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

Reds clinched the 1-0 win with a Dave Symington penalty strike 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 was some great performances out there but 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."

He added:"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 unfortunately, 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 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 said: "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 and that gave us that 1-0 lead going into half-time and we were in the driving seat from there."

And 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.

"I think we know the qualities he's got and he's probably won us the game there.

"It was an unbelievable save. Everybody on the bench said it was such a well struck volley and it was just his reactions to turn it onto the bar.

"Then, even later on, when someone fired a long drive in from distance and it skipped right in front of him, he had enough on it to parry it away from the striker so two fantastic saves.

"He'd been very quiet all game and the keeper has to stay focused for the full 90 minutes and when he was called into action he did the business for us, so fair play to Aaran Taylor."

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