Workington Reds boss Dave Hewson praised his side for grinding out an ‘ugly’ win against Grantham Town on Saturday.

Reds clinched the 1-0 victory with a Dave Symington penalty in the first half.

And they also owed a big vote of thanks to keeper Aaran Taylor who pulled off a stunning save with 15 minutes to go to keep them in front.

“I was very pleased with the workrate of everyone,” said Hewson.

“To a man they were absolutely superb. There were some great performances out there. Those are the type of games we need to win ugly sometimes and that’s exactly what we’ve done.

“It wasn’t a great game to watch. It wasn’t a good game for the neutral but we were effective in what we did and we went about our business the right way.

“We managed to see the game out which is the pleasing thing because recently we haven’t managed to do that.

“So the fact that we managed the game so well in the second half was the most pleasing thing.”

Hewson admitted that Reds had perhaps had a bit of luck with the penalty when James Earl was adjudged to have been brought down in the box.

He added: “We wouldn’t have been pleased with it but sometimes you just need a little bit of luck and we haven’t had that recently.

“Luckily, today we got the rub of the green and Dave stepped up and put it away. That gave us a 1-0 lead going into half-time and we were in the driving seat from there.”

Keeper Taylor’s diving save on 75 minutes to deny Grantham a share of the spoils also brought praise from Hewson.

“He’s took a pat off the back from everyone in the dressing room and that’s what he’s there for and why we brought him in,” said Hewson.

Reds now hope to carry on their league form tomorrow night when they head to Skelmersdale.