Grimsby Town ended a five-game winless streak in the league with a 3-2 victory at home against an in-form Morecambe side.
Town called on three different goalscorers to take victory after falling behind in the second minute of the game, with Danny Rose and Kieran Green netting in quick succession at the start of the second period before Rekeil Pyke added a third later on. Morecambe made it a nervy end to the game, pulling a goal back with five minutes of normal time to play, but Town managed to hold on for a vital three points.
Interim bosses Shaun Pearson and Ben Davies made six changes to the team that started the 1-1 FA Cup draw with Slough Town on Sunday, with a different shape used to try and incite a stronger performance than the one offered up at the weekend. It was a nightmare start for the Mariners, who fell behind within two minutes – Morecambe opened up the Town defence straight away with a through ball weighted perfectly into the path of Adam Mayor, who slotted the ball past Cartwright easily.
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Grimsby had a decent response to going behind early, applying some forward pressure and winning a couple of corners, with Danny Rose heading just wide of the far post as he flicked on a delivery from the left side. Despite their strong response, Town were almost undone simply once again, with the defence caught ball watching, as a straight ball over the top almost reached Jordan Slew, but thankfully for Town, Harvey Cartwright was alive to the danger and did enough to snuff out the chance.
Grimsby themselves created another good chance inside the first 20 minutes, working the ball down the left side of the area, with the cutback rolling to Gavan Holohan who had the time and space to pick his spot, but shot first time, and shot over. There was a slower period in the middle of the first half, with a couple of injury stoppages disrupting the fast flow that the match had started within the first 25 minutes.
(Image: Jon Corken)
Town should have at least been level in the game with the chances they had created, with Holohan finding an opening in the box again, this time from a free-kick, with the midfielder directing his header straight at the goalkeeper.
The Morecambe goalkeeper Adam Smith was tested straight out of the gate in the second half, with Anthony Glennon making a piercing run on the inside, with Rose taking over and shooting first time on the edge of the box, with the former pushing the effort wide. It was Rose who profited off an error from Smith moments later though, as the goalkeeper looked to claim a cross but dropped the ball as he came down, with the Town forward on hand to knock the ball into an empty net.
Town were in the ascendancy at that point, and with their next foray forward, they completed the turnaround inside the first five minutes of the second half, as Green was in the right place at the right time to smash the ball home as it was headed across goal from a lofted pass into the box. It was the perfect response from a team that needed to show that they were still in the fight with things not going their way in general, and they stretched their lead out further on the hour mark.
It was a good move from Town, with Holohan picking up the loose ball, and feeding it out to Glennon on the left, who played it back across first time for Pyke who had an easy finish from close range to give his side breathing room in the game. It was the first time Grimsby had scored three goals in a game this season, but their game management would still be tested with over a quarter of the game still to play.
Town were sitting comfortably up until the 85th minute when JJ McKiernan was able to reduce the deficit to one for the visitors who came again in added time with a couple of efforts that tested Cartwright, as the Mariners hung on for a long-awaited victory.
Starting line-up: Cartwright; Mullarkey, Rodgers, Maher, Glennon (Hunt 80’); Green, Holohan, Andrews (Clifton 58’); Pyke (Wilson 80’), Khan (Eisa 71’), Rose. Unused subs: Eastwood, Waterfall, Conteh.
Original story at https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/
