Alive And Kicking: Season One, Episode Four

 What's happening lads and lasses and welcome back to Alive And Kicking. We're coming in off the back of a torrid run of fixtures against teams in and around the play-off zone. If you missed it or you just want to put yourself through a bit of misery then you can do by clicking here. 


After a dismal run of results that saw us yield just two points from four games (admittedly against tough opposition higher up the table) we can probably consider ourselves a candidate for relegation unless things begin to improve. Sadly for us, we have two more tough outings as we face up to play-off contenders Watford and Notts County who are in the thick of the Division One title race. 

Our trip to Vicarage Road is being televised which brings a few extra thousand pounds into the club. We're a still a few years away from Sky owning the coverage of the Endsleigh League so it's Yorkshire TV for us, presented by this guy. 



Sadly we can't put on a show for the cameras as we sink to a crushing 5-2 defeat at the hands of The Hornets. We go into a 1-0 lead thanks to Tony Rees but our usual troubles plague us again as we go 2-1 down just after half time when Lee Nogan (yes, that one) puts the home side into a deserved lead. We have a nice moment when Ken Charlery answers his critics with aplomb by outpacing David Holdsworth and sliding the ball past Perry Suckling to give us a glimmer of hope with an equaliser. Unfortunately for us, it's a bit of a false dawn as Watford come back with a devastating three goal in ten minutes salvo and to further compound our misery, Mark Lever is sent off for a second bookable offence late in the day. 


With injuries and suspensions starting to pile up, the last thing we need is to welcome top of the table Notts County to Blundell Park. We're able to welcome Jim Dobbin back into the midfield after his long injury lay-off which allows Tony Rees to play in a more advanced role in the wake of Clive Mendonca's injury. After a first 40 minutes, Dobbin comes back into the fray with a bang when he strikes a tremendous free kick to put us ahead. It's back to the bad old days five minutes later when a calamitous mix-up between John McDermott and Rhys Wilmot results in an equaliser for County. 



Despite the creditable result against the league leaders, rumours are starting to swirl that the sharks are circling and the board are considering my future at the club and that anything other than win in our next outing against Barnsley could be my last with Grimsby Town. 


Thankfully when our back is against the wall, we come up trumps and notch what is only our third win of the season. After dominating the early exchanges, Rees delivers his second goal in three games to give us a deserved lead and we decisively extend our lead with just two minutes of the first half remaining when Graham Rodger heads in what proves to be the winner. 


The win over Barnsley gives us a bit of breathing room as we move three points clear of Derby. Now let's hopefully kick on and get another couple of victories on the board. 


See you tomorrow! 

#UTM





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