Town Edge Closer to Trophy

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 13/01/2013

TOWN shaded a close fought game at Welling in the FA Trophy Third Round. The match hinged on three penalties in the first half. Hannah missed a first penalty, then Welling scored another and finally Devitt scored a third spot kick before the break.

Man of the Match Marcus Marshall fired the winner through a crowd of players in the second half. Town were solid for the remainder of the game and held on to win 2-1.

Town named a strong starting XI with Hannah and Brodie starting up front, and Pearson reclaiming his back four position following Pond's loan spell having come to an end.

Grimsby got an early warning when McKeown let a free kick go wide and it clipped the outside of his post. However Town looked like they would get off to a perfect start when the ref awarded a penalty for handball. Hannah confidently strode up with the ball, but his shot clipped the post and bounced clear.

Not long after Welling won a penalty when Pearson fouled a Welling player and Healy made no mistake from 12 yards to give the home side the lead.,

Welling's lead didn't last long though when Welling right back Fazakerley tripped up Devitt and this time Devitt grabbed the ball, scoring from the spot to level the game.

Wood made a telling challenge late in the second half to keep Town in the game, then Pearson had to go off with a head injury on the stroke of 45 minutes. It had been a scrappy 45 minutes but Town had done well to get back in the game so quickly after going one down.

Welling hit the woodwork early in the second half for the second time, but it didn't take long for Town to take the lead. Disley won a corner with a terrific volley that was tipped over for a corner. The corner quickly led to another and from that Marshall fired a great shot through a crowd of players to give the 'keeper no chance.

For the remainder of the second half Grimsby largely contained Welling. McKeown had to make a couple of good saves to keep Town's lead intact, but Town held on.

Brodie and Devitt were solid if not outstanding. Cook came on and seemed to combine well with Hannah (although he's obviously played with her more than Brodie). Hannah and one of the big strikers (whoever that may be) is definitely an improvement on two big strikers. Man of the Match was Marshall who was consistently dangerous whenever he had the ball and scored a great winning goal.

Grimsby join Gainsborough in the last 8, but will be hoping to avoid big guns Luton and Wrexham in Monday's draw.

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