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Where Grimsby Town are letting their leads slip – analysis

Grimsby Town are letting too many leads slip away and need to search deep within themselves to find a solution.

The painful truth is that the Mariners have already dropped 12 points from games in which they were leading. Saturday’s home match against Crawley was perhaps the starkest example yet this season.

Town were 2-0 up and looking comfortable after 30 minutes at Blundell Park. It should have been a launchpad to record another three points. Instead, within five minutes, the Reds were level.

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Let’s be honest, Crawley’s first goal was a bit of a freak occurrence as Liam Kelly lobbed Jake Eastwood from an unusual angle. However, whether he meant it or not, Kelly was allowed the space to drive into the box when Toby Mullarkey was dragged out of position by the player he was marking.

For a team who pride themselves on being one of the most alert and hard-working outfits in the division, Town looked uncharacteristically shaken, and a few minutes later they were stung again. As Kelly crossed from inside the box, neither Anthony Glennon nor Harry Clifton picked up Ronan Darcy’s move into the area and he was able to capitalise.

When it comes to the late winner, Glennon will be disappointed to have let Harry Forster get around the back latch on to a ball over the top, which then found its way to Danilo Orsi to prod home the winner, while Jake Eastwood could perhaps have done better to challenge the effort close in.

Of course, it is easy to pick at individual moments and players in a single game. At the end of the day, this is a team problem, considering they Town let leads slip in four other league games this season.

Everyone has to shoulder some responsibility. And if the Mariners were second-best against Notts County and Mansfield Town overall, on other occasions, including on Saturday, the outcome should have been different.

The question remains whether Town have the depth coming off the bench to sustain a strong performance throughout a game. They have shown on some occasions that they can see games out – the two wins against Salford City and Gillingham being examples – but they have not found enough consistency.

Injuries have unsettled things early on and while Hurst has had some consistency with his selection, it does not feel like a completely settled team, squad players included, with some positions not being nailed down. Patience is key, of course, but that will soon wear thin if Grimsby cannot convince supporters that they can find a solution to a frustrating problem.

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

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