Preview: Grimsby Town

13 October 2020

Having registered four straight wins without conceding a goal in all competitions, Cheltenham Town head into tonight's home contest with Grimsby Town full of confidence (kick-off: 7pm).

Saturday's 2-0 win over Crawley Town brought about a third straight 2-0 win and sees the team sitting 4th in the division at this early stage of the season.

This evening's game is a rearranged match that was due to be played in late September but was postponed the day before after a Mariners player tested positive for covid-19.

Therefore since self-isolating Grimsby have only been able to play once ahead of tonight's match, so they'll make the trip keen to build the momentum that will boost their season with a balanced squad of experienced heads and hungry talents set to be on show.

The match is taking place behind closed doors because of covid-19 so you can watch it on iFollow with a match pass this evening.

Team news

After recent surgery Sean Long remains out of action and will miss the game.

Goalkeeper Scott Flinders could be involved but there are a number of goalkeeping options to select from with West Bromwich Albion loanee Josh Griffiths expected to continue.

Watch Michael Duff's pre-match press conference from Monday morning on iFollow.

Opposition

Three weeks after they last took to the pitch at home to Salford City, Grimsby finally returned to action on Saturday as they picked up a noteworthy draw in a visit to Bolton Wanderers.

It was the Mariners first competitive action since their entire squad were forced to self-isolate and will prove useful in terms of getting back into the rhythm of competitive action ahead of this evening's fixture.

Their squad includes many of the faces that lined up in their 2019/20 campaign, as well as a number of new faces who have brought Football League experience and non-league energy and hunger that boss Ian Holloway will be hoping can propel his side to the higher reaches of the League Two table.

Goalkeeper James McKeown is approaching a decade of service and in front of him is a defence featuring the likes of the experienced Luke Waterfall and Bilel Mohsni plus Nottingham Forest loanee Danny Preston.

The use of loan players, like Cheltenham, is something the Mariners have adopted and in midfield areas James Morton and Owura Edwards are both on loan from Bristol City, with Wales under-21 international Terry Taylor another loanee from Wolves. Wales international George Williams and summer signing from Taunton Town, Luke Spokes, also provide options in midfield.

Going forward ex-Robins forward Matt Green offers extensive EFL experience. Kyle Bennett has been recruited on loan from Bristol Rovers, while Owen Windsor, previously of Cirencester Town, is also on loan from West Brom. Montel Gibson is another summer recruit from non-league Halesowen Town and James Hanson is another of the experienced heads in their front line.

The manager: Ian Holloway

One of the most experienced managers in the EFL, Ian Holloway has been in charge at Grimsby since December 2019 when upon joining the Mariners he also became a shareholder of the Lincolnshire club.

Following a playing career that saw him make his name with the likes of Bristol Rovers, QPR, Wimbledon and Brentford, he moved into management with his beloved Rovers in the mid-nineties.

He's since gone onto manage QPR, Plymouth Argyle, Blackpool, Leicester City, Crystal Palace and Millwall. He led both Blackpool and Palace to promotion to the Premier League.

He is supported in his position as manager by first team coach Ben Davies who is back at the club having dropped into non-league football with nearby Cleethorpes Town, while former Forest Green goalkeeper Sam Russell is his player/goalkeeper coach.

One to watch: George Williams

George Williams became a Grimsby Town player in the summer after his time at Forest Green came to an end following two seasons in Nailsworth.

The 25-year-old was a part of the Wales squad that reached the semi-finals of the Euro 2016 tournament and he has seven caps for the Dragons.

A talented and technical midfielder, Williams began his career at MK Dons, scoring his first professional goal for them at the age of 16 in the FA Cup and he subsequently earned a move to Premier League Fulham.

He featured in the first team squad at Craven Cottage but was mostly sent out on loan to build experience with spells at Gillingham, back to MK Dons, and Scottish Premier League side St Johnstone.

When he was let go by Fulham in 2018 he transferred to Forest Green where he's spent the past two seasons ahead of his move to Blundell Park.

Match programme

The match programme for this evening's game is the same edition that was scheduled for the first fixture between the clubs on Saturday 26 September.

It's available to buy online in both print and digital formats on the club's online shop.

Inside there's a big interview with Will Boyle, an in-depth look at the night's opponents, under-18s forward Zac Guinan describes his start to life as a scholar, Charlie Raglan and Tom Sang feature plus much more.

Watch on iFollow

Match passes are available to buy to watch this evening's game on iFollow online. They are on sale for £10.

