Ben Davies praised the “belief” of his Grimsby Town side after an impressive second-half comeback at relegation rivals Forest Green.
The Mariners went in 2-0 down at half-time, following a rapid-fire double from Kyle McAllister. But second-half goals by Gavan Holohan and Donovan Wilson earned Town a share of the spoils.
Joint-interim manager Davies said: “We were disappointed going in 2-0, but we gave a reaction in that second half. We had to instill the belief in them and then have that conviction.”
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Holohan’s goal came from a deep corner and reflected work on the training field. “We’ve worked a lot on set-plays; it’s something we’ve been disappointed with,” added Davies.
Wilson made an impact just seconds after he came on as a second-half substitute, playing a part in the first goal before scoring the second, something Davies was pleased to see. “The statistics of substitutes who win the points is through the roof and we’ve highlighted that,” he said.
“When you’re sat in there at 2-0 down, we were thinking ‘is it going to be one of those days?’ But we hammered away and could have had a couple more in the end.”
Grimsby started well and were inches away from the opener when Harvey Rodgers poked an effort goalwards following a corner, but Jordan Moore-Taylor cleared the ball off the line. Town goalkeeper Harvey Cartwright produced a fine reflex save after he was wrongfooted by Jacob Maddox’s deflected cross.
McAllister almost opened the scoring for the home side with a curling long-range effort that cannoned back off the crossbar. Cartwright had to be alert to deny Maddox following a fortuitous bounce of the ball, but Grimsby’s shot-stopper was out quickly to smother.
Forest Green opened the scoring in the 37th minute after Callum Jones was deemed to have been tripped in the penalty area. McAllister was not to be denied from the spot.
McAllister doubled Forest Green’s lead a minute before half-time, when he collected Tyrese Omotoye’s pass and lobbed over Cartwright and out of the reach of Grimsby’s despairing defenders. It left Town with a mountain to climb in the second half.
The Mariners did not give up, however, and in the 65th minute, Holohan’s goalward effort went into into the back of the net following a deep corner, although Wilson may have got the final touch. With ten minutes to go, Wilson then capitalised on Reece Welch’s poor touch and slid past James Belshaw in the Forest Green net.
Rovers almost won it late on, but Omotoye’s header came back out off the upright and Sean Robertson’s stoppage-time effort flew over Cartwright’s crossbar. The result leaves Town in 21st in League Two, four points clear of Forest Green, who are second from bottom.
Forest Green boss David Horseman blamed “individual errors” after letting slip their 2-0 lead. “The first half was superb, the manner of the goals that we conceded was sickening,” he added.
“It’s been a trend that the cross towards the far post that they end up scoring from. We have got good quality players to come back but they’ve been out for far too long.”
Reporting by PA Sport.
Original story at https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/
