Mansfield Town 0-1 Grimsby Town (EFL League Two) 04.01.20

Mansfield Town stuttered to a second defeat under new Manager Graham Coughlan as the Stags lost at home to Grimsby Town 1-0.

The Mariners were down to ten men in only the tenth minute when Luke Waterfall was sent off for a foul but the Stags struggled to break down Ian Holloways men as the away side forced to close shop early doors became hard to beat defending in numbers and looking to break their hosts who tried without success to blow down the away teams door.

The first half was frustrating for Mansfield who failed to come up with anything clear cut but in the second half MacDonald had two efforts before Clifton curled wide for Grimsby.

Benning tested McKeown in the Grimsby goal but on 66 minutes he inadvertently steered a Liam Gibson cross into his own net to give the away side the lead.

That gave Grimsby the ammunition they needed to defend deeper in numbers and although Nicky Maynard had a chance late on it was the visitors and Ian Holloway who took all three points with a valuable win.

After the game Manager Graham Coughlan said “It didn’t come as a shock because I knew the players were going to empty at some stage. I knew they were going to hit a brick wall – it was maybe a bridge too far to ask them today to keep going how they’re going.”

“We’ve hit them hard since we’ve come in and it looked as if they’d run out of steam today, to be honest.”

“Overall, the display wasn’t good enough and lacked quality. I don’t think I could’ve changed any more. We chucked everything we had at them. But the lads’ tanks were empty and that was unfortunate.”

Mansfield Town: Logan, White (Clarke 74), Benning, Preston, Pearce, Bishop (Cook 51), MacDonald, Mellis, Maynard, Hamilton, Rose (Davies 86).

Grimsby Town: McKeown, Hendrie, Waterfall, Davis, Gibson (Whitehouse 80), Hessenthaler, Clifton, Robson, Wright (Pollock 13), Ogbu (Rose 55), Vernam.

Venue: Field Mill (5,848)

*Main image @mansfieldtownfc Grimsby go close at Field Mill.