Sad Jolley says it’s now back to basics

MICHAEL Jolley admits his Grimsby side “must do better in both boxes” after their crushing defeat at home to Oldham Athletic.

Sam Surridge did the damage with a quickfire brace at Blundell Park, before substitute Jose Baxter added a late third for the Latics.

It means Grimsby have now lost four straight games, while Oldham continue to adjust well to life in League Two after relegation.

Jolley said: “We are professional people, and we know it wasn’t good enough. We have got to score the chances we create.

“After an hour we were in the game. We conceded goals in a short space of time, and we need to be mentally tougher as a group.

“We need to make sure we do the basics well, keep clean sheets and keep ourselves in games. When you go four games without a goal, your confidence is going to struggle.

“We need to go back to basics and make sure there is a good shape to our team. If we can be more incisive, that is something we can look to improve on.

“In between the two penalty boxes we have matched our last two opponents, but we have let ourselves down in both boxes.”

Oldham manager Frankie Bunn was delighted with the clean sheet and the number of goals his side scored.

“At the start it was a bit frantic and we had to wait for the game to settle. We asked for a bit more quality at halftime, and that came through in the second half.”

“You have to dig in away from home at times. We knew there would be a reaction from Grimsby after the defeat they took at Bury.

“We knew it was going to be tough, but we were glad to have scored a few goals.”

Chances were few and far between in the first half, but Elliot Embleton should have scored his first senior goal on the back of a precise team move.

After the break, loan midfielder Embleton went close again, but it was at the other end where the damage was done after half-time.

Surridge found time and space in the box, making the most on both occasions with tidy right-footedinishes for his third and fourth goals of the season.

And then in the 90th minute, Baxter rubbed salt into the wounds as he fired past James McKeown.