Grimsby blogger Hannah Cawsey is campaigning for her team to stay up...
Grimsby aiming for re-election in League Two
Well it's squeaky bum time and as the date draws closer it's a three-horse race this time and we need to show passion, fight and win this election... I mean relegation battle.
Maybe I'm all caught up in the emotions of the weekend or maybe I have the election bug but either way I'm still optimistic about Town's chances even after a deflated Friday night against Northampton at Blundell Park to Easter Monday away at Accrington.
The big issue of the game on Friday was obviously the sending off of Olly Lancashire - having been rather far away from the incident (but not as far away as the ref) I concluded that the linesman didn't flag it because the ball had hit the Northampton player in the face. The ref - at the other end of the pitch had concluded it to be an - 'intentional forearm lunge'. I think we were both wrong!
Clearly a 'hot-headed' decision that only a 'special kind of genius' would make. He didn't even gain any support from his linesman in the matter and had that decision criticised by not only the Grimsby side but also the Northampton side. Not only was Olly's red given when it's is a highly uncharacteristic challenge - the ref also refused to give a Northampton player a red card for a clear elbow in Peter Bore's face - saying he didn't see it - regardless of the fact he did give the player a yellow card. Hypocrite!
Town have decided to appeal the decision, unsurprisingly and I hope the FA can for once look beyond giving all their time and effort to Premiership teams to bring some accountability into lower league refereeing and for once help out the smaller, struggling clubs that are being shunted out by people who think football fans should be treated as customers and not supporters.
Northampton's manager post match apparently said to Neil Woods that we were as good as any side they've seen this season which is great praise following such a controversial match, sentiments that were echoed by two Stanley fans as we left the ground on Monday.
Sloppy
Accrington saw me playing role of taxi to friends Alex and Mikey, despite having to put up with Mikey's hilarious miming to the Glee soundtrack I felt good about the day and excited to see the Mariners get three points. It's what I thought pre-game anyway but come half time I was highly deflated.
The first half started off well yet The Mariners missed some easy chances and didn't capitalise on a solid performance. I was tempted to say the players were kicking themselves going in at half time - but they needn't bother because they'd only have missed.
As soon as Grimsby conceded a sloppy goal to Accrington's Kee's advantage, an all too typical goal from a defensive point of view. Followed closely by another goal from Symes who was apparently a Mariners target signing mid-season. Unsurprisingly the players got nothing but abuse as they walked past the travelling fans who told them they were disgraceful and not fit to wear the shirt. Maybe a tad harsh but it seemed to do the trick!
The second half told a different tale with The Mariners bagging three goals in five minutes to gain their sixth win of the season. Vital in their hopes to avoid the drop - still not out of the running but still not safe!
As a Mariner you get used to promotion and relegation, sadly more relegation these days though and I know for a fact that although it's devastating if we get relegated - it's exciting to be a part of. Who needs Premier League football when you can visit Accrington Stanley away and get excited about coming from behind to win 3-2?
Soapbox
Speaking in election terms we can view Mike Newell as the recession and Neil Woods as the answer to the problems to get us out of the difficulty. So to loosely quote Gordon Brown: Grimsby are on the road to recovery and nothing we can do should put that recovery at risk.
So turn up, support, shout, applaud and we can rally round to support The Mariners on their road to recovery and to hopefully staying in League Two next season.
I'm putting the soapbox away now before David Cameron sees my blog as one of the many bandwagons to jump on.
Up the Mariners!
