Cod Almighty | Article
by Richard Lord
24 May 2022
Town have scored 17 late goals this season. That's no coincidence writes Rich, and it gives us a psychological edge
I've been supporting the Mariners since the early 1990s and in all that time I've never known us score as many late goals as we have done this season.
Let’s start with some facts. The Mariners have scored 17 goals on or after the 80th minute in 2021-22. That's 23 per cent of all our goals scored in all competitions. Seventeen is also the total amount of goals we scored in 23 games at Blundell Park last season. Incredibly, 11 of the 17 have been in the 90th minute or later.
So when Gavan Holohan swept home a 96th-minute equaliser on Monday night, and after Emmanuel Dieseruvwe just fucking threw himself at it to score the winner in our play-off eliminator at Notts County, literally seconds before spot kicks were due, it prompted me to look at the nature of our late goals in a little more depth.
Seven directly affected the result of the game - five winners, two equalisers - while the other four simply helped our goal difference. It's quite remarkable not only to score lots of late goals but for so many of them to affect the results directly. Not one of our late goals this season has been a consolation.
Late goals tell us more about a team's mentality than they do their ability. Dover can score five at Wrexham — they had that ability. What they didn't have was the mental strength, or the belief, to see the game out and stop Wrexham from scoring two goals in injury time to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
When Town have needed a goal late on, they've tended to get it: Alex Hunt's free kick against Barnet. Harry Clifton away at Woking. Dieseruvwe at home to Woking. Tristan Abrahams' penalty against Torquay. Jordan Maguire-Drew’s equaliser against Halifax. Luke Waterfall's winner at Notts County in February, and his equaliser at Barnet last month.
Holohan and Dierseruvwe on Monday night.
It starts with belief. You won't score late on if you don't believe it can happen. Clearly, our players believe, and what helps you believe is evidence. You believe you're capable because you've actually done it. Multiple times.
And then there's work rate. The opposition aren't going to stick it in the net for you. You're going to have to run harder and think smarter at a time in the game when you're likely to be running on fumes and feeling all sorts of emotions, while the opposition shuts up shop.
Scoring so many late goals, and winning in this way, sends out a powerful message to those watching. It says "We are Grimsby. We will work harder than you. We won't give up. We will score"
With time running out on Monday night, Town players could look at each other and sense it was possible. Clifton, Waterfall, Abrahams, Maguire-Drew and Dieseruvwe had all scored injury-time goals during the regular season, and all were on the pitch going into injury time at Notts County.
And in the age of data, and conversations with fans in taxis, you can be certain that our ability to score late goals will have been noted, and discussed, by Ian Burchnall and his players going into the match. I mean, they also had first-hand experience of it.
Scoring so many late goals, and winning in this way, sends out a powerful message to those watching. It says "We are Grimsby. We will work harder than you. We won't give up. We will score."
And that's got to be intimidating to anyone who watched our win at County. It's a psychological edge, forcing doubt into any defensive unit when it comes to the crunch. County had only lost two games at home all season. They had three players who had outscored John McAtee's fourteen. They finished the regular season six points ahead of us, and in better form, but the timing of goals can be the most destructive weapon of all.
It's been a feature of Paul Hurst's sides throughout his managerial career that they stay in the game. Very rarely do they fall behind badly. Instead, his cautious approach negates the prowess of the opposition, keeping us shape, forcing the other side to open up as they search for the breakthrough. When the opposition aren't that bothered about making a breakthrough then that's where we struggle. Think King's Lynn and Weymouth.
But that's not to say Hurst's sides can't come out playing. Quite regularly this season we've conceded first, forcing Town to emerge from their tactical shell earlier than planned and take the game to the opposition, which we've done to great effect on a number of occasions, turning at least half a dozen games from a defeat into victory.
On the other hand, following a series of slow starts, we came out firing against Maidenhead, only to lose two goals and one defender.
In essence, Town are a side set up to make their move in the final quarter of the game. There's no luck or coincidence involved in these late, late shows. It's down to belief, hard work and repetition.