HEROIC VAN VEEN SINKS MARINERS
FORMER Grimsby boss Paul Hurst made a winning return to Blundell Park as his Scunthorpe side earned bragging rights in the Lincolnshire derby thanks to Kevin van Veen’s second-half strike.
The Dutch striker’s 10th goal of the season, after 62 minutes, was the only thing that separated these two rivals, but that only tells part of the story.
Grimsby, winless since late September, created the better chances, while referee Tom Nield waved away strong claims for a penalty late on, when substitute Moses Ogbu took a tumble in the Scunthorpe box.
Hurst was in the Mariners hotseat for more than 300 matches, between 2011 and 2016, first with co-manager Rob Scott and then on his own and he savoured a success that stretched the Iron’s unbeaten run to seven games.
“Of course it’s really pleasing,” said Hurst. “It’s a local derby and it’s a big game for both sets of fans and teams. To send our fans away happy is really pleasing.
“Clearly we didn’t play as well as we can – no way near. We suffered some injuries in the week, and another one with the team we put out.
“We had to think on our feet a little bit in terms of changing formation. The diamond that we went to worked perfectly for the goal and it was an excellent finish to win the game.”
Meeting for the first time in a league fixture since 2005, it was a frantic start from both sides – but there were few attempts during the early stages.
As the clock ticked past 15 minutes, Matt Green burst through and took aim, only to be denied by the outrushing Jake Eastwood.
After the restart, a snap-shot from Max Wright was dealt with by Eastwood, while Kgosi Ntlhe soon tested James McKeown at the other end.
Luke Waterfall blazed over the crossbar, shortly before the match-winning moment came.
Iron opened up their arch rivals for the first time, with Van Veen picking up the pieces to loft over McKeown and into the back of the net.
Town’s interim boss Anthony Limbrick cut a frustrated figure and he was especially annoyed by the failure of referee Nield to award his side a penalty. He said: “I thought we had an absolutely stonewall penalty. I’ve watched it back and for me it was a penalty. I think the referee was influenced by not giving one at the other end. “How the linesman and the referee missed that penalty, when Moses (Ogbu) is the other side of the defender and gets taken down from behind, I don’t know.
“I don’t want to get into trouble, but it’s a penalty. You have to take those incidents in isolation and judge them from there.
“But it was a good performance. If you look at every individual, they played really well and did the job that we wanted.”