Red card for Collins but Bignot is satisfied
THERE were plenty of encouraging signs for Grimsby Town boss Marcus Bignot to take from his side’s draw with Crawley Town.
Sam Jones opened the scoring midway through the first half at Blundell Park, before James Collins equalised on the stroke of halftime.
Danny Collins was then sent off for Grimsby, after picking up two bookings.
It meant the Mariners were forced to play on the back foot for the last ten minutes, despite enjoying the better of proceedings before the break.
Bignot said: “If you look at the last two home games, I think the supporters can see signs of how we want to play moving forward.
“In both of those games we could have won it in the first half, but we could have lost it in the second half.
“Every team in this league has got someone that little bit special, so you have got to draw the line and say it was unacceptable to give someone like James Collins that space.
“It’s in that final third where the money players are.
“We got into some good goalscoring opportunities in the first-half, but we have got to turn them into chances.
“But it was encouraging in terms of how we are trying to go.”
Crawley manager Dermot Drummy added: “I think we had the better of the chances. They scored from a poor clearance from Josh Yorwerth.
“But it was good for Josh. He lifted his head and performed really well.
“I thought we created chances, and I don’t think Glen Morris had to make too many saves in goal for us.
“We put together some great moves and showed plenty of industry, and I think we probably deserved the win. “We had to keep our shape in the second half. I would have liked us to play higher, but they played aerial balls forward.
“Grimsby also played some good football and caused us problems.”
Early in the game midfielder Jamey Osborne headed over when presented with a good chance.
At the other end, James Collins struck the crossbar after teaming up with Crawley’s Enzio Boldewijn.
Jones then broke the deadlock on 22 minutes, after smashing home at the second attempt.
However, the Mariners were unable to hold on to their advantage.
Josh Payne saw his curling free-kick saved by James McKeown, and Collins was on hand to prod home the equaliser as the teams could not be seperated.