Grimsby Town - 5 (Todd 31. Boulding 45. Allen 45. Fleming og 58. Smith 88.)
Crystal Palace - 2 (Gray 64. Morrison 80.)
Grimsby kicked off in this match, and for most of the first half of play they were by far the better team on the paddock. Town made the first raid on goal, but Shaun Murphy was on hand to nod the ball back to Matt Clarke in goal, and he simply booted the ball upfield. Bradley Allen then found himself clear on goal, but his shot was scuffed, and simply trickled past the post with Matt having the situation well covered. Curtis Fleming then got a good ball through to Steve Thomson who found Jamie Smith in the corner. His cross floated in, but was cut out by the defence before Clinton Morrison could get on the end of it.
Michael Boulding fared just as well as Clinton when Allen put in a cross, and then Julian Gray made a good move down the left side of the field, but found himself with nowhere to go at the end of the pitch. Danny Butterfield then got a shot in on goal, but the defence stood firm, and the danger was averted. Julian again got free, and his cross found Aki Riihilahti, but his shot was well saved by Danny Coyne in the home town goalmouth.
Butterfield then hit a shot from well out which sailed over the bar, which was followed almost immediately by a free kick, but that was wasted by the Town side when they were caught offside straight from the kick. David Smith then fouled Dougie Freedman, but the free kick, taken by Steve, was deflected for a corner. The corner resulted in an overhead kick by Dougie, but it never really looked like going in, spectacular as such a shot appears.
Andrew Todd then had plenty of time to take a shot on our goal, but his chance went astray as his aim was well off the mark. Shaun then cleared a free kick to the home side and Aki cleared the resulting through ball that came straight back at the Palace defence.
A free kick at the other end saw Dougie's shot cannon off the wall and bounce away to safety, and then Hayden Mullins was called on at the other end to snuff out another Town raid. Yet another free kick, this game was all start and stop, saw Smith and Stuart Campbell standing over the ball, and though Shaun headed away the incoming shot it fell straight to Todd who was standing 30 yards out from the goalmouth. His swirling shot dipped at the last moment and swooped straight into the top corner of the net, giving Matt only time just to notice the ball going through, and absolutely no chance of stopping it.
Aki then averted any further danger, and then Dougie made a great run at the Grimsby defence, finally seeing his shot diverted behind for a corner. The corner fell neatly to Clinton, lurking as usual in the area, but his shot was well blocked by the Town defence that was now defending in numbers. Michael Boulding then came close, but the half time break was rapidly approaching.
A good one-two played between Danny Granville and Clinton saw Danny lose the ball at the critical moment, and then Jamie sent in a good cross that Shaun rose to meet in front of goal. His troubles only brought him a clash of heads, and he had to leave the field momentarily to receive treatment to a cut head. Whilst he was off the field, and in the dying moments of the period of play, Boulding got past the remaining Palace defence and fired a shot straight in to the back of the net.
This was disaster being so close to the break, but worse was to come. A pass from Julian to Aki was just too high for the Finn to get a head on to, but the ball swept straight down the other end again, where Allen was involved in a crowded goalmouth move, and stabbed the ball past the crowded area, and past the flat-footed Matt in goal, to make the scoreline read Grimsby 3 - Palace 0. And finally it was half time.
To say that Trevor Francis would not be pleased would probably be the understatement of the week, but it would now be very hard for Palace to get back into this match.
Jamie was replaced by Tommy Black at the start of the second half. Curtis got the ball through to Clinton who forced another corner for Palace, but another opportunity was lost when the ball sailed harmlessly over the top of everyone assembled in the goalmouth. A corner at the other end was well dealt with by the Palace defence, and Dougie managed to set Clinton away. His shot, following a good run into the area went straight to Coyne, and before we knew it the ball was down the other end of the pitch once again.
Matt did well to force the ball off the feet of Butterfield, but the resulting throw found Matt pushing the ball out of his area, where it merely hit Curtis and deflected straight back again, rolling agonisingly over the line to put Grimsby four goals up. This was starting to look as bad as the 5-0 drubbing we gave them at Selhurst, and everything was going the home sides way. Boulding managed to get caught offside when he was clear through on goal before Aki put in another cross that was just too deep, the keeper saving it with ease.
Steve was then fouled on the edge of the box, and the resulting free kick finally brought some joy to the visitors, and of course the faithful band of away supporters. Julian took the free kick, lobbed it over the wall, and it curled beautifully into the goal without a finger being laid on it. Only three more to go to catch up! Another double substitution was made by Palace, bringing Dean Austin and Ade Akinbiyi on for Curtis and Danny, putting us back to the dreaded three up front which few are great believers in.
Campbell got a shot on goal, but it never really looked threatening and then Hayden did well to force Boulding off the ball, getting the ball back to Matt to make a clearance. Boulding did get straight back at us though, and his shot went well wide of the mark when others might have been better placed to take advantage of our defence, which was now having trouble coping with anything that seemed to be crossed into the goalmouth.
Tommy made a good run on goal, but got robbed of the ball once he got into the area. A corner to Palace found Aki, and though there were appeals from the visitors, and the crowd behind the goal for handball by the defence, our pleas were ignored by the referee who waved play-on. Boulding got yet another shot on goal, Matt just managing to tip the ball over the bar, and the resulting corner was dealt with a little better by the Palace defence.
Clinton finally got a scrambled shot at goal from a corner, but his effort went over the top of the bar. Following that Dougie and Clinton did well advancing on goal, and finally Clinton got in a shot that eluded the keeper, and we were back with a slight sniff of something from this match. Julian put in a cross that Ade was bundled off, then Grimsby made a tactical change, bringing Stacey Coldicott on for Bradley Allen in an attempt to try to wind down the clock.
They need not have worried though, for the rain started to teem down for the last few minutes of the match, and though Matt did well to try to take the ball off the feet of Butterfield he merely laid the ball off for David Smith who had the simple task of firing the ball into the back of the net from just a few yards out. The game was over, and though Palace still tried it was obviously a waste of effort, and fortunately the referee brought proceedings to an end.
It appears that we are feted not to quite make the play-off positions this season, though somehow results kept us in 7th place, so just maybe there is still a possibility of making the finals series. I guess that means a possible chance of revenge against Millwall, so maybe we better just dust ourselves off and get cracking on ensuring that we finish in one of those coveted positions.
Tuesday is another day, and we now all look forward to the visit of Pompey.
Colin Pryce
Grimsby Town: Danny Coyne, John McDermott, Andrew Todd (Simon Ford 90), Wayne Burnett, Danny Butterfield, Stuart Campbell, Paul Groves, Alan Pouton, David Smith, Bradley Allen (Stacey Coldicott 86), Michael Boulding (Jonathan Rowan 89).
Substitutes not used: Steve Croudson, Phil Jevons.
Crystal Palace: Matt Clarke, Curtis Fleming (Dean Austin 65), Danny Granville (Ade Akinbiyi 65), Hayden Mullins, Shaun Murphy, Jamie Smith (Tommy Black 45), Julian Gray, Aki Riihilahti, Steve Thomson, Dougie Freedman, Clinton Morrison.
Substitutes not used: Alex Kolinko, Jovan Kirovski.
Attendance: 5,924
Referee: Mr B Knight (Orpington)