NICK Amos was delighted to see Stafford Rangers' gameplan pay off as they recorded an impressive away win at Grantham Town today.

Boro switched to a back three for their trip to face a side in fine home form, and frustrated their hosts as they claimed a 2-1 victory.

Though the Gingerbreads had more of the ball, Rangers could even have scored two or three more, with Izak Reid squandering the chance to net a hat-trick.

He did score one, after Jack Sherratt had opened the scoring with a fine solo effort, and although Grantham made it a tense final five minutes with a late penalty - having seen an earlier spot-kick saved by Adam Whitehouse - Boro saw out their second successive league victory.

"We're really, really pleased," said assistant manager Nick Amos.

"This is a very hard place to come - I don't think I've ever got a draw or a win here - and with the conditions here, it was never going to be a pretty game.

"They play with intensity, and we had to match them. And the lads have put in a right shift to ensure we got the three points, which I think we deserve on chances.

"We had five or six really good chances, and could have put the game to bed earlier. But three points is three points."

Kieran Morris came into the Boro defence, allowing Sam Griffiths and Kieren Westwood to act as wing-backs and add an extra body in midfield.

Boro had tried this formation in pre-season, but this was the first time it had been utilised in the league, and as Amos said: "You don't come to somewhere like Grantham and get three points if it hasn't worked.

"We know what they're all about - they do score a lot of goals - so we changed our shape, and I think that worked.

"We wanted to make sure we were more condensed, and harder to get in behind. But the big thing was, with the personnel we've got in Kieran Morris and Jordaan Brown, who can play full-back as well - if we get that right, it's very hard for their front pairing to get past us.

"That allowed us to have an extra man in midfield, but still have two up top, and that's what we want.

"We packed the midfield, (Louis) Briscoe had a lot of opportunities to drive forward, and Greggs (Richard Gregory) and Izak worked well up front. So I think the team selection was right, but you can select a team and then they've got to go out there and do it."

Amos spoke to the Newsletter after manager Neil Kitching had been sent to the stands during the match for a disagreement with the match referee who, it must be said, made a series of curious decisions during the game.

After taking the letter of the law to its extremes early in the game when he made Adam Whitehouse play a drop ball to himself, he then initiallly waved away the protests for the second penalty, before pointing to the spot when he noticed his assistant flagging.

But the flashpoint that led to Kitching being red-carded for the first time since taking over as Boro manager three-and-a-half years ago came when the referee allowed Grantham to play on from a throw-in taken from the wrong place, only to signal for the throw to be retaken after goalkeeper Kieran Preston kicked the ball into touch.

"It was a weird one," said Amos. "The referee was having a go at where they were taking the throw from, then he said play on, and then the goalkeeper kicks it out of play, so we thought it was our throw.

"But he said 'oh no, let's go back to the throw then'.

"He sent Kitch off for being aggressive, but all he asked him was 'what are we doing?'. He didn't swear, he wasn't even aggressive, but the referees can't just make up rules in the middle of games.

"That's probably the only downside of a positive game."