Last Ditch Conlon

By: Matty Newton
Date: 01/11/2009

THE Mariners played Accrington on Friday night looking to turn their fortunes around after 5 straight league defeats.

Town made a couple a changes to the side that battled well at Bournemouth, with Nick Hegarty returning to the side on the left of midfield replacing Jammal Shahin. Town lined up as follows:

Subs: Overton, Shahin, North, Conlon, Clarke, Leary, Gray

Stanley had been on a recent run of form going into the game and it showed as soon as the game kicked off. Town failed to get out of the starting blocks and with 5 minutes on the clock, Grimsby-born Gary King fired home from close range. 1-0 to Accrington.

Usually Town would have self destructed at this point but under caretaker manager Neil Woods, they have found some resolve and were soon level through Adrian Forbes. A free-kick from Sweeney into the box was met by Akpro, his header hit the bar. The ball fell to Forbes, who smashed home from inside the area to put the Mariners on level terms.

Forbes had a couple of runs down the left hand side which almost resulted in a good chances but Stanley were milking every foul and used every trick in the book, and the referee was playing into their hands.

There were half chances then for both sides but as the awful referee blew for half time it stayed 1-1.

Accrington Stanley took the lead on the 68th minute, through a very dubious penalty decision, which also resulted in Town going down to 10 men. Oliver Lancashire was judged to have deliberately handled the ball in the area after a goal mouth scramble. The ref had no hesitation in sending off Lancashire, who was making his home debut for Town. Edwards dispatched the penalty. Grimsby 1 Accrington 2.

Time was beginning to run out for the Mariners, and with seconds left of second half stoppage time Bradley Wood’s free-kick found the head of Barry Conlon. His header looped over the Stanley keeper and into the net, in front of the Pontoon end to send the home crowd into raptures. The final whistle sounded and it was us for once who had scored in the final minute to get something out of the game.

Grimsby Town 2 Accrington Stanley 2

Man of the Match for me was Adrian Forbes, as he made some decent runs, was fully committed in every tackle and capped off his performance with a goal.

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