Town’s last game is a damp squib as Orsi nets opener
FORMER MARINER RETURNS TO HAUNT HIS OLD CLUB
GRIMSBY Town ended their difficult season with a defeat as Crawley Town cruised to a 2-0 home victory over the Mariners to secure a play-off spot. Former Grimsby striker Danilo Orsi scored the opener before Kladi Lolos added a second before the break.
The goals came after David Artell’s side had missed a couple of great chances in the opening stages, which they were punished for missing in the end.
Evan Khouri was given his first league start since the end of last season, and fellow youth team product Cameron Gardner was handed his full league debut by Artell in the final game of a forgettable campaign for the club.
The hosts enjoyed a big let-off after only nine minutes when the unmarked Gardner blazed over from six yards after a cross by Denver Hume. It was almost a dream start to the 18-year-old’s first full professional outing, but a mix of misfortune and inexperience denied him on that occasion. The Mariners’ skipper for the game,
Kieran Green, also put a low header wastefully wide before top-scorer Orsi put Crawley ahead with his 21st goal of the season.
Having scored a dramatic late winner in the reverse fixture back in September, the former Town man poked the ball home from close range after 24 minutes following a cross to the back post by Jeremy Kelly. Lolos doubled the advantage 12 minutes later when he fired into the corner past goalkeeper Jake Eastwood for his fourth goal in five games.
Grimsby threatened shortly after the interval when Hume shot wastefully over from a good position.
Neither side created anything of note in the second half, with Crawley happy to let the game slow down in pace to make it easier to protect their two-goal lead. Grimsby huffed and puffed in possession,
but the creative quality was not there after the break to create any openings.
At the final whistle, news of draws for both Barrow and Crewe triggered a pitch invasion at the Broadfield Stadium as Crawley celebrated reaching the play-offs for the first time as a league club.
The Mariners were forced to watch on again as their opposition celebrated moving closer to promotion out of League Two.
The hope this term was that Town would be challenging for a place in the top seven, but that dream quickly faded, with the focus switching to how they get closer to that goal next season.
Grimsby starting lineup: Eastwood; Smith, Mullarkey, Rodgers, Hume; Thompson (Clifton 79’), Green, Khouri (Andrews 71’); Vernam (Wood 79’); Gardner, Wilson. Unused subs: Auton, Maher, Bramwell, Braithwaite.