League Two Grimsby Town (1) v Rovers (2)

[Ian]

Well that wasn't pretty at times but the lads grafted hard for the much needed win. Hopefully we can press on again.

 

[bigmart]

A good win which should do confidence the world of good, hopefully we can go on another winning run.

 

[Am on mobile]

Well 3 away wins now its looking better. Winning ugly is. Good builds confidence we could do with more from the front two

 

[Boz]

We needed something from this game, taking all 3 points even better and sounded like we deserved the win.. February has some testing fixtures, so good heading into it with the confidence a win can bring.

 

[dollar'sbloke]

Awful defending again.

Ball dropped Wood two metres away from his man, did a Monthe and just watched. React towards him and you may put him off. Annoying but didn't matter in the end

 

[Sparky]

Grimsby manager Artell saying we bullied them - nice to hear!

 

[Boz]

Ball dropped Wood two metres away from his man, did a Monthe and just watched. React towards him and you may put him off. Annoying but didn't matter in the end

Would disagree with singling out Wood. The initial free-kick into the box wasn't great, but poorly defended on our right. After the second phase scramble not even clear Wood was the closest to the scorer. I think the all of the defending of that set piece needs scrutinising by the management to try and learn from the mistakes made and I'm sure that will happen.

 

[Ian]

Grimsby manager Artell saying we bullied them - nice to hear!

That was one prickly interview. Although I'd like to believe he meant we had more fight in us than they did.

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

A deserved victory against poor opposition.

We were not scintillating in the first half by any means, but it was still frustrating that we went in level. There was very little quality from either side in the final third, but what quality there had been came from Rovers, with Jennings hitting a good chance over the bar in addition to Apter's goal. By contrast, Grimsby created nothing in open play and the goal we conceded was extremely poor defensively, as has been commented above. The defending of the cross was not good, but Hendry was also at fault for giving away the daft foul in the first place, nudging the Grimsby player on the edge of the box when he was actually running away from goal.

Nigel obviously had words at half time and in the second half we were much sharper. We did not create a huge number of chances, but our pressing was much better and we suffocated the life out of Grimsby. They simply could not get any momentum, and the excellent save by McGee in the last ten minutes was probably their only opportunity of the half.

There were solid performances from the majority of players, but I thought Wood in particular was outstanding at left back. However, it is difficult to look past Apter for man of the match, scoring one goal and creating another.

Grimsby were one of the poorest sides I have seen this season and are in real trouble. The difference in the quality of the organisation of the two teams was stark and emphasised what a tremendous job Adkins is doing here.

It should be a decent game against Crewe next week.

 

[Ian]

Yes, organisation has greatly improved and to fill the void up front, we do have Norris to come back who should make the side even stronger when fully fit. Shame we can't reboot the season again after the truly dreadful start as we would have made a decent fist of it with Adkins in charge.

 

[Sparky]

Thanks for the report RLC. Wood isn’t perfect but he has really come on since a couple of unconvincing displays when he first signed. One of a number of players we need to be thinking about offering a new deal to.

 

[Boz]

I thought Artell comes across quite well in that interview, honest without throwing his players under a bus. It was good to hear some probing questions from the interviewer too.

 

[frenchrover]

Awful defending again.

Wasn't it just, Ian

 

[Am on mobile]

But give me positive Nigel any day of the week its good to see a manager be positive to get the best out of the players

 

[Rockford's Love Child]

I thought Artell comes across quite well in that interview, honest without throwing his players under a bus. It was good to hear some probing questions from the interviewer too.

I agree about Artell, but I actually thought the interviewer was OTT with the aggression. It seemed like he was simply trying to make a name for himself. Artell did well to keep his cool in the circumstances.

Artell has only been there five minutes, so you would think he deserves a bit more respect.

 

[ADD]

I thought Artell comes across quite well in that interview, honest without throwing his players under a bus. It was good to hear some probing questions from the interviewer too.

Worth a listen.

Yes the questions were probing but the reaction from the fans at the very end of the match with very audible booing warranted them in my view given he has presided over 8 or 9 games now with little discernible improvement. Was hugely inappropriate however to raise the triallist name in the interview!
Sutton despite being cast adrift by 7 points have taken 7 from the last 18 and are slowly but surely closing the gap to Grimsby and the other teams above them so there is natural concern.
As to the game a good win albeit against a very poor Grimsby side without us ever hitting the heights of the fabulous football we played at times during that great run in December. Apter again looks what he is simply too good for this level so as Adkins said great we were able to get him back with only the Barrow game missed. Not convinced that Jolley and Jennings is the way to go up front - wonder what happened to Saunders - no question post match about how bad or what his injury is?

 

[bigmart]

Fairly sure it was said just after he did it that Saunders would be out for upto 6 weeks.

As poor as Grimsby are I don't see Forest Green or Sutton staying up.

 

[Sparky]

Pre match Nigel said only Leake, Belohuan and Norris weren’t training but I suspect he just forgot about Saunders who as bigmart says was supposed to be out for 6 weeks with a hamstring injury.

Artells interview was refreshing in some ways but like RLC I thought couple of the questions were almost a bit confrontational like persisting about the triallist and asking him how he as manager could do better. I’m surprised artell didn’t snap but perhaps he’s not been there long enough yet to feel he could. Needs to keep the media onside.

 

[Boz]

I agree with the comments about the interviewer overstepping the boundary of what was reasonable at times. Having seen some of Dave Artell’s interviews during his time at Crewe, he dealt with the questioning here very calmly and I warmed to him.

It would have been nice for the Rovers interviewer to have asked Nigel about Saunders. While Sparky’s explanation seems most likely and Bigmart is right about the original estimate for his absence, some clarification would be good.

I don’t think Grimsby will go down but neither is anything resolved at the bottom yet. Sutton are showing signs of improvement and Forest Green have brought in an experienced boss, so not beyond them to turn things around. Another two wins will probably be enough to secure our L2 status for next season. Hopefully we get them as soon as possible.

It seems that Nigel appears to have made his mind up about starting xi and the match day squad. If there comes a point when Rovers have nothing to play for save league placing, then hopefully some of the squad players not currently making the bench will get an opportunity.

 

[Ian]