French smashed the ball past goalkeeper Richard Roberts in the 41st minute after being put through by Martin Wormall, another player involved in the summer exodus from Spalding.

On the balance the result was a fair one with Town having the bulk of the chances, but the Tulips did show the occasional flash of quality that will encourage manager Mark Hone ahead of the new season.

Summer arrival Andy Toyne led out a side for the Lincolnshire FA Senior Shield tie at the Halley Stewart Playing Field on Tuesday that included recent signings Luke Walker and Nick Kay in defence and Luke Forbes in midfield.

For much of the match the Tulips were content to play a long ball game, but energetic strikers Davy Shepherd and Craig Gordon had little tangible to feed on.

It was when Spalding had the ball on the deck that they produced their best football, with the best move of the match coming as early as the 8th minute.

Slick interplay on the left wing between excellent full-back Stuart King, Gordon and Shepherd had King reaching the byline with time to cross.

He flashed a dangerous ball across the face of the goal, but visiting keeper Gary Hateley came out well to claim the ball.

This sparked a period of Tulips possession that worried the Gingerbreads.

Grantham struck back however and ex-Tulip Wormall had the ball in the net with a header after 23 minutes only for it to be ruled out for offside.

The visitors kept up the pressure, with French narrowly missing the post with a swivel and shot on 34 minutes, before Gio Carchedi went even closer three minutes later when his header hit the post.

This was one of the rare occasions that Grantham got the better of centre-back Luke Walker in the air.

Perhaps realising this, Town made their next attack on the ground, which paid dividends when French latched onto Wormall's precise through-ball and beat Roberts to give his side a crucial advantage.

Coming out for the second half, Spalding did not appear to have been too bothered by the setback and immediately put pressure on the Grantham goal.

The pressure would have paid off in the 51st minute had it not been for the heroics of keeper Hateley, who pulled of an incredible fingertip save when King's curling free-kick looked destined for the top right-hand corner.

The next 25 minutes passed without incident and so Spalding introduced former Porto "ace" David de Oliveira, who proved largely ineffective.
Forward Gordon did show a flash of brilliance in the 75th minute when he left two defenders for dead, but spooned his shot from just inside the box.

With Spalding committing more and more men forward, Grantham looked dangerous on the break and they had two chances to score in the last ten minutes.

Another former United player, Danny Hargreaves, was introduced on 82 minutes and would have scored when the ball fell to him two minutes later were it not for a brilliant charging save from Roberts.

Wormall should have put the game to bed in the 90th minute when he was sent through on goal, but his attempted lob from 20 yards went embarrasingly straight into Roberts' arms.

Teams: Spalding - Roberts, Kay, King, Scott, Walker, Hone, Forbes, Toyne, Shepherd, Gordon, Chilvers. Subs: O'Neill, De Oliveira, Grantham.

Grantham - Hately, Hanson, Saunders, Jones, Stubbs, Stahlberger, Norris, Steadman, Wormall, Carchedi, French. Subs: Brooks, Potts, McGee, Hargreaves