Match stats: Grimsby v Morecambe

Cod Almighty | Match Stats

Friday 18 December 2009

Division 4

Grimsby Town 1 Sweeney (67)

Morecambe 1 Mullin (60)

Attendance: 3119

Sponsors' man of the match: Peter Sweeney

For his magnificent spinning and grinning. And that goal.

Cod Almighty man of the match: Michael Coulson and Damien McCrory

Everyone played really well. Really. Colgan was positive, the back four comfortable, the midfield impassable and the strikers quite bonny. How is it possible to differentiate between these admirable triers and achievers? This was a darn fine team performance. The best of the best were Damian McCrory and Michael Coulson, for purging and surging all night long. For two little boys without the wooden horse of a Town contract, they were full of soul. Do you think they would leave us dying?

Our gaffer says

"We are disappointed. I thought we played very well at times. We moved the ball well, we created chances, but again we didn't finish enough of the good chances we made."

Their gaffer says

"I'm happy to come away with a 1-1. I thought Grimsby played very well."

Them

You could see they had good players and were confident. You could see they had a method. You could also see that Town were just better. Morecambe are built to counterattack with pace and trickery on the wings and elegant striders and strokers in the centre. They had too many big players for ice dancing but they were intrinsically strong, collectively and individually. The fact they were so outplayed said so much about Town. If we can compete with them, we can compete with anyone in this division. It was only their keeper who saved them from a hammering: it took a spectacularly unstoppable shot from Sweeney to beat him. They were lucky tonight but not flattered by their position in the league; the opposite of Town.

Grimsby 'til I die... or cry?

It took a while for the pipes to thaw but the crowd did roar and left Blundell Park with a spring in its collective step. There was one man in the Pontoon who found something to moan about, but he was quickly told to sit down and shut up. Grimsby folk being positive? There's something in the water.

Official warning

Mr C Pawson (S Yorks)
He was reluctant to book anyone, which was a quite human and sensible thing to do on such a pitch and such a night. He made a couple of silly decisions but overall was just very, very unobtrusive. If there's nothing to say, he must have been OK: 8.2372.

Accentuate the positive

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight.

Line-ups

Town: Colgan; Bore, Linwood, Lancashire, McCrory; Featherstone, Leary, Sweeney, Coulson; Akpa Akpro (Conlon 65), Proudlock (Jarman 87)

Subs not used: Boshell, Clarke, Overton, Wood, Wright

Morecambe: Roche, Haining, Artell, Parrish, Wilson, Stanley (Duffy 72), Drummond, Twiss, Jevons (Curtis 86), Mullin, Hunter

Subs not used: Adams, Bentley, Davies, Moss, Scott, Wainwright