Our Grimsby hoodoo is put to bed
BLUNDELL Park has been a bit of a bogey ground for us over the past few seasons with squad sickness and strange sendings off, indeed Grimsby themselves have somehow managed to be a thorn in our sides!
Even when we do manage a win, like our earlier encounter this season they worked hard and worried us all the way, you could say we were a touch lucky to win 3-2.
So Saturday’s visit was with some trepidation.
We left the Fingerpost with explicit orders from the North Lincolnshire Constabulary that we were not welcome in Cleethorpes until 2pm and that we had a designated stop at the White Horse, a Wetherspoons in Brigg. We arrived with two hours to spare; to be honest Brigg is smaller than Edgeley (if a little prettier).
We managed a river side walk, a nice pie and a couple of pints before the last stage of our journey.
It was great to see Sarce back in a County shirt and he played a large part in our victory, it was a real team effort that dominated the first half and we went in at the break 3-0 up.
The first came as early as the ninth minute when Sarce pounced on a horrendous clearance from the home keeper.
The second, just five minutes later, was created by Nick Powell who took the quickest of free kicks to Connor Evans who squared to Tanto who had the easiest job of tapping in from six yards.
The third came before the half hour when debutant Lewis Cass rose highest to powerfully head home a Sarcevic cross. Half time, game over!
The Mariners had other ideas, they were getting booed and to be honest, they couldn’t get any worse.
They pulled one back when Ben Hinchliffe could only parry the ball to the feet of a home striker.
It changed the whole dynamic of the game. Grimsby started to play a more direct game but we, with some inspired substitutions, managed to play the clock down by keeping the ball with some slick passing and corner play.
We even had a further chance to score when CLE just failed to get his big toe to the ball with the keeper beaten.
Another hoodoo dealt with and other results going our way means we’re still sitting pretty at the top of the table and fingers crossed we deal with Crewe in the same manor on Tuesday night.