Mariners come up smelling of Roses

AHKEEM ROSE was the Grimsby Town hero as he came off the bench to snatch victory against Crawley at Blundell Park.

It was the 19-yearold’s first-ever goal in the Football League and, more importantly it helped the Mariners halt a run of three straight League defeats.

In a game of few clear-cut chances, Rose fired home four minutes from time to move Michael Jolley’s men further away from danger.

Grimsby boss Jolley said: “I think we have played much better than that and drawn or lost games.

“We weren’t particularly fluent, and will hold our hands up to that. But we have been in several games like that where we have been on the wrong end of the result.

“It was a good finish and we are really pleased for Ahkeem. We have spoken before about having high hopes for him, and he showed why.”

Jolley added: “We thought long and hard about the selections we made. We felt the team we put out was good enough to go and win the game.

“I asked them to pass it better in the second half. We weren’t able to reach the same levels as last week, but it’s now four clean sheets on the bounce for us at home.

“Our home form has turned around a lot from the position we were in. While you are keeping clean sheets at home, you can start to be positive about things.”

Chances were few and far between, with Crawley having the better of things in the first half.

Ollie Palmer saw two efforts charged down in the Grimsby box. At the other end, the returning Harry Cardwell saw his tame effort cleared off the line.

After the restart, a wayward drive from Luke Hendrie was as close as either side had come until Rose, who was summoned from the bench with 10 minutes to play, blasted home late on from a Harry Davis knock-down.

It came after James McKeown had made a telling save to deny George Francomb.

Crawley manager Gabriele Cioffi said: “It was a heartbreaking defeat, and if you ask me I would say I’m upset.

“It was a really good performance, but we lost. We have to think that 110 per cent is not enough, so we have to put in 120.”