David Artell says Grimsby Town have work to do on the training pitch after a 2-0 defeat at Oxford United scotched any hopes of another FA Cup fairy-tale run.
In particular, Artell took responsibility for the U’s opening goal, which came on the break following a bodged Mariners corner at the other end. “I blame myself for it because it came from our corner – and we haven’t worked on any set-pieces, which is my fault,” the new boss said.
That might seem overly self-critical, given how little time Artell – in the job for less than a week – has had to make changes. “When you’ve only had one proper training session and two match-prep sessions in a week it’s very hard to change a lot,” he conceded.
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Nevertheless, Artell saw some positives in the performance on a bitterly cold day at the Kassam Stadium. “I thought we gave a good account of ourselves, we controlled possession better than we did on Tuesday night at MK Dons,” he said. “I’ve seen enough to know that we’ve got a lot of qualities and we’re going to be OK.”
Last season, Town made it all the way the the FA Cup quarter-finals, but a second round exit this time around reflected a difficult end to 2023.
Marcus McGuane gave the U’s the lead after 11 minutes in unlikely circumstances. Town had been attacking from a corner but lost the ball. Josh Murphy then raced 60 yards, and although Harvey Cartwright parried his drive, McGuane followed up to score.
Otis Khan had two half-chances in the first half, but the Mariners’ best opportunity fell to sub Donovan Wilson with 20 minutes to go. He ran in behind the home defence and brought a good save from James Beadle.
Cartwright kept out Stan Mills, twice, and Ruben Rodrigues. The Town keeper also saved superbly from Bodin and Tyler Goodrham’s drive. But he could do little as Oxford sub Billy Bodin headed in the second from Cameron Brannagan’s chipped cross 15 minutes from time, effectively putting the tie beyond reach.
It marked a first win for U’s boss Des Buckingham, who last month jetted in from India, where he had been managing Mumbai City, to take over at Oxford. He said: “It was a professional performance from us against a team that’s also desperate to impress because they’ve got a new manager as well.”
Buckingham had previously lost one and drawn one. No doubt Artell will be hoping to follow his example with a victory next time out.
Reporting by PA Sport.
Original story at https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/
