OUR DUTY IS TO WIN GAME
ARTELL VOWS NOT TO FIELD WEAKENED TOWN TEAM AT CRAWLEY
DAVID Artell does not feel the urge to experiment with his Grimsby Town selection for the final fixture of the season, despite securing survival last weekend.
The Mariners boss is not closed off to the idea of rotating and putting in some young players or other squad members who have not had much game time in recent weeks, but not to jeopardise the overall strength of the team.
They travel to Crawley Town today, who have a lot to play for, with play-off spots still up for grabs. Still, Grimsby want to go and be competitive and finish a tough season on a high note heading into an important summer.
That’s Artell’s attitude in response to the question of potentially experimenting with his line-up, but the idea could still be entertained. He told BBC Radio Humberside: “I’m the manager of Grimsby Town Football Club, so what everyone else does is not a concern to me, but there are league rules that I should pick the best team available to me no matter the situation.
“That is what we’ll do, but we’ll also look at other possibilities in terms of how we set up and who we play. Swindon came to us last week and played a couple of teenagers – are we going to do that? There’s a possibility, but it is more likely that we won’t.
“That doesn’t mean to say we might not look at some players that we haven’t seen much of recently. “We’ve got a duty to be as competitive as we can be in the game, and we want to win matches no matter what – that is our job. “My job is also trying to provide opportunities for all the players in my squad, including those we may not have seen a lot of, and this is a good chance to show us what they can do.”
The Mariners do not want to see the season out with a whimper, and all the players, particularly those on expiring contracts, will want one last chance this term before decisions have to be made on their futures. Artell added: “It’s about us – it’s about what we do as a club and making sure we do right by ourselves and by the other teams involved. Integrity comes into it in making sure we pick a team that can win, and I think that is important. “All the players will want to play in this game just as all professional players want to for every match. “Whether some will be fit enough remains to be seen, but we’ll pick the strongest team possible.”