Cod Almighty | Match Stats

Saturday 14 November 2015

Conference Premier

Grimsby Town 3 Arnold (8), Townsend (12), Mackreth (90+3)

Welling United 1 Corne (6)

Attendance: 4108 (35 away fans)

Having a perfect view, those corporate chompers and chancers didn't take a chance and went for the dead-eyed dick of the dead ball: Conor Townsend. And why not?

The Amond-Arnold-Jones triangle wooed and wowed in the first half, but was lost in the mist as time dragged on. Bits of the team functioned for bits of the game, but Tait and especially Townsend were a roaming thorn in the side throughout. Beautiful set piecing from Conor Townsend.

"Realistically, I think we were pretty comfortable, but as a manager and as a fan, it can get a little bit edgy and you just worry about them getting that equaliser.

"Overall, I want the bar to be raised and I've said this to the players: that maybe seasons gone by, for some of them an OK performance might keep you in the team. But if I feel it's right to change then I will."

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"We feel hard done-by because I felt we were good value for a point. Grimsby is a very tough place to come and no-one expected us to get anything, but we had a lot of confidence and a lot of faith so we're disappointed we couldn't get anything."

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An odd performance which was beautiful and boring, marvellous and a mess. A real curate's egg for the cognoscenti, for it was the sort of day, the sort of game, where a slip was possible.

Jones and Amond, the glimmer twins, were a fascinating handful, all twists and turns, flicks and tricks. In the first half. When Welling simply got stuck in, Town were totally unable to retain possession of the ball, the game, or their sense, and we know they don't play ping-pong pinball very well. Fortunately, Disley had an off day when it didn't matter and Toto's inherent vice – his dawdle – didn't cause any distress.

To grasp those positives up front, Jones looks like a forward rather than a striker – a perfect foil for someone else to score the goals. If he just remembers to pass to Amond, we're quids in.

Town did more than enough. Just.

They did well to keep the score down but also enough to believe they could have sneaked a draw. They have improved a lot since last season.

Tough enough and organised enough to banish nightmares, but not quite cute enough to score enough to fantasise about the play-offs. They tried to play football when attempting to advance and continually threw themselves in the way of danger. Their keeper was a flapper and their strikers were not really troubling.

Generally genial and patiently dry in humour and trousers.

Mr K Evans (Manchester)

What a splendid chap. Totally consistent throughout and even permitted some old-fashioned argy-bargy and full throttle tackles. I'd swear he even let Nsiala Lofthouse do a shoulder barge in the first half. He allowed the game to flow to its natural conclusion. Our conclusion? 9.321. He let the game happen.

Ping-pong and Town on song to right the early wrong. A long, long wait for the end to begin.

In a word: enough