League Two Form Guide

		P	GD	Pts
1	Doncaster	6	+13	18
2	Stockport	6	+12	18
3	Wrexham	6	+13	15
4	Sutton Utd	6	+4	13
5	Harrogate Town	6	+5	11
6	Colchester	6	+2	10
7	MK Dons	6	+1	10
8	Mansfield	6	0	10
9	Bradford	6	-2	10
10	Swindon	6	0	9
11	Walsall	6	-4	9
12	Gillingham	6	-1	8
13	Crawley Town	6	+1	7
14	Notts County	6	0	7
15	Grimsby	6	-1	7
16	Barrow	6	-3	7
17	Tranmere	6	-4	7
18	Salford	6	-1	6
19	Morecambe	6	-5	6
20	Crewe	6	-5	6
21	AFC Wimbledon	6	-3	5
22	Accrington Stanley	6	-6	4
23	Forest Green	6	-11	3
24	Newport County	6	-10	0

Full Form Table
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SPL|SC|S1|S2

A Tale of Two Halves!

By: Dave Boylen
Date: 07/08/2006

WELL what a game of two halves at Blundell Park in the opening match against Boston United! It has to be said that Town looked like a bunch of disorganised players who to me seemed to have no direction of where they should be playing in the first half.

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I feared the worst: we looked like we relied too much on Michael Reddy`s pace, and with Peter Beagrie finding it hard to get in the game, the tactics of constantly swapping flanks with Rankin did not confuse Boston one little bit.

Boston were first to the ball every time, Town's back line were very square and that's how Boston got the first goal when they all ran out in a line and Green, with great control brought the ball down and rifled it into the net. The start of the second half only brought more misery for Town when, after being caught trying to get the equaliser, Boston broke free after 54 mins and the always dangerous Joachim pounced to catch Town, who were once again short of defenders, to make the score 2-0. The Pilgrims were on a high.

Then the thing that I personally have advocated over the last few years happened. There was actually a young Grimsby born-and-bred player on the bench. Step forward young Peter Bore to rekindle my faith in Youth development at Grimsby Town. Off went transfer-seeking Michael Reddy, Rankin moved to the centre alongside Gary Jones, on came the hero in waiting Peter Bore.

Rankin tore down the right hand side in Boston's half, looked for support, held the ball up and low and behold who was the man in support the dream debut man himself Bore. A nice knock-back by Rankin, controlled with one touch by Bore; the second touch was a fierce shot that nestled in the back of the Boston net to make it 2-1 to Boston - that was after 68 minutes.

It was what dreams are made of and the Pontoon could not believe it. Rankin in my eyes just grew in stature he was everywhere, his confidence just spread to all the Town players, Beagrie suddenly started to play like his reputation demands, Rankin then sent the Town faithful wild when he received the ball at the heart of Boston's defence to leave his markers and hit a strong shot to put Town on level terms after 73 mins.

Boston were taking a pounding. Suddenly Town were winning all the tackles, after a cross from the left side, the ball eluded everybody only to find its way to the far post and who do you think was there - the unstoppable Peter Bore who hit a terrific shot into the roof of the net to make it 3-2 after 79 minutes.

What a remarkable improvement in the second half. The game was so entertaining we actually kept the ball on the ground and played football. I know people will say that Peter Bore was man of the match but to me Rankin changed the whole game when Reddy went off. Rankin took a grip of the front line and was determined to establish himself in the front position, he was the man. Everything went through him, I was very impressed.

I was absolutely delighted with Peter Bore's display, he did not look out of touch at all. His ball control was good and so was his fitness, he could not have had a better first team debut, but let's not get carried away. Graham Rodger would not have been happy with the first half performance I am sure.

All credit to the lads they fought back to clinch the first win of the season.

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