Limbrick laments penalty decision as Grimsby go down to Scunthorpe

Posted Sunday, December 22, 2019 by PA

Interim boss Anthony Limbrick is adamant Grimsby should have had a penalty as they slipped to a 1-0 defeat on derby day against Scunthorpe.

Dutch striker Kevin van Veen settled the outcome in favour of the visitors at Blundell Park – but that only tells part of the story.

Grimsby, winless since late September, created the better chances while referee Tom Nield waved away strong claims for a penalty late on.

It came when substitute Moses Ogbu took a tumble in the Scunthorpe box.

Limbrick said: “It was a good performance. If you look at every individual on that pitch, they played really well and did the job that we wanted.

“I thought we had an absolutely stonewall penalty. I’ve watched it back and for me it was a penalty.

“I think the referee was influenced by not giving one at the other end, which I haven’t seen back yet.

“How the linesman and the referee missed that penalty, when Moses is the other side of the defender and gets taken down from behind, I don’t know.

“I don’t want to get into trouble but it’s a penalty. You have to take those incidents in isolation and judge them from there.”

Scunthorpe manager Paul Hurst, who celebrated three points against his former club, added: “Of course it’s really pleasing.

“It’s a local derby and it’s a big game for both sets of fans and teams. To send our fans away happy is really pleasing.

“Clearly we didn’t play as well as we can – no way near. We suffered some injuries in the week and another one with the team we put out.

“We had to think on our feet a little bit in terms of changing formation. The diamond that we went to worked perfectly for the goal.

“It went to Wardy [Jamie Ward] in the hole with our two strikers either side. He picked Kev [van Veen] out and it was an excellent finish to win the game.”

Meeting for the first time in a league fixture since 2005, it was a frantic start from both sides – but there were few attempts during the early stages.

As the clock ticked past 15 minutes, Matt Green burst through and took aim, only to be denied by the onrushing Jake Eastwood.

Upon the restart, a snap-shot from Max Wright was dealt with by Eastwood, while Kgosi Ntlhe soon tested James McKeown at the other end.

Luke Waterfall blazed over the crossbar against one of his former clubs – shortly before the match-winning moment came.

Scunthorpe opened up their arch rivals for the first time, with Dutchman van Veen picking up the pieces to loft over McKeown and into the back of the net.