BIGNOT IS DENIED HIS FAIRYTALE
MARCUS Bignot didn’t quite get a dream start to his Grimsby reign but refused to blame Omar Bogle despite the striker’s injury-time penalty miss.
In Bignot’s first game in charge, Bogle’s double gave the Mariners a 2-0 lead but two John Akinde penalties levelled proceedings before Bogle failed to complete his hattrick from 12 yards at the death.
Far from being chastised for his miss, the 23-year-old was given a show of support from fans and team-mates after the final whistle, a moment Bignot admits will stay with him for a long time.
“The support at the end of the game for Omar was probably the moment of the game for me, I couldn’t have asked for any more to be honest,” said Bignot, who made the move to the Mariners from non-league Solihull Moors.
“It could have been easy for the atmosphere to turn and change and my players could have gone in on themselves mentally, but they gave me everything mentally and physically.
“What a song by the way. We should make that into a record, I think it’d be a hit. If that penalty goes in it would have been a fairytale start to my managerial career.”
Bogle opened the scoring after 20 minutes as he ran behind the Barnet defence before cutting inside and his low, right-footed effort was diverted into his own goal by Elliot Johnson.
The in-form marksman then profited from some generous defending by Michael Nelson to double the Mariners’ lead ten minutes before the break as he fired the ball through the legs of Barnet keeper Jamie Stephens.
Grimsby then twice shot themselves in the foot as Josh Gowling felled Akinde inside the area and the striker casually stroked the penalty home. Minutes later Curtis Weston went down in the area and the referee awarded another penalty. Akinde went the same way with the same result to pull his side level.
Bees’ Alie Sesay was shown a late red card after only being on the pitch for five minutes following a lunge on Craig Disley.
Grimsby then had a penalty of their own in stoppage-time when centre-half Gowling was fouled inside the area but Bogle smashed his spot-kick high and wide. “I always knew he was going to miss, it was never in doubt!” said Barnet manager Martin Allen. “I just wanted to see it from a different way, we tried something different to how we normally play. “We’ve been fighting and working very, very hard to get points but it hasn’t always been that pretty. “I’m always pleased with every point we get. I’ve got to give a lot of credit to the players for coming from 2-0 down but it was what they deserved. They shouldn’t have been 2-0 down in the first place.”