Stamford open pre-season with many positives despite defeat

By Richard Curtis

The Daniels lost to a last minute goal to go out of the Lincs Cup in the first round. Writes Stephen Breden.

The home side, featuring six new signing in the starting line-up, started the brightest with Jake Duffy the first to test Grimsby’s keeper Ben Killip with a curling shot from range being comfortably saved. The home side took the lead soon after, and what a goal it was to start pre-season, with Jake Duffy curling a free kick into the bottom corner from just outside the area.

A minute later and it was nearly two as Rob Morgan received a pass inside from the wing but his first time shot was easily saved by Killip. Another new signing, Dan Haystead, was called into action a few minutes later pulling of a good save from a shot from just outside the area. Unfortunately he couldn’t make the save three minutes later as Sam Jones bundled in from close range following a corner.

That concluded what was a promising first half for the home side considering the strength of the Grimsby team and the number of new players featuring for the first time together.

Grimsby Town 11th July - Photo's courtesy of Geoff Atton

23 photos

Match photos

Five minutes after the break and Grimsby were ahead, a back pass from Ash Robinson was intercepted by the Grimsby forward who was brought down by Haystead on the slide. The resulting penalty was slotted into the bottom left hand corner by Sam Jones.

Three minutes later Sam Jones shot from range but again this was saved well by Haystead. It wasn’t long before the home side were level as an excellent Danny Draper cross was met by Elliot Sandy who expertly directed his diving header past the keeper.

Five minutes later Stamford had a golden chance to go back into the lead as Danny Draper played the ball to Ash Robinson who crossed to the back post where Jordan Smith was waiting but he couldn’t get his header on target and it went over the bar.

Grimsby really looked to go for the game in the last five minutes especially with the introduction of Siriki Dembele. First a header from a corner came bouncing back into play before a shot from the edge of the area was saved by Haystead. Amongst this Grimsby pressure Stamford drew a stunning save out of the Grimsby keeper as Danny Draper’s free kick was tipped onto the post.

In stoppage time Grimsby got the winning goal which came from a cross from the right which wasn’t dealt with, the ball fell to Dembele who slotted into the Stamford goal. This had come after a spell of play where there was an exceptional block from Liam Marshall following a Scott Vernon shot. In this period Sam Jones also forced a good save out of Dan Haystead.