Another point in the bag - but any survival hopes fade further away
JOHN-LEWIS GOAL CANCELLED OUT
GRIMSBY Town were held to yet another point as their survival hopes took another blow with a 1-1 draw at home to Cheltenham. Will Boyle’s first-half header pegged the Mariners back again after Lenell John-Lewis’ early opener, and the hosts couldn’t find the winner they so desperately need as their hopes continue to fade away.
Paul Hurst mixed things up as he named his side to take on their title-chasing opponents. The Town boss elected to go with three at the back as Luke Waterfall and Sam Habergham returned in place of Giles Coke and Julien Lamy, perhaps with Cheltenham’s aerial threat in mind.
The Mariners began brightly in the amid the bitterly cold gales in Cleethorpes, with Habergham volleying over inside the opening minute, while the front three of John-Lewis, James Hanson and Stefan Payne were causing a fair few problems for Cheltenham’s defenders.
And it was that front three that combined to give the hosts another early lead.
Hanson did well to prevent the ball going out for a goal-kick as he hooked it back towards Payne, who still looked like he had too much to do to try and create the chance. But he battled away and used his strength to evade the challenges of a couple of defenders and send the ball goalwards, with John-Lewis providing the finishing touch as he poked it home to give his side the lead.
Town had much the better of the following 10 minutes or so, but couldn’t make their dominance count as Cheltenham began to work their way into the game thereafter. James McKeown kept the visitors at bay for a short while as he produced a fine save to tip Chris Hussey’s curling effort away.
But Ben Tozer’s long throw was always likely to have an effect, and so it proved as Boyle managed to get across his man at the near post to plant his header home past a static McKeown and bring the visitors level.
The defender was denied a second moments later as referee Andy Davies blew for a foul at a corner, before McKeown was called into action again to deny Sam Smith after the forward had broken clear.
A mistake from Josh Griffiths almost presented Habergham with the chance to put Town back in front, but the goalkeeper recovered well to block the defender’s shot, before the Mariners had shouts for a penalty turned down as John-Lewis looked to have been impeded as he looked to get a shot away on the follow-up.
The hosts were lucky not to find themselves further behind straight after the break as Boyle spurned a golden opportunity after being left completely free in the centre of the area, with the defender heading straight at McKeown. The Town keeper had to be alert again moments later as he touched Liam Sercombe’s free-kick onto the post, with the Mariners having to hang on as Cheltenham lay siege to their goal.
They managed to hang on though, with a little more help from McKeown as he denied Smith again before Hanson was presented with a glorious opportunity to get Town ahead against the run of the play, but could only fire into the side-netting.
The Mariners were given a couple of massive let-offs when George Lloyd managed to skew his shot horribly as he broke clear of the defence moments after coming off the bench, before Andy Williams smacked his shot off the inside of the post as the clock ticked down.
But they couldn’t make the most of their reprieves as they could only take another point, with their survival hopes fading away.