Grimsby Town fell to back-to-back league home defeats and their fourth on the bounce in all competitions at the hands of Colchester United, who lifted themselves out of the relegation zone with a 3-2 victory.
The Mariners took an early lead in the game in bizarre circumstances with Colchester goalkeeper Owen Goodman heading into his own net, but the visitors fought back in the first half with goals from Joe Taylor and Zach Mitchell to lead at the break.
Town bounced back soon after halftime through Donovan Wilson but conceded a third goal in a league game for the fourth time this term to ultimately fall to another disappointing defeat, leaving them 20th in League Two after 15 games.
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If Paul Hurst felt his side had not had the rub of the green in games leading up to this one, then he could not say that was the case in this instance with how they were given the lead by Colchester’s goalkeeper Goodman.
Abo Eisa competed for the ball near the Colchester goal, with Will Greenidge managing to force it back to Goodman, who perhaps expected he could not grab the ball in fear of a pass back, opting to try and control with his head, but he fluffed his lines and ended up knocking it backwards into his own net.
Town would have hoped it was a sign of their luck changing but they were not ahead for long, with the visitors responding quickly through Taylor, who managed to beat the offside trap and latch onto a ball over the top, smashing the ball into the bottom left corner of the net.
Goodman would have been hoping for a chance to quickly redeem himself after the first goal and he did when Town looked to get themselves back ahead, with Gavan Holohan getting the space on the edge of the box to shoot. His effort was heading for the bottom right corner but the Colchester goalkeeper stretched out his right hand to push the ball away.
The away side looked the more likely to score the next goal at 1-1, with Grimsby having some moments of sloppiness on the ball, but it was another goalkeeper error that ultimately led to the third goal in the game.
Jake Eastwood came off his line to claim a corner but did not make much of an attempt to collect the ball, as it fell to Mitchell in the middle of the six-yard box with an empty net at his mercy.
Grimsby needed something to lift the crowd early in the second half after a flat performance in the first 45, and Danny Rose provided it as he headed on target from a deep Danny Amos cross, with Goodman diving high up to his right to push the ball away from danger.
Town certainly had their tails up to start the second period and the equaliser came soon after the first big chance of the half, with Wilson had to scuff the ball into the net at the back post as the ball flashed across the area.
With the game back on equal terms, Town went on the hunt for a go-ahead goal, with Rose being denied by another smart Goodman save at close quarters with Eisa inches away on the follow-up from making it 3-2.
Unfortunately, although the overall performance had improved from the first half, they had not eliminated the errors which led to them falling behind again against the run of play. Jamie Andrews turned into danger in the middle of the park and was dispossessed, and with his central midfield partner Kamil Conteh pushing up the middle channel was free to run through as Read progressed the ball and saw his deflected effort wrong foot Eastwood and bounce into the net.
Town huffed and puffed but could not reply for a third time in the game to prevent their seventh defeat of the league campaign, which further mounts the pressure on Hurst and his team.
Starting line-up: Eastwood; Mullarkey (Green 45’), Rodgers, Maher; Efete, Holohan (Andrews 35’), Conteh (Gnahoua 88’), Amos; Wilson, Rose
Unused subs: Cartwright, Waterfall, Pyke, Khan
Original story at https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/
