at Blundell Park, Cleethorpes
SkyBet EFL League 2
Grimsby Town (2) 4
Brad Garmston 1, John Benson 40, James Hanson 61, Max Wright 84
Newport County (1) 2
Jordan Green 10, Padraig Amond 68
Attendance: 3,578 (inc. 33 away fans)
Mobile phone point and hope pictures: click HERE
James McKeown (C), Elliott Hewitt, Luke Waterfall, Matthew Pollock, Bradley Garmston, Harry Clifton, Josh Benson, Elliott Whitehouse (Matt Green 59), James Tilley, James Hanson (Max Wright 66), Charles Vernam (Billy Clarke 77).
Unused subs- Sam Russell, Ludvig Öhman, Elliot Grandin, Anthony Driscoll-Glennon.
Tom King, Ryan Inniss (Joss Labadie 46), Scot Bennett, Mickey Demetriou, Robbie Willmott, Dale Gorman, Josh Sheehan (C), George Nurse, Jordan Green (Tristan Abrahams 71), Otis Khan, Jamille Matt (Padraig Amond 46).
Unused subs - Ryan Haynes, Kyle Howkins, Matty Dolan, Lewis Collins.
Was there ever anything more life affirming to humankind than a nighttime stroll along blustery banks of the Humber Estuary, from Cleethorpes promenade towards the floodlights of Blundell Park, whence the sixteenth team in League 2 (Division 4 in old money) are preparing to face the fifteenth.
You can say what you want about this windswept 'owd football ground on the northern outskirts of this unfashionable seaside town (I have quite deliberately omitted the words stadium and resort from this sentence), but I personally enjoy visiting the place.
If you prefer functional and more recently built (or redeveloped) modern grounds, then each to their own innit!?
But this place is steeped in character and pervades echoes and traditions of a bygone halcyon age in every single twist, turn, nook and cranny... while the locals up in the high-rise seating of the Findus Family Stand are a very fair-minded and good-natured bunch too. Unless you happen to be a match referee... and then, well, not to put such a fine point on it: you're fair game. The gloves are off, the Marquis of Queensbury Rules are torn to shreds and scattered in the breeze and the kind of expletive ridden vicious invective you wouldn't dream of using in front of your grandmother is liberally aimed your way for the entire duration of the game (and beyond), more often than not by conservative grey-haired ladies of a certain vintage, who are probably sat within earshot of their fist-brandishing and snarling grandchildren.
My spouse once remarked to me, that sitting up among the clouds in the upper-tier of the stand at Grimsby, makes for a perfect vantage point, for watching the cargo-ships and car-transporters meandering out to sea from the nearby docks, if the football ever became slightly tedious.
Uh!? What does she mean if!?
This is basement division stuff, played against the backdrop of a stiff north-westerly wind, which invariably manifests itself into a high percentage of stray passes, misplaced shots... and judging by the failure of several Newport players to remain upright at times tonight, seriously affects ones balance out on the open spaces of the pitch too. Unless of course, I have misread the situation and some of the visiting team were actually trying to hoodwink tonight's match referee: Seb Stockbridge, to gain an unfair advantage.
To be fair to both teams, this turned out to be a decent... and for the most part, fairly evenly matched encounter.
When the message came through on my phone: "Are you having fun?" and I replied in the affirmative that it was a great game, the follow up text of: "Weirdo!" was most uncalled for, because it genuinely was an open and entertaining contest, with thrills and spills at both ends and an occasionally comedy interjection by Mr Stockbridge, which vexed some of the Mariners fans sat in my midst.
Was he really that bad though? His tendency to turn the game into a bit of of a stop/start spectacle at times, was occasionally frustrating, but it wasn't him making niggly challenges and then demanding to have every single decision he made explained in great length, to the nth degree all night.
I suspect that the catcall from a jovial chap sat to my right, of: "Bloody hell referee, we're here to watch the football, not you!", gets a regular outing atmost Mariners home games. But hey! I can talk... the last time that I watched a game at Blundell Park, back in October, when they lost against Mansfield Town, I'd described the referee that afternoon, one Paul Marsden as being shocking.
But that kind of caper was only a minor distraction tonight, as the game unfolded and produced a contest that excelled the somewhat modest expectations that I, and probably everybody else present, had for tonight's apparently 'dead rubber' of a game, whatever that means.
Besides, both of the referee's assistants had good games, especially that guy running the line in front of my vantage point tonight, brandishing a yellow flag.