Season ticket holders are to use the same code given to them for the first previously postponed fixture between the clubs. They were sent a reminder email about this today. Please redeem your voucher in advance of kick-off to avoid any issues with online matchday iFollow traffic.

If you are a season ticket holder and you already redeemed your code for the first game it'll be automatically set up on your iFollow account. That's the same case for those supporters who purchased for the first game. Unless you asked for a refund the game will be ready on your account.

Coverage

Keep an eye on the CTFC social media channels to stay up to date with events at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium this evening.

Follow @CTFCofficial on Twitter and there are also score and team news updates available on Facebook and Instagram too.

Match passes are available to buy on iFollow for £10. Season ticket holders can redeem their voucher code if they haven't already to get full access to the game online.

Post-match check out the club website to read a match report and to hear reaction from inside the camp to the full time result.

Extended highlights will be available to watch on iFollow a few hours after the game.

Match Reports

Report & highlights: Robins 1-3 Grimsby Town

13 October 2020

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Cheltenham Town v Grimsby Town - Extended highlights - Tue 13th October 2020

Extended highlights of Cheltenham Town v Grimsby Town, Tue 13th October 2020 in the Sky Bet League Two

Cheltenham Town fell to their first defeat in five outings after losing 3-1 to Grimsby Town at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium.

Owura Edwards, James Tilley and Owen Windsor all struck for the Mariners as Andy Williams scored his third Cheltenham goal of the campaign - leaving the Robins fifth in the league standings.

Three points would’ve taken Michel Duff’s side to the summit of the League Two table, but in his 100th game in charge, Cheltenham were made to pay for some uncharacteristic errors.

Loanee goalkeeper Joshua Griffiths had kept five clean sheets in his first seven appearances for the club he joined last month, but Tilley’s strike caught the Cheltenham goalkeeper out minutes before half time.

Tilley’s audacious strike from distance slipped through Griffiths grasps to regain Grimsby’s advantage after Williams had equalised for the in-form hosts.

In what was a frantic first 45 minutes of football, the Mariners opened the scoring in style as winger Edwards dispossessed Will Boyle before dispatching a long range effort of his own into Griffiths’ far corner.

Williams’ leveller was only short reprieve for a Cheltenham side who despite being unfortunate to not open the scoring through George Lloyd after ten minutes, were architects of their own downfall for most of the first half.

20-year-old forward Lloyd is still searching for his first league goal for the Robins after being handed a fourth league start this season.

His goal-bound strike from inside the box took a dubious deflection off a Grimsby defender keen to deny any claims of a handball as hosts Cheltenham posited early on.

Ian Holloways’ Grimsby side came into the encounter winless in their opening three league games having returned to action in what was their first competitive game for three weeks on Saturday.

Though, there were no signs of tired legs despite Grimsby’s lack of game time as the Robins were made to work hard for a second equaliser in the second half.

Alfie May replaced defender Charlie Raglan to add some fresh impetus but with little in the way of goal scoring chances in the latter stages of the second period, Cheltenham couldn’t claim a sixth win in five home ties over the Mariners.

It took until the 88th minute for Cheltenham to test Grimsby stopper James McKeown, whose acrobatic save to deny Liam Sercombe his second goal for the Robins, was as close as the hosts will get in any game to scoring a goal.

Duff’s alteration of system after the hour mark didn’t quite have the desired effect as Grimsby remained resolute through to full time and added a third through substitute Windsor late on.

Robins manager Duff recalled Alex Addai and Grant Horton to his 18-man squad after the untimely injuries to midfield pair Tom Sang and Finn Azaz.

Cheltenham will travel to Southend on Saturday (kick-off: 3:00pm) as Duff's side look to get back to winning ways.

CHELTENHAM TOWN (3-5-2): J Griffiths (Gk) C Raglan, B Tozer, W Boyle, L Sercombe, E Bonds, C Thomas, C Hussey, M Blair, G Lloyd, A Williams.
Subs: M Harris (Gk), A Addai, G Horton, L Freestone, C Clements, R Reid, A May.

GRIMSBY TOWN (3-4-3): J McKeown (Gk), L Hendrie, D Preston, L Öhman, L Waterfall, M Gibson, H Clifton, O Edwards, J Tilley, M Pollock, J Morton.
Subs: S Russell (Gk), M Green, O Windsor, J Hanson, L Spokes, T Taylor, D Idehen.

Referee: Paul Howard
Assistants: Mark Derrien, Richard Morris. Fourth Official: Paul Stonier