Darren’s worried as Yeovil fall apart
GRIMSBY made Yeovil wait before securing League Two survival as former Glovers boss Russell Slade enjoyed a comfortable win over his former club.
Slade left Blundell Park in 2006 to link up with Yeovil and immediately led the Somerset side to the League One play-off final.
He’s now in his second spell in charge of the Mariners and showed no mercy to the Glovers, who are embroiled in a relegation battle.
The home side led 2-0 at the break through Sam Jones and Chris Clements and after Alex Lawless pulled a goal back, two goals in four minutes from Scott Vernon and Jamey Osborne sealed victory.
It leaves Yeovil still needing a point to secure their Football League future and boss Darren Way said: “We’ve stressed all week how important this game was and I have to apologise to the supporters because our defending was abysmal here.
“We all have to take responsibility as a group and then as we head into our next game we have to change.
“After our win against Crewe on Monday, I asked the players to show some consistency.
“We worked on the same principles ahead of this game but Grimsby won their battles and were clinical.”
Slade is already planning for next season but is pleased with the progress his side is making.
He said: “I said that the team with the strongest attitude would win and we had a great attitude towards everything we did.
“We set our stall out early on and our decision-making was good overall. We mixed our play up nicely and always looked a threat going forward.
“We scored four and created a lot of good opportunities. As the game went on there was more space for us going forward.”
Grimsby went ahead with just seven minutes on the clock after Yeovil keeper Jonny Maddison tripped Osborne to concede a penalty that was converted by Jones.
On 36 minutes the home side doubled their lead in spectacular fashion, as Clements rode two challenges before volleying in from 20 yards.
The Glovers pulled a goal back early in the second half when Alex Lawless fired in from the edge of the area but were then let down by poor defending.
Scott Vernon headed in from a corner to make it 3-2 before Osborne sprinted clear to add a fourth.
Francois Zoko then pulled a goal back for the visitors.