The game was less than a minute old, when Ian Holloway's side opened the scoring, when Tom King blocked Charles Vernam's close range effort but could only push the ball away in the direction of Brad Garmston, who fired home an angled shot from the rebound.
The former Grimsby front-man Jamille Matt, was chipping away at the Mariners defence, trying to make some headway from Robbie Wilmott's crosses to no avail, but the visitors were on level terms in the tenth minute, when George nurse whipped in a low cross from the left, that evaded Matt and the hosts captain (and keeper) James McKeown as he rushed from his line to intercept the apparent threat of the County number eleven, which left an open goal for Jordan Green, who'd shadowed Matt's run, to roll the ball into. "Clever little sod! I bet he knew that Jammy was going to miss that!" Uttered one of my new found gang of octogenarian pals.
The same gentleman muttered to himself as the players regrouped to restart the game: "At least Podge (an affectionate nickname for Padraig Amond, another former Grimsby player) is only on the bench for them tonight, he'd bloody score against us without a doubt".
Prophetic words indeed goodly sir. Please feel free to pick six numbers for Saturday's National Lottery draw for me too.
Newport were fortunate when John Benson crashed a long range shot off of the crossbar, but it only proved to be a temporary respite for the visitors... and Benson had only been checking his range and testing the flight of the ball in the wind. In the fortieth minute, after both sides had created a number of chances, Vernam was tripped by Ryan Inniss twenty five yards from the Exiles goal as he was about to shoot, which earned the Exiles defender a booking, although he could quite easily have been shown a red card instead... and Benson bulged the top left hand corner of King's net from the resulting free-kick.
How on earth was this guy managing to predict all of this stuff with such remarkable accuracy... and more to the point, what the effing 'ell was the Newport manager thinking of when he did indeed hook Jordan Green and substitute him with twenty minutes still remaining, when, in my opinion, he was offering by far the most consistent attacking threat that Newport posed tonight?
I guess that is why Mr Flynn is making a decent living as a football manager and I'd more than likely be a crap one.
In the interim, before I started meandering off on a tangent (again) both sides had scored again... Green, Joss Labadie and Otis Khan (who is on loan from Mansfield Town until the end of the season) went close for the visitors, before the Mariners extended their lead, just after the hour, when the popular Harry Clifton fed the ball forward to James Tilley, whose shot deflected into towards James Hanson, who drilled the ball just inside the left hand post, before being substituted five minutes later.
Inevitably it was that man Almond who put Newport back in with a shout, when Dale Gorman's long-range strike was parried by McKeown but 'Podge' was following the ball and nudged it into the back of the net. 'Rush goalie' that childhood game of yore, is evidently getting put to good use in League 2 training sessions.
"Where's that daft bugger going now!? He frightens me to death", was the next pearl of wisdom to emanate from the sage and wise old owl, who I was by now on first name terms with (I expect a Xmas card from you this year now bestie), as McKeown dashed out of his area for the fourth time during the second half, to cover the apparently vacant right-back berth and thwart yet another Newport attack, while leaving his goal open to all kinds of mischief.
Heaven forbid their might have been scouts from Grimsby's next couple of opponents sitting just across the way, making notes about any perceived weak-spots and vulnerabilities they might have... expect some pretty high-scoring games involving the Mariners any time soon methinks.
As the clock ticked down, Khan was thwarted by McKeown, who had finally remembered which position he was meant to be playing in tonight again. But as Newport pushed forward in numbers looking to salvage a point from this enthralling game,they ran the risk of leaving themselves exposed and Tilley and the much-travelled Matt Green were unlucky not to add to the Mariners lead, before a Max Wright shot deflected in an arc beyond King's reach to claim all three points for the hosts.
Good game! Good game!
Let's have a look at the old scoreboard!
FT: Grimsby Town 4 v Newport County 2
Respect is due to the thirty-three Newport fans who travelled all this way on windswept and damp Tuesday night, I dread to think what time they'll all be getting home.
The Exiles face another trek on Saturday, when they travel up to Oldham Athletic,
while Grimsby entertain Notrhampton Town in Cleethorpes upon Humber.
The main roads home were all clear tonight, save for one minor diversion near the Immingham turn off, and I got home in next to no time.
Next up. I'm heading for that there London... give me Grimsby any day (or night) of the week instead... that's what I say.
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| 33 Newport County fans |
