Fully focused FC United head to Grantham with feet firmly on the ground

FC United make the trip to Grantham on Saturday with confidence high following the midweek victory over Halesowen Town which took Karl Marginson’s side to the top of the Evo-Stik Premier League for the first time this season.

Despite having games in hand over the teams below them, Margy’s men will be keeping their feet firmly on the ground and taking one game at a time starting with this tricky trip to Lincolnshire.

The Halesowen game was a hard-fought contest as you would expect a game between the league’s two best defences to be, with FC running our deserved, if narrow, winners. Grantham, who lie tenth in the league, still harbour play-off hopes so they will be hoping to take all three points from the new league leaders who are sure to be backed by a large and vocal travelling support.

United manager Karl Marginson is looking forward to the game and iss pleased with the team’s performance as we enter a crucial stage of the season. “We are on a great run of form at the moment and it’s great to see. All the positive messages that the staff are trying to get across to the players are getting through and there’s an excellent team spirit in the camp. The lads are delivering on the pitch and motivating each other and making my job easier. Daz Lyons and Dave Brown are doing great work on the coaching side and it really is a joy to see.

“The win on Tuesday was hard fought as Halesowen came with a strong game plan and were very organised and difficult to break down. However, we stuck to our task magnificently and you could see the importance of our strength in depth on the night and the options we have on the bench. The attitude of the players not on the pitch is excellent and is a great support to the squad. It’s never been about individuals here we are all in it together as a team - players, staff and supporters – and everything we achieve is a shared achievement.

“Grantham is a long journey but we will prepare in the right way. They will enjoy taking on the league leaders and will fancy their chances but we have to ruthless in our determination to bring back the points. We have the best chance we’ve ever had of winning this league and have put ourselves in a very strong position. Winning is a habit but we can’t allow ourselves to lose focus and make no mistake we’ll be giving this game our full attention.???

Midfielder Dave Birch is available for selection after his two match suspension and winger Shelton Payne is hoping to recover from a knock he took to his ankle against Halesowen. Other than that and long term injuries, FC United will take a full strength squad down to the South Kesteven Sports Stadium for a fan-friendly 3pm kick off versus Grantham.

Get yourself to that football ground!

Report by Andy Walker