Town Settle for Point at Crabble

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 17/04/2016

GRIMSBY and Dover both had to settle for a point that kept their play-off aspirations on hold for another round of games. Town took the lead through a first half penalty, but the home side fought back in the second half and more than deserved a point.

Town no face Woking on Tuesday night needing 3 points to leapfrog over the Kent side and back into third place.

Paul Hurst made a surprise team selection, leaving leading scorer Padraig Amond on the bench, playing Jon-Paul Pittman and his own up front, and Omar Bogle on the wing. That allowed Hurst to bring an extra midfielder, Craig Clay, into the line-up to boost Town's presence in the middle of the park.

After a fairly even start Town got a huge boost when Horwood, on a forage forward, was crudely brought down, and the referee awarded a penalty. Bogle stepped and calmly stroked the ball into the net to give Town the lead.

Dover fought back and looked increasingly threatening as the half progressed and they needed McKeown to make a terrific save from Deverdics's effort just before the break.

Town should have doubled their lead just after the break when Bogle set up Clay, but his shot bounced back off the post. Dover always looked threatening from set pieces and they levelled the game from a free kick near the touchline where Parkinson rose to head the ball past McKeown.

Dover were the stronger side in the final half hour, with the Mariners increasingly settling for a point, emphasised by the introduction of East for Pittman with five minutes to go.

In the end the Mariners hung on for a draw and with some mixed results from the chasing back a point wasn't a disaster, but the Mariners need to ensure they get maximum points from their next two games to book their play-off place and get a good draw in the semis.

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