Steelmen all smiles as they sink Grantham to secure home play-off semi-final
Corby Town guaranteed themselves a home semi-final in the Pitching-In Northern Premier League Midlands Division play-offs with an emphatic 4-0 win over rock-bottom Grantham Town on Saturday.
The win, coupled with a second successive defeat for Long Eaton United, means the Steelmen can finish no lower than third, and they now need four more points from their remaining three matches to secure a runners-up finish behind champions Quorn.
All the goals came in the second-half against Grantham in front of a crowd of more than 550 at Steel Park on Saturday, with Fletcher Toll setting the ball rolling on 54 minutes, scoring his 30th league goal of the season.
Three further goals came in the final 20 minutes from Reuben Marshall, Joe Butterworth and Danny Gordon, and Setchell was a happy man after the game.
"In the second-half we stepped up the pitch 20 metres, and we played in their half," he told @corbytownfc. "We moved the ball well, and in time created the chances.
"We had gone in at half-time 0-0, and that could have been squeaky bum time, because we are desperate to finish second, but we had 45 minutes to do it.
"We had experience in the team, we kept our heads and didn't panic which has happened previously at times.
"There have been times when we have been too desperate to score, but we just kepy playing and felt it would come, and when you have somebody in the team who has now scored 30 goals you do expect to score.
"Well done to Fletch for reaching 30, fair play to him, and then the floodgates opened."
The Steelmen's win was their sixth in the past seven league games, with the one slight slip a 0-0 home draw with Coleshill Town.
They have a free week before a double header Easter Bank Holiday weekend that sees them travel to fifth-placed Worcester City on Saturday and then host AFC Rushden & Diamonds in a Northants derby on Monday (ko 1pm).
Setchell will be hoping his team can do enough in those two games to secure second place, and he said: "If you can't win it, you have to try and get second, and if you can't get second you have to get third, and we have now secured a home play-off.
"I am sure our fans will be delighted with that, and now it is about jostling for the final position, and seeing who will play on the Tuesday night in two weeks' time."
Corby's semi-final play-off will be staged at Steel Park on Tuesday, April 29, with the final to be played on Saturday, May 3.