After a run of poor results and losing at home to Colchester who thereby pulled themselves out of the drop-zone in midweek, Grimsby must be a team under pressure.
But Rovers demonstrated that with Jones in goal plus any combination of central defenders which includes the unpredictable Olowu, we are highly vulnerable to crosses into the box - and I’ll dismount my hobby-horse at this point.
Returning to The Mariners, the graph of their season’s progress peaks at 9th place in mid August and with a couple of minor revivals, to 12th after game 6 and to 16th five games ago, they have declined to 20th currently.
Paul Hurst, their manager, now in his second term, nearly came to Rovers after Saunders departed, but chose to stay with Grimsby who he steered to promotion from the Conference somewhat against the odds in defeating Forest Green Rovers in the Playoff Final. He then left for Shrewsbury and rescued them from relegation and was then recruited by Ipswich where he was unable to repeat his previous success. But Grimsby were happy to have him back. I say all this because after that terrific FA cup run when they beat Southampton away, which, to my mind confirmed his managerial competence, he must now be under pressure. Yet at the same time you would expect him to be be shrewd enough to work out where Rovers’ weaknesses lie.
Last season we actually won at Blundell Park with probably our most impressive performance under Schofield which was probably only because he had not had time to fully impress his playing style on the team. But we lost at home.
If that is repeated tomorrow it will be Grimsby’s first win on the road, although they have come up against more than their share of tough away fixtures. When the opposition has been moderate - Tranmere and Walsall they have drawn and they also got a point at Bradford, a team who ought to be strong, but are seemingly mysteriously mediocre, possibly because their managers don’t know how to tackle lower league opposition. So based on that alone, you might expect Grimsby to not be easy to overcome.
But we do have a dominant frailty as outlined in paragraph 2.
So if we can avoid the exploitation of this by a Smith-like forward we could win, but narrowly perhaps. So optimistically I’ll say 2-1 (Biggins, Faal) Needless to say, I’d prefer Lawlor in goal.
DPL v Grimsby Town
posted on 27/10/23
I've a feeling they'll bounce back tomorrow. So I'll go 3-1 to Rovers. Faal, Ironside.
posted on 28/10/23
I'll stay too confident again and agree with Nookie - 3-1 to the Rovers. However, I'll say Biggins, Ironside as scorers.
posted on 28/10/23
I also had 3-1 in mind. Hoping for a reaction. Ironside / Faal.
posted on 28/10/23
Rovers 2-1 Grimsby
Ironside to score ⚽
posted on 28/10/23
Sounds as though Hurst made all the difference which is heartening. Jones made a save and more predictably Olowu nearly lost us 2 points. Amos played well, much better than he was doing towards the end of his time with us. (How often do we say that? And it may be due to our poor managers.) Grimsby almost got the draw that their performance (and their previous showings against mid-table L2 teams) may have deserved.
I suppose it makes a change to get a win after only a moderate showing.
posted on 31/10/23
Well, I kept up with I do not watch, we will win! I started watching Bournemouth vs. Burnley, but at halftime looked at what the Rovers were doing and saw the stats and thought, what a boring game. I did switch on my iPad just as Hurst was being brought on. Thank goodness that he is nearly fully fit, long may it last.
How did Fall miss time two chances over the minutes I watched, especially the header! Of course, Olowu did his best to give Grimsby a point!
I'm glad of a win, but not an encouraging performance.
posted on 31/10/23
The latest results show Crazy increasing his lead.
Tranmere 1 : Rovers 2 (Biggins)
>>>>>>> Scorer> Score > Result Bonus > Total> Pts B/F >> > O/all
Donaldo>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 7 >>>>> 29 >>>>>> 36
PDXMickey> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 3 >>>>> 31 >>>>>> 34
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>> 0
Crazy>>>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 7 >>>>> 33 >>>>> 40
Mooligan>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 15 >>>>>> 15
Nookie>>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 4 >>>>> 32 >>>>>> 36
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>> 0
>>>>>>>>> 4 >>>>> 8 >>>>> 9 >>>> 0 >>>>> 21 >>> 140 >>>>> 161
Rovers 0 : Salford C 3
>>>>>>> Scorer > Score > Result Bonus > Total > Pts B/F >>> O/all
Donaldo>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 36 >>>>>> 36
PDXMickey> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 34 >>>>>> 34
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>> 0
Crazy>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 40 >>>>> 40
Mooligan>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 15 >>>>>> 15
Nookie>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 36 >>>>>> 39
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>> 0
>>>>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 161 >>>>> 164
Rovers 1 (Ironside) : Grimsby T 0
>>>>>>> Scorer >> Score > Result Bonus > Total >> Pts B/F > O/all
Donaldo>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 3 >>>>> 36 >>>>>> 39
PDXMickey> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>> 3 >>>>> 34 >>>>>> 37
BVZ>>>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>> 0
Crazy>>>>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 7 >>>>> 40 >>>>> 47
Mooligan>> 4 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 7 >>>>> 15 >>>>>> 22
Nookie>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>> 0 >>>>> 3 >>>>> 36 >>>>> 39
Selby>>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 0 >>>>>> 0
>>>>>>>>> 8 >>>>> 0 >>>>> 15 >>>> 0 >>> 23 >>>>> 161 >>>> 184
posted on 31/10/23
I think my points b/f from the Salford game were 39 . So with my 3 from the Grimsby game shouldn't my total be 42.
posted on 2/11/23
Yes, sorry - it will be corrected in the next batch
posted on 2/11/23
Yes, sorry - it will be corrected in the next batch