David Artell insists their will be no let up in Grimsby’s survival battle

Posted Sunday, April 14, 2024 by PA

David Artell insisted there will be no let up from Grimsby’s players in their remaining three games although they need just a point to guarantee League Two football next term after a resounding win at Crewe.

Goals from Toby Mullarkey before the break and Curtis Thompson and Denver Hume in the second half emphasised the Mariners’ dominance at Artell’s former club and lifted them six points clear of second-bottom Sutton.

But Artell stressed: “We’re not safe yet and we’ve still got three big games left. We know what we need to do. It’s not done yet and we will have to perform like that again. We need another point to be mathematically safe, but we will go into the game on Tuesday against Colchester to win.

“We were outstanding today and our recent form had suggested we could tonk someone. That performance has been in us for a while. Our ball retention and our shape on the ball was very good and I don’t think Crewe really got into our half until later in the game.

“We had 21 shots on goal because we created so much more which is down to the work we have been doing over a number of weeks. We’ve got to make sure we perform like this on a regular basis and strive for consistency.

“We will have a big summer ahead and there’s some ability in this group that we will need to get more from.”

Crewe’s form has dipped badly in the run-un with five defeats in their last 10 games damaging their hopes.

Manager Lee Bell said: “We’ve got to get back to doing what we’ve done for 99 per cent of the season. We’ve got to show a lot more desire than we did today. We were dominated from start to finish and I think we only had five minutes in the second half when we played, but it was too late in the day.

“I’m going to have to find out the reasons why, but it is clear the boys are struggling at the moment.

“Unfortunately, Tom has overstretched his hamstring, but Max comes to us with some experience which is really good. He’s a good goalkeeper who has played plenty of football this year.”