‘NO CHANGE FOR US IN OUR FIGHT’
FIRST WIN UNDER HIS BELT, BUT IT’S STRAIGHT BACK DOWN TO BUSINESS
NOTHING changes for Paul Hurst and Grimsby Town in their fight against relegation, despite the huge boost of picking up a long-awaited win this week.
The Mariners make the short journey to Harrogate this afternoon as they look to follow up on their victory over Crawley on Tuesday night. Despite the three points – Hurst’s first since returning as manager – Town remain bottom of the league ahead of kick-off in Yorkshire today, following wins for relegation rivals Barrow at Oldham, and Southend United against promotion hopefuls Forest Green Rovers.
The victory though will almost certainly do the Mariners the world of good in their ongoing battle to beat the drop – but, for Hurst, it’s business as usual.
“I’m pleased to get that first win, but if you’re looking at the negative side, nothing’s changed because of other results,” Hurst told the Telegraph.
“We know it’s going to be a long, hard battle in terms of the games.
“I’ve always felt, given that we came out of January relatively well in terms of recruitment, playing more of our rivals early on was probably not in our best interests, but that’s what was in front of us.
“I think if you get that squad together now and start playing those games, we’d have picked up some more points. I don’t know that for a fact, but that’s my feeling. “Maybe at the time we might have struggled in games more than we did, but the fixture list is there for you, and we play what’s in front of us.”
Hurst added: “We’ve got a lot of the teams in the top half of the table to play, so we know it’s a tough run-in. “But the Southend and Forest Green result highlights that you can go into games thinking you’re capable of competing.
“If a team turns up on the day and are right up there and play to their best, of course that’s going to be a harder task and a struggle. “We’ve got to show our league position doesn’t quite reflect this group at this time, and hopefully that can be borne out in the coming weeks.”