VERNAM CLOSES IN ON GRIMSBY RETURN: PAGE 43 ARTELL EYES ON TOWN DROP RIVALS
BUT BOSS SAYS HIS PLAYERS SHOULD JUST FOCUS ON THE MARINERS
DAVID Artell admitted that he still has “half an eye” on the three clubs below Grimsby Town as they aim to secure survival in League Two this term.
The six-match unbeaten run for the Mariners, which was ended by Wrexham at the weekend, had everyone associated with the club feeling a bit more comfortable about the current situation, but it is clear those below them are not going to go down without a fight.
Town still have a six-point gap and games in hand on the two teams currently occupying the relegation spots, Sutton United and Forest Green Rovers, with the former having won back-to-back games to pull themselves back into the fight. Colchester United are sandwiched in between Grimsby and the relegation zone and have games to catch up on themselves, including one against the Mariners, having had a few home matches postponed recently due to the condition of the pitch.
In the position they are in, it will only take one or two weekends of results going their way for Town to feel like they are truly out of danger. However, it can be a good motivating factor for the team to feel as though there is still a risk of falling into a scrap at the bottom if they don’t continue to hit the levels they have done in recent weeks.
Artell does not want the players to waste any energy looking at the table for the rest of this season, but it is slightly different for the coaching staff as they prepare for some more challenging fixtures on the horizon. “We made the point to our players that we’ve just got to concentrate on ourselves,” said Artell. “It would be negligent from a coaching point of view not to have half an eye on the teams below us, but it’s not for the players to worry about. “They’ve just got to worry about being better and picking up results for themselves. For all Wrexham’s quality on show [on Saturday], it was more what we didn’t do, slipping slightly below our own standards, that cost us because we were punished for it in the first half. “That is something that we can control and in the last eight games of the season, we’ve got to make sure we show the levels that we’ve shown in the previous six games, because if we do that, then we’ll pick up enough points.
“Everyone spoke about our little tough run, but we picked up four points against MK and Gillingham. We’ve still got more tough ones to come – [Wrexham] was one and that is followed by Barrow away and Bradford at home who are in a sticky patch but are another wellresourced team. “Hopefully we can get some more points in the next two, and by the time we come up against teams that are in mid-table with nothing to left to play for, we’ll have an even bigger buffer to those below us.”