Grimsby Town Defeated

Grimsby Town’s fantastic run has ended in a double-barbed defeat for the North-East club. Two spectacular first half goals by Leicester ending a double-figure run of form for the Mariners.

The first half also brought about controversy when Wesolowski brought down North with a horrendous sliding tackle from behind, close to the penalty area.

North had to be stretchered from the pitch and replaced by Charlie Aiyling. It is the first time North, a huge contributor to Grimsby’s success this season, has been off of the pitch for Grimsby since he replaced the aging Butler 10 matches in. Wesolowski only received a yellow card for the bone-crunching tackle.

With North’s first-half injury, Grimsby struggled to find the flowing passing movements and breakaways that have been instrumental to their run of great performances.

Gary Montgomery put in a stunning performance in goal for Grimsby, despite the two Leicester goals, risking injury to save shot after shot. At one point Montgomery took a boot to the chest, narrowly missing his head, as he scrambled down to snatch the ball away at the last moment and hanging on to it.

This season’s big signings Javier Reina and Bjorn Ziegenbein failed to influence the game, with Reina being especially off form.

Aiyling did manage to pull one back late in the second half, but Taylor failed to capitalise on an up-close free kick in the dying moments. The Leicester keeper watched as the ball sailed harmlessly over his goal.

With Danny North’s suspected groin injury, it is interesting to see who the manager will choose to replace such an influential player. With Aiyling only having played in 3 games this season, he will surely be looking to cement his place in the team if he is chosen to fill the gap left by North for the duration of his injury. Time will tell.

The match ended Grimsby Town 1, Leicester City 2.