Look, it's league two. That means that players who were world beaters last week can drop below that level seven days later. If that WASN'T the case, Josh Neaufville would be playing for AFC Bournemouth not AFC Wimbledon and Joe Lewis would have Virgil Van Dyke as his centre back partner, not Ryan Johnson.
And in league two, everyone beats everyone. That's the way it was, the way it is and the way it will always be. There's no point in crying in the cornflakes, when you get punched on the nose in League Two you've gotta get up off the canvas & get ready for next week.
The thing is here that we weren't bad at all. Yes we lacked the blinding sparkle that we showed against MK, but we definitely did enough not to lose this game & Grimsby could hardly have moaned if we'd won it. That Grimsby got the win was as result of some shoddy defending by us for the goal, some excellent "bodies on the line" stuff from them to keep us out, but most of all because they had Keiran Green man mark Ali Smith out of the game.
The fact we were unable to deal with that as a team was the most disappointing aspect of the performance for me. Our management team will no doubt be working on coming up with a solution sharpish. So successful was the ploy and so profound the influence it had on our ability to progress the football effectively, that I should think from here on in everyone will do it.
From my perspective I'd like to have seen us be aware of it very early on and get some rotation going in there. Either one of the other midfielders slotting into the space which Smith was vacating, one of the fullbacks inverting or one of our ball carrying centre halves being brave enough to stroll in there (my preferred option). That we allowed a solitary Danny Rose to ensure that none of our back three were able to step into midfield to free Smith up was disappointing in my eyes. Bravery isn't just about flying into tackles, it's being brave in thought & deed with the football too.
All that said, we are a good team & we could still easily have gotten something. The Grimsby goalkeeper saved a shot from Tilley at the end of the first half that was the best save I've seen at the new Plough Lane. I was right behind it and it was hitting the inside of the post and going in all day long until his finger-tipped left handed deflection. The disallowed goal might have been given on another day, but generally if you breathe on keepers they are protected so it was no surprise to see it chalked off.
At the end of the day though Grimsby defended brilliantly. Green ran himself into the ground marking Ali then provided a worldie pass for the goal. Just when his legs were going & our man's influence growing, they withdrew him & put Evan Khouri in there. Our man had no chance without help from his teammates. They had in my view the games outstanding player in left back Denver Hume, and they got (we gave them) the goal. Had we gotten it, I think WE would have won 1-0.
We didn't, thems the breaks. Grimsby will be in the playoffs, so will we.
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