with long throws, but with the backline marshalled by skipper Dylan Cogill and backed up by the confident Wharton, coming to claim any missed danger, Russ Wilcox’s side navigated the four additional minutes of playing time, to secure our place in the Third Qualifying Round for the first time since 2018/19.

The draw for the Third Qualifying Round of the Emirates FA Cup is set to be revealed on Monday at 1pm and will be announced across our Social Media in due course.

The Teams

Gainsborough Trinity: Dylan Wharton, Aaron Simpson, Will Lancaster, Bailey Conway (Jordan Helliwell 70) Sisa Tuntulwana, Dylan Cogill, Lewis Butroid (Joe Stacey 74) Bobby Johnson (Aaron Braithwaite 83) Dayle Southwell, Declan Howe, Fraser Preston (Javelle Clarke 70). Subs not used: Ashley Jackson and Ollie Sykes.

Grantham Town: Curtis Hall, Ryan Ebanks, Louis Nicholson (Harry Olivant 78) Sam Muggleton (Harvey Henderson 46) Richard Black, Sam Edgington (Max Cook 63) Lewis Darlington, Bradley Munns, Mason Lee, Luke Harris, Ethan Bojang (Lewis Daff 70). Subs not used: Kaden Scott and Jonasz Gadomski.

Gainsborough Scorers Declan Howe (16 and 41)
Grantham Scorer: Lewis Darlington (50)
Referee: Joshua Howell
Attendance: 519
Man of the Match: Declan Howe

Report by Rob Hughes (@AATM_Media)
Photos by Heather King Photography