It was not a happy start to 2024 for Grimsby Town, who were beaten 6-1 at Blundell Park by Walsall on New Year’s Day.
Danny Rose put the Mariners ahead half an hour into the contest, and at that point, it looked as though David Artell’s side could build on their win at Salford City on Friday night, but Walsall responded emphatically.
The visitors scored five in the next 37 minutes of playing time after Rose’s opener, and added a sixth in injury time, to breeze through to their fifth win in six league games at the expense of Grimsby, whose defending in large parts was questionable.
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The Saddlers had threats on each flank with Earing and Tom Knowles, with the latter forcing the first save from either goalkeeper in the game – Harvey Cartwright saving well at his front post as the left winger cut in on his right foot.
Soon after that chance for Knowles, Town went down the other end and had their first chance, created solely by Abo Eisa, who did well to roll past his marker on the edge of the box as the ball was played into him, stopped at close quarters by goalkeeper Jackson Smith.
Rose was a live wire up top for Town, and his alert pressing almost earned his side the opening goal – stealing the ball off Smith to the right of the goal and laying it back to Jamie Andrews, who got his technique all wrong to shoot over a semi-open net.
Rose would have been disappointed not to pick up an assist with that chance, but he ended up on the scoresheet minutes later converting a simple chance in the centre of the penalty area as the ball was cut back from the right side.
It was a positive start from Grimsby, but they were soon pegged back by the visitors, with Douglas James-Taylor breezing past Luke Waterfall on the left side of the box, arrowing a shot into the opposite corner of the net with his right foot.
It was poor defending that undid the Mariners at the back end of the first half, falling behind a couple of minutes before the break as they failed to fully clear a cross from the right flank, with Isaac Hutchinson having far too much space in the box to fire past Cartwright.
A last-ditch block from Glennon stopped the away side from increasing their lead in first-half stoppage time, and in the end, Town went in at the break 2-1 down and disappointed after a bright start.
Town could not sort their defensive issues early in the second half, and Walsall went two goals ahead fewer than five minutes after the break, with a simple ball through the middle of the defence finding its way to Earing, who had a simple finish in the box past Cartwright.
The Mariners thought they had a penalty at one end when Kieran Green was brought down in the Walsall area but the official was not convinced. To add insult to injury, with the very next attack, the visitors went down the other end, and their calls for a penalty were answered by the referee as Earing went to ground under challenge.
Hutchinson converted the spot-kick to make it 4-1 within the first ten minutes of the second period – a defensive collapse from Town. It only got worse for Grimsby, who had been shaken up by the Walsall onslaught but could not blame anyone but themselves for the away side’s fifth goal.
Priestly Farquharson got in on the act for the Saddlers, with the ball bouncing off him and into the goal from a corner, which was not whipped in with great height but still managed to evade any defending players.
Rose should have added to his tally for the afternoon as he shot right at Smith from close range after getting on the end of a ground cross from Toby Mullarkey. The match was out of sight at that point as Walsall cruised to a comfortable victory, with Danny Johnson tapping in a misery compiler in the dying minutes.
Starting lineup: Cartwright; Mullarkey, Waterfall, Maher, Glennon; Green (Braithwaite 72’), Conteh (Hunt 55’), Andrews (Khan 80’), Clifton, Eisa (Vernam 80’), Rose
Unused subs: Eastwood, Rodgers, Gardner
Original story at https://www.grimsbytelegraph.co.uk/sport/
