Grimsby Town v Crawley Town preview: Reds look to build on Colchester United win against basement boys

Crawley Town got the win they were hunting for last time out and will look to build on that when they travel to bottom side Grimsby Town in midweek.
Mattie Pollock in action for Grimsby Town against ChelseaMattie Pollock in action for Grimsby Town against Chelsea
Mattie Pollock in action for Grimsby Town against Chelsea

While Crawley will be looking to get back-to-back wins Grimsby will be looking for their first win of the calendar year.

It’s been a horrible start to the year for the Mariners, who find themselves rooted to the bottom of League Two and new manager Paul Hurst hasn’t managed to turn around results just yet.

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Grimsby were left stunned when former manager Ian Holloway resigned just days after saying he wouldn’t back down from the job at hand, which led to Hurst’s return to Grimsby. Hurst was in charge at Grimsby from 2011-2016 before joining back at Grimsby at the end of 2020 following Holloway’s departure.

Hurst has been successful in his first spell at the club but has a big task on his hands in order to keep them up this year. Grimsby have certainly had a season to forget thus far and need to sort out their lack of goals and inability to keep them out at the other end.

The Mariners have the second worst attack in the league, scoring just 20 times and the second worst defence in the league, conceding 46. Neither end of the pitch looks promising for Grimsby, with their top scorer being centre back Mattie Pollock, showing their lack of threat going forward.

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However, they did triumph in the reverse fixture, where they stunned Crawley at the People’s Pension Stadium.

Since then, they’ve had just one win and slid down to the bottom of the table. Crawley will be looking to ensure they aren’t the first team Grimsby do the league double over this season at Blundell Park, where Crawley have not enjoyed themselves in recent years.

Last season Crawley did manage to pick up a point however, they do have Grimsby’s goalscorer on that day, as it was Jake Hessenthaler’s goal that opened the scoring. Another player returning to Grimsby is Saturday’s match winner James Tilley, who will return to Blundell Park for the first time since leaving them earlier on in the season.

Injuries hit Crawley on Saturday with both Tom Dallison and Tony Craig going off injured with both being assessed reinforcements may need to be called in.

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Joe McNerney and Nick Tsaroulla would be the most obvious two to come into the side if needed but that may not be the case, with George Francomb operating at left back on Saturday this could be something we see again. The Reds will be assessing their options ahead of their trek up to Grimsby and will be looking to pick up three points on their travels and begin to look upwards once again.

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