Tuesday 10th May 20022
National League
at Blundell Park, Cleethorpes
Grimsby Town (1) 1
John McAtee 19
Boreham Wood (0) 0
Attendance; 6.010
Grimsby Town:
Crocombe, Cropper, Pearson, Smith, Amos; Holohan, Fox; Sousa, McAtee, Clifton; Taylor.
Subs: Crookes, Burgess, Maguire-Drew, Dieseruvwe, Abrahams
Boreham Wood:
Ashmore, Evans, Stephens, Mafuta, Mendy, Comley, Smith, Raymond, Boden, Marsh. Lewis
Subs: Clifton, Smith, Joyce, Ashby-Hammond, Orsi
Given their specific requirements, I'd anticipated a slightly more urgent and attack-minded approach from the visitors, but though they put in a solid enough performance, they appeared to have adopted a policy of absorbing the Mariners attacking threat while approaching their own forward momentum with an overly cautious degree of patience, even when the clock was ticking down towards full-time.
McAtee was withdrawn in the eighty-eighth minute to a generous but well deserved ovation. 
Whenever I've visited Blundell Park of late, I've developed a taste for watching from the antiquated old Main Stand, which is a time capsule preserving a prime example of how we used to live before football grounds went all posh. A veritable fossil of a place, where the numerous pillars keeping the roof where it should be, should probably dictate that every seat any further back than the seventh row, should have 'Restricted View' printed on it's ticket. 
While Paul Hurst's side were only one goal ahead, the game was still their for the taking.
But grinding out a draw wasn't going to be enough for the visitors and they really needed to up the ante and throw caution to the wind as the sun began to set behind the Pontoon Stand on both tonight's game and Boreham Wood's hopes.
But throughout the ninety plus minutes, the Wood were thwarted by a formidable barrier, covering every blade of grass across the final third, in the shape of one Shaun Pearson, who put in the kind of shift that suggested he had a personal obsession with making sure that his team were going to keep a clean sheet tonight, effectively taking on the guise of a minesweeper and putting in a shift that marked him out as the man of the match, an accolade that I rarely award to anyone, given that football is a team game, where every player has their own contribution to make.
But it was easy to make an exception to this rule in Pearson's case, who was outstanding and rose to the occasion when it mattered.
This narrow win for the Mariners, means that in all likelihood they'll be travelling to Meadow Lane to face Notts County in their eliminator game, where they beat the Magpies 1-2 just two months ago, thanks to a last minute Michee Efete strike.
But it would be remiss of me to make such an assumption until after the last ball of the current campaign has been kicked on Sunday, when so much is still up for grabs at the business end of the table.
The National League Play Off structure for this season reads thus and you'll be able to fill in all of the missing information after this weekend's round of results. I'll be going to Chesterfield v Woking that day and though some might question my rationale behind such a choice, just let me say this: If Chesterfield lose and Dagenham & Redbridge win, to clinch the last play-off place at the Spireites expense. In truth, aren't you tempted to join me there too?
Eliminator A – Monday May 23 – 5th place vs 6th place – 7.45pm
Eliminator B – Tuesday May 24 – 4th place vs 7th place – 7.45pm
Semi-Final – Saturday May 28 – 2nd place vs winner of Eliminator A – 12.30pm
Semi-Final – Sunday May 29 – 3rd place vs winner of Eliminator B – 12.30pm
Promotion Final – Sunday June 5 – 3pm (at West Ham United)
Ryan Taylor went close for the Mariners, before John McAtee, making a comeback from a recent injury lay off, broke the deadlock after nineteen minutes, with a goal that was gifted to him, when the ball bounced up in front of Frankie Raymond whose header back towards his own keeper from outside the area didn't have any power behind it and dropped invitingly into the path of McAtee who gratefully accepted his gifted opportunity to run forward and plant the ball just inside the left hand post, before sprinting over to the Grimsby bench to collect the number 11 shirt to hold aloft to the crowd in celebration, as a tribute to Sean Scannell, who's limped off in the thirteenth minute of the previous home game against Maidenhead, with a suspected ruptured Achilles, which is going to rule him out from playing again for the foreseeable future..
With half time approaching, the previously exalted Shaun Pearson's glanced against the outside of the left hand upright from a trademark long throw-in by Jordan Cropper, as the visitors rode their luck.
Although the Wood had started in a lively enough fashion, after they conceded what turned out to be the only goal of the game, they faded out the game, more and more as the clock ticked by.
HT: The Mariners 1 v The Wood 0
McAtee netted again at the outset of the second half, but his effort was chalked off for offside.
The livewire Mariners number ten, who was creating all kinds of havoc among the visitors backline, got through the right channel into the heart of Boreham Wood's area but his shot was well saved by Nathan Ashmore, who was also called upon late in the game to field a goal bound header from Harry Clifton.
He'll probably be feeling it in the morning, but the shift he'd put in didn't look the a performance by somebody who was rebuilding their fitness and match sharpness after an enforced lay off.
All told, although the game finished 1-0, the win was far more comfortable than the narrow margin of victory suggested.
In actual fact, Grimsby still looked to have plenty left in reserve as they head off to Eastleigh at the weekend, secure in the knowledge that they have already cemented their place in the Eliminator/Quarter Final stage of the play-offs.
FT: Grimsby Town 1 v Boreham Wood 0
But when the game is absorbing and the atmosphere is good, the minor inconvenience is barely noticeable.
That said, I've been in the upper tier of what is now called the Youngs Stand (formerly the Findus Family Stand) and can confirm that if the entertainment on the field of play isn't up to scratch (imagine that, eh!?), the unimpeded view of boats, cargo ships and trawlers heading in and out of the docks on the Humber Estuary is second to none.
Anyway, toodle-pip, I'm off for a walk to the touristy bit of Cleethorpes and back, before it gets too dark and I end up paddling ankle deep in all of the dog shit on the beachside footpath.
