How Grimsby Town have performed versus what they have got as a result has been a general frustration for Paul Hurst, who again believed his side acquitted themselves well in their latest defeat.
The Mariners went two goals down early away at the league leaders, who are in searing hot form, but Hurst’s men showed some fight to claw their way back into the game and level things up before ultimately leaving disappointed in defeat again.
While the result continued to mount pressure on the manager and his team, what it might have shown is that there is still a level of belief and fight in a group of players that have experienced victory just three times so far this term.
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Hurst knows most fans will just look to the result in this current situation, with the team lingering dangerously low in the table, but the away support in attendance at Edgeley Park saw at least something to be encouraged by, as long as it can be followed up with wins in the coming games.
The Town boss said: “Of course they will [just look at the result], and I get that. I can talk positively [about the performance] but a lot will see the result and think I’m talking rubbish or just not interested in what I say because of the result.
“The fans [that were at the game] were excellent – going 2-0 down very quickly, they could have easily turned on us but I certainly didn’t get any sense of that from where I was stood.
“We gave them something to cheer about at the very least and I think they showed what I saw as appreciation for the players for their effort, which I know should be the minimum requirement, but there is something in how you lose a game.”
Despite the poor run of form, Hurst is not concerned about the “character” in his team with a positive response in the form of victories urgently needed. Playing well but not tacking on points can only carry on for so long before serious action needs to be taken, with Tuesday night’s home game against fellow strugglers Colchester United holding massive importance.
Hurst added: “In the main, we’ve talked about getting in front in a lot of games, and sometimes you don’t get the opportunities to do that or things just turn out differently. I don’t question the character of these players because I know it is there.
“Whatever people might think, I don’t think there have been any games where we’ve really been outplayed or anything, so it is not like we’ve gone from being really bad to good between these last two games but this performance felt different in a positive sense.
“Hopefully we can carry that on, but Tuesday now becomes an even bigger game and there is no hiding away from that and I’ve said that to the players because we know what we’ve got to try and achieve.”
Original story at https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/
