Mariners now safe, according to Bignot

GRIMSBY Town manager Marcus Bignot was delighted to see his team claim a win away at Leyton Orient and reach the 50-point mark in League Two.

Sam Jones opened the scoring after six minutes and an unfortunate own-goal by O’s Callum Kennedy made it 2-0 in the 71st minute.

Mariners substitute Scott Vernon then fired home a brilliant volley three minutes from time to put the icing on the cake for Grimsby.

Bignot said: “It’s a landmark to reach 50 points, so that’s a big ‘well done’ to everyone connected with the football club.

“It took a long time to get back into the Football League, but they say 50 is the magic number.

“Although mathematically it probably isn’t quite right, it looks like we are staying up.”

The initial target for Grimsby in east London was not to concede inside the opening five minutes.

At Morecambe and Crewe Alexandra last month and at Stevenage in January, the Mariners had fallen behind inside five minutes.

But after passing that first target, they then went in front at Brisbane Road before claiming a deserved win.

“We said after five minutes there would be a round of applause and a cheer because we had got past that mark without conceding,” joked Bignot.

“That was the first goal we passed and then we wanted to get in at half-time ahead, so I was pleased with that.

“But we didn’t move the ball the way we wanted to and Orient moved it far better than us in the first half.”

O’s boss Danny Webb was disappointed with the final scoreline, which was harsh on his young side.

Even though Orient failed to test away goalkeeper James McKeown, they did get into a number of promising positions.

Webb added: “The scoreline hurts.

“After every game I have spoken about asking for 100 per cent commitment and effort and a no fear mentality and they showed that again.

“But they are not going to be sitting in the changing room smiling because they worked hard.

“They lost 3-0 and it is harsh. When the third goal went in it was a real kick in the stomach for me and the players.

“People not at Brisbane Road would look at a 3-0 scoreline and think we have got hammered.

“Did we deserve to win the game? Probably not, but it wasn’t a 3-0.”

The O’s remain second bottom in the standings, six points adrift of safety.