IT’S A MATT FINISH FOR MARINERS
RUSSELL Slade was delighted his ‘dangerous’ Grimsby Town side picked up their second League Two victory on the spin at Barnet.
Goals from Jamille Matt and Sam Jones, either side of the break, were enough to clinch a 2-0 verdict against the struggling Bees at the Hive.
Dwight Pascal, on debut, saw red for a rash challenge as Mark McGhee was sentenced to defeat in his first home game in charge.
Slade said: “I’m delighted that we have got back-to-back wins.
“We built on our midweek victory, and I think our last three performances have been much better, particularly in the final third. What a difference a week makes. We’ve managed to score five goals in two games, and we could have scored more than the two.
“We looked a real threat in the final third. It’s never easy away from home. You have to give them credit, they are battling for points.”
McGhee added: “It was hugely disappointing because we talked about their set-plays, and their importance to them.
“The early goal put us on the back foot – but the sending off and their second goal was irrelevant, if you look at the first hour and our performance. We didn’t do well enough. We didn’t keep hold of the ball up front, we didn’t win enough headers and we didn’t give them the right service.
“Overall it was a disappointing performance. As for the sending- off, I thought it was pretty harsh from the referee.”
With just five minutes on the clock, Matt rose highest and powered his header into the back of the net from a Luke Summerfield corner.
It was Summerfield who went closest to making it two with a fizzing half-volley moments later, before home keeper Jamie Stephens denied Jones with a fingertip save.
As the clock ticked by, both Summerfield and Jones tried their luck from distance - but at the other end, Barnet failed to register a shot on target in the first-half.
Upon the restart, the Mariners were given a helping hand when Pascal hacked down Siriki Dembele on 52 minutes, and was given his marching orders. Barnet had a little spell after that, but Grimsby hit back on the counter and sealed the points a quarter of an hour from time. Zak Mills clipped it down the line to Dembele, who raced clear and cleverly turned his marker before picking out his team-mate Jones. Town’s leading scorer made no mistake, prodding home his sixth of the season despite a scrambling effort from Stephens. It could have been three when substitute JJ Hooper fired over while Dembele came close to capping off his man-of-the-match outing.