Grimsby 1 Chester 0

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 22/02/2005

A dour, sterile and utterly boring game finished with a 1-0 victory to the Mariners and ended Town's barren run at Blundell Park of three straight defeats. Martin Gritton's third goal of the season was Grimsby's only decent move of the game in the 80th minute, but was enough to grab the points.

Russell Slade started with the same team and formation that recorded an impressive 0-0 draw at Swansea on Saturday. This meant Graham Hockless continued in the centre of midfield in a 3-5-2 formation, with Thomas Pinault having to settle for a place on the bench.

The first half saw almost no shots by either side. Chester came closest to scoring, with shots over the bar from Sestanovich and Michael Brown.

After the break Chester seemed content to defend more than they had in the first 45 minutes, but Town were unable to break down their opponents. A rare double substitution by Russell Slade made with half an hour to go then turned the game. Parkinson and Pinault were brought on in place of Crowe and Hockless, respectively. It was a move which ultimately paid off.

Town's goal came from a well-worked move. A ball out of defence from Ramsden went to Pinault. The Frenchman made a defence-splitting pass to the other substitute Parkinson, who crossed for Gritton to score. The Scot was then booked for celebrating.

Town will have to play much better on Saturday for the visit of leaders Yeovil and last year's Player of the Season, Phil Jevons, now the division's leading scorer at Huish Park.

A full report will appear later.

League Table.

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