REPORT: Cheltenham Town 2-1 Grimsby Town
Cheltenham Town recorded a 2-1 win over Grimsby in an action-packed League Two game at the LCI Rail Stadium.The Robins were two goals up at half time thanks to Will Boyle’s header and Harry Pell’s thunderous strike.
The Mariners pulled a goal back late on through James Berrett, but also had Gavin Gunning sent off.
The result means that Cheltenham take a step closer to securing their League Two safety with three games to go.
Grimsby had the first chance of the game as Danny Andrew stood over a free kick with just a minute on the clock, however his curling effort was acrobatically saved by Scott Brown.
But The Robins woke up after that and went close on eight minutes when Jordan Cranston’s cross was headed just wide by Danny Wright.
Not long after it was Billy Waters’ turn to have a go at goal, but his run and shot from the edge of the box was pushed onto the post by James McKeown.
Both sides were having plenty of the ball but it wasn’t until the half hour mark when the next real opportunity arose, as it took another smart save from McKeown to keep out Pell’s free kick.
From the resulting corner, though, Cheltenham took the lead as Boyle rose the highest from James Rowe’s cross to squeeze his header into the back of the net.
And five minutes before half time it was 2-0 as Pell picked the ball up in midfield, drove forward and unleashed a fantastic shot into the top corner to give the home side a two goal advantage at the break.
After the interval Grimsby made a double substitution and came out fighting, but it was Cheltenham who had the next chance as Wright headed Rowe’s free kick inches over the crossbar.
On 55 minutes Brown was forced into action as he tipped over Danny Collins’ header from a dangerous cross into the box to deny Grimsby a way back into the game.
Midway through the second period The Mariners had another good opportunity to pull a goal back, but Brown again was on hand to save Chris Clements’ free kick.
But the away side finally did get that goal on 72 minutes as Scott Vernon’s brilliant pass found Berrett, and he tucked the ball into the bottom corner to half the deficit.
With just over ten minutes to go Grimsby then had Gunning sent off for an elbow on Wright in the middle of the pitch.
Both teams had chances as the game drew to a close, with Wright firing wide from the edge of the box and Andrew’s free kick going well over the bar, but neither side could hit the back of the net again and it was Cheltenham who came away with all three points.
Cheltenham Town: S Brown, W Boyle, E Onariase, J Cranston, C Winchester, K Storer (C), J Rowe (A Downes, 86), H Pell, B Waters, D Wright (K Wootton, 90), D Holman (L Davis, 70).
Unused Subs: R Lovett, T Plavotic, J Munns, J Dayton.
Grimsby Town: J McKeown, B Davies, D Andrew, S Pearson, Z Mills, D Collins (C),G Gunning, C Dyson, C Clements (C Disley, 83), J Osbourne (S Vernon, 45), S Jones (J Berrett, 45).
Unused Subs: D Vose, T Bolarinwa, A Boyce, D Jones.
Attendance: 3550 (392)