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Grimsby Town’s Niall Maher makes EFL Team Of The Week

Grimsby Town had a representative in the official EFL Team of the Week in Niall Maher, after scoring a goal and helping his team keep a clean sheet against Gillingham.

Abo Eisa also featured alongside Maher in the League Two-specific team having assisted Gavan Holohan’s goal on the afternoon to continue his great start to life as a Mariners player. Eisa is also up for the League Two Player of the Month award for August with four goals in five league outings for Town in the month.

The EFL Team of the Week had four representatives from League Two including Maher, with former Mariner James Tilley also featuring as he scored twice for AFC Wimbledon to rescue a point for his side against Newport County.

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The selections for the team are decided by their overall match rating on WhoScored.com, with Maher receiving an 8.45 rating for his performance against Gillingham which saw him make crucial defensive contributions as well as scoring the opening goal.

The Grimsby centre-back made six clearances, two tackles and two interceptions on Saturday in what was an overall great defensive performance from Paul Hurst’s men.

Maher suffered an injury after starting the league opener which kept him out for a handful of games, but he has come back into the team without any issue since recovering and his centre-back partnership with new arrival Harvey Rodgers is starting to blossom.

The clean sheet at the weekend was the third Town have kept in the league already this season after six games, with all of them coming at Blundell Park where they remain unbeaten to start the campaign.

Maher has continued from where he left off last season, having to recover from a longer-term pre-season injury last year but going on to be one of the first names on the teamsheet after arriving from Halifax Town that summer.

The 28-year-old is in the final year of his current deal with the club, but there surely at some point this season will be moves made by the club to commit Maher to a new contract to make what looks like a strong partnership with Rodgers a long-term one.

If the team can continue in the fashion they have done on the defensive end, driven by the performances of the likes of Maher, then that will offer them a great platform for success this term if they can by clinical going forward.

Original story at https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/

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