A fine mess, Stanley

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 27/12/2016

GRIMSBY returned to winning ways in a much-needed win against struggling Accrington. Town were far from convincing but two good finishes ensured Town took their chances and came away with three points to send the Boxing Day crowd home happy.

Both goals came from the wingers with Tom Bolarinwa slotting past the 'keeper after some charitable behaviour by the Accrington defence and Chambers scored a late breakaway to seal the points with three minutes to play.

The big team news was 'keeper James McKeown was dropped for the first time in many years and Man Utd's on-loan goalkeeper Dean Henderson made the first competitive appearance of his career. The other changes were Ben Davies in place of Zak Mills at right back, Chambers in midfield in place of Berrett and leading scorer Omar Bogle was a welcome returnee up front.

The midfield consisted of Bolarinwa on the right, Luke Summerfield and Brandon Comley in the middle, and Chambers coming back in on the left.

Both teams struggled in windy conditions to create anything meaningful and the only shots on goal were a couple of long-range efforts from Accrington.

Town took the lead when Bolarinwa received the ball on the right, ran across the width of the pitch to the opposite wing, wrong-footing the full back who slipped and presented Bolarinwa with a clean run at goal. The winger duly obliged slotting the ball past Chapman to give Town the lead.

Accrington had the best spell during the start of the second half and an equaliser looked a strong possibility. A goalmouth scramble saw two chances fall to Accrington in quick succession but Collins and Henderson between them kept Town's clean sheet intact.

The game began to settle into a stalemate again with Grimsby content to stay 1-0 in front and defend their lead. Henderson had to alert to save with his legs to deny McCarten.

Town though sealed the points in the 87th minute when Omar Bogle played through Chambers, whose pace took him away from the defender and he smashed it through the 'keeper's legs to send the Pontoon into raptures.

Town were far from their best but will look to a clean sheet, Henderson's debut and two goals from open play not from Omar Bogle as things to be positive about.

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