Venue: Blundell Park
Saturday, October 23 2021, 3pm kick-off.
Conditions: Dry with a slight breeze
Ground: Fine.
Scorers: John-Lewis 20 (0-1), McAtee (0-2)
Attendance: 6,470 (116 away supporters)
Referee: Andrew Miller
Bookings:
Yeovil Town: Gorman 89
Grimsby Town: None
Yeovil Town : (4-3-3)
Grant Smith
Dan Moss, Max Hunt, Josh Staunton, Jack Robinson
Matt Worthington, Dale Gorman, Jordan Barnett
Sonny Blu Lo-Everton Joe Quigley Charlie Wakefield
Substitutes: Adi Yussuf (for Quigley, 70), Tom Knowles (for Lo-Everton, 76), Lewis Simper (for Barnett, 84) Max Evans, Jordan Dyer.
Grimsby Town: McKeown, Sears, Waterfall, Towler, Crookes, Fox, Clifton (for Revan, 82), Hunt (for Coke, 64), Bapaga (for Sousa, 70), McAtee, John-Lewis
Substitutes: Pearson, Wright.
Match Report
A first half penalty and an injury time second was enough to send Yeovil Town home pointless and table-topping Grimsby Town kept their 100% record in front of their own fans.
The story was all too familiar for Yeovil with just one shot on target coming from a Dale Gorman free-kick late in the second half.
That said, the home side only had three on target themselves as the Glovers huffed, puffed but could simply not blow the house down.
Darren Sarll named an unchanged starting XI from the midweek FA Cup win over W*ymouth with seven players in the line-up having played 120 minutes plus penalties four days earlier.
For the home side, who had an outbreak of COVID-19 in the days leading up to the match, there were two changes with Will Bapaga and John-
The opening exchanges were relatively uneventful with neither side, the first chance of the game came after 20 minutes and led to an opener.
Speedy winger Will Bapaga broke free and got to the ball just ahead of visiting goalkeeper Grant Smith who caught him late and referee Andrew Miller gave the penalty.
After his midweek exploits from a shoot-out, Smith must have hoped his luck could continue, but Lennell JOHN-LEWIS‘ effort was too much despite the keeper guessing the right way.
From the next attack, Jordan Barnett appeared to get away with one after seeming to control the ball with his arm inside the box.
There was a risk of the visitors, backed by a bumper home crowd and boasting a 100% record could sense blood, but the visitors did well to keep them at bay.
There was a suspicion of a penalty for Yeovil on 24 minutes when Dan Moss was pulled down and just after the half-hour mark, Charlie Wakefield had a strong shot blocked by hosts’ defender Luke Waterfall after good interplay with Matt Worthington.
? Searching for a route back into this one.
? 1-0 ? #YTFC ? pic.twitter.com/ijKiTmnY4h
— Yeovil Town F.C. (@YTFC) October 23, 2021
A trademark off target 35-yard effort from Dale Gorman with three minutes of the half remaining was about all there was else to report before the break.
The story was an all too familiar one with the visitors having their opportunities but lacking a real attacking impetus. For the hosts, one attack of note, one goal.
Half time: Grimsby Town 1 Yeovil Town 0
Smith was called in to action four minutes the restart when good play from John-Lewis laid the ball down to Harry Clifton whose venomous effort was turned aside by the keeper.
A minute later John McAtee wriggled away down the right but he fired his shot wide.
Wakefield had a shot turned wide soon after and from the resulting corner Max Hunt missed an opportunity to head home the equaliser with more chances in the opening seven minutes of the second half than the entire opening 45.
John Lewis fired in to the side netting after 58 minutes and seven minutes later his strike-partner McAtee tried to catch Smith off his line, but his effort went wide.
Wonderful play by Clifton fed McAtee who was bearing down on goal and seemed certain to fire a second, but laid the ball off to John-Lewis who shot wide from three yards.
68' NOOOO! Clifton slips through McAtee who squares the ball to John-Lewis but his stretched effort is wide
⚫⚪ 1 – 0 ?#GTFC
— Grimsby Town F.C. (@officialgtfc) October 23, 2021
The chance was so good the score alerts messages all proclaimed a 2-0 lead for the Grimsby – but didn’t.
Joint top-scorer Ryan Taylor was missing from the starting line-up, presumably one of the Mariners’ COVID victims, but had he been in instead of John-Lewis it could have been a far more convincing scoreline.
In an effort to improve the visitors’ attacking impetus, Adi Yussuf and Tom Knowles were introduced in place of Joe Quigley and Sonny Blu Lo-Everton, neither of whom really featured in their 70-odd minutes on the pitch.
Worthington had an effort wide with seven minutes remaining and then two minutes later Yeovil won a free-kick from 35 yards out, which obviously meant Gorman was taking it.
His effort was on target but James McKeown in the hosts’ goal was equal too it.
It was left to McATEE to wrap the game up for the home side when good play from substiute Erico Sousa set him up at the back post to fire home.
Game, set and match.