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Saturday 14th October. Teams like Grimsby are perennial strugglers in division 1, and we need to beat teams of this ilk to avoid a desperate scramble for points later in the season. Unfortunately, all of the commitment sounded to have deserted the Town players and we slipped to yet another miserable defeat. I didn’t fancy the trip to Blundell Park and contented myself with Mr Crawshaw's dulcet tones on the radio, and by the sound of it most Town players would have preferred to have done the same. It was a gloomy grey day in Cleethorpes and the first half performance seemed to mirror the weather with lacklustre Town failing to show the improved form evident in the last 3 games. Grimsby were allowed to dominate from the start and could have taken the lead as early as the 4th minute when Steve Livingston latched onto a Bradley Allen knock down and Nico Vaesen did well to save his goal-bound effort with his legs. After 8 minutes Town did create an opening when Martin Smith received a pass from Kevin Gallen but he found Vaesen’s opposite number up to the task and his shot was turned around the post for a corner. After a spell of around 15 minutes with the home side well on top but creating few clear cut openings Town did come back into the game a little and once again Smith tested Danny Coyne but the Grimsby stopper collected with some difficulty, and then Chris Beech tried his luck from 18-yards and Coyne made an unconvincing stop that he gathered at the second attempt with Smith racing in. Once again though it was an ex Town player who orchestrated his former teams downfall, Kevin Donovan played well on the left flank and provided the pass for Bradley Allen to put the Mariners into a 27th minute lead. The effort by Allen was mis-hit but it mattered none as it evade Nico Vaesen and put the Town players chins on the floor again. Half time couldn’t come quickly enough for Town who just weren’t at the races today and were lucky not to concede further just before the break when Stuart Campbell waltzed through the statuesque Town defence but thankfully his intended delivery to the lurking Steve Livingston and the ball was cleared to safety. The formation was changed during the interval with Vincent and Thornley making way for the more attacking Sellars and Baldry and this seemed to spark an immediate transformation in fortunes for Town. The two substitutes combined almost straight from the restart with Sellars finding Baldry with a long raking pass, but the ensuing header was directed into the ground and it bounced over the goal. For once the half time words of wisdom from Bruce seemed to have the desired effect as we pressed forward to salvage something from the game. Most opportunities fell to Kevin Gallen who had a 47th minute shot beaten away by Coyne and was denied again by the Grimsby keeper soon afterwards when his right foot shot was tipped around the post for a corner. Coyne was having one of those inspired games that opposition goalkeepers seem to enjoy when facing Town and once again denied Gallen as he pounced on his back post header in the crowded penalty area. Grimsby introduced Danish striker David Nielsen with around 20 minutes to go and his pace caused Town a few problems and the chances began to dry up. Despite Town’s dominance in the second half, Nico Vaesen who was making his 100th appearance was called on a couple of times to ensure that the game didn’t slip entirely out of Town’s reach and had to react well to deny Donovan as the former Terrier raced towards goal and with only Vaesen to beat managed to hit his shot at the big Belgian’s chest and away to safety. We aren’t scoring regularly enough this season and this was our 6th blank in 13 outings and if you can’t score goals you are always fighting an uphill battle if the opposition does score. In similar fashion to the Burnley game we created a host of chances, yet didn’t convert a single one of them and once again 3 points have eluded us against a team who should be eminently beatable. Following the match commentary I always like to listen in to the fans phone in, however, because of some technical problems at Blundell Park they couldn’t take any live calls so I tuned into Radio Leeds Leeds Leeds. The problem usually with our local BBC station is that the Town fans don’t .get too much of a look in with the Leeds fans waxing lyrical about how wonderful their team is. Things were different this week with call after call being from disenchanted Terriers fans mostly asking for time to be called on Mr Bruce’s tenure, then about 10 minutes before the close of the programme they returned to Blundell Park for a special report. Apparently straight after the match the Town directors had asked Grimsby if they could use their boardroom to convene an impromptu meeting. A while later, Bruce was seen walking around the pitch involved in a deep, highly animated conversation with one of Town’s directors, Trevor Cherry. Unfortunately the programme came to a close without any further developments, and a trawl through the pages of Teletext and the Internet revealed nothing, but surely the writing must be on the wall. For the sake of the fans and the team, it really ought to be!
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All words and thoughts by Chris except where stated.
A big thank you to Machala for putting up with me doing this and Ian for his support and my Mum for her proof reading.
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