By Match report: Town exit Papa Johns Trophy following defeat to Accrington
Grimsby Town were knocked out of the Papa Johns Trophy after suffering a narrow defeat to Accrington Stanley this evening.
A Tommy Leigh penalty in the second half was enough to ensure the visitors progressed through to the next round of the competition.
Paul Hurst decided to make four changes to the side that earned a point against Stevenage on Saturday, with Gavan Holohan, Evan Khouri, Keyendrah Simmonds and Danilo Orsi all returning to the starting lineup.
Town booked their place in the knockout rounds after a penalty shootout victory over Manchester City U-21 two weeks ago saw them win their group.
The game started at a slow pace, with both sides cancelling each other out in the middle of the park.
The first chance fell to Accrington on 13 minutes when Dan Martin unleashed a fierce drive from outside of the box, but Crocombe did well to punch the ball away from danger.
The Mariners had an opportunity of their own a couple of minutes later, as Gavan Holohan latched onto the ball down the right and fizzed a tantalising low cross into the six-yard box that was cleared away well by a defender just in front of Orsi.
The visitors then went close to opening the scoring through Roshire Longelo, who cut inside and his effort took a big deflection and just bounced wide of the post.
Accrington continued to be the more threatening side going forwards and were inches away from taking the lead when a decent move saw Korede Adedoyin send a looping header back across goal that hit the post and bounced away to safety. Crocombe was beaten all ends up.
Simmonds had Town’s first shot just two minutes before half-time, with his low strike from outside of the box going about a yard wide of the post.
Adedoyin went close again in injury time, but after the forward composed himself and picked his spot, Crocombe pulled off another impressive save to keep his side level heading into the break.
The keeper was called into action less than a minute into the second half when he turned Longelo’s well-struck effort around the post for a corner.
A quick counter by Accrington on the hour-mark saw Longelo go down under a recovering challenge, but the referee waved away his protests inside the box.
A few minutes later, another breakaway resulted in Bryn Morris bringing down Shaun Whalley inside the box, with the referee pointing to the spot. Tommy Leigh stepped up and slotted the ball into the corner past the reach of Crocombe to put his side ahead.
They almost had a second on 68 minutes, but the Town keeper once again denied Adedoyin – this time with his feet at the near post.
Just like he did on Saturday against Stevenage, Niall Maher went close to grabbing an equaliser for the hosts, but his near post flick-on from a corner was blocked away on the line.
The defender had another excellent opportunity with 15 minutes left to play, as the ball fell to him following a scramble inside the box and his strike was well kept out by Lukas Jensen with his feet.
A neat move saw substitute Harry Clifton presented with a big chance when Brendan Kiernan laid the ball off to him inside the box, but his effort went sailing over the bar.
The midfielder – coming inside off the left flank – headed over from close-range with just over five minutes left on the clock after a superb ball into the box from Michee Efete.
Town pushed men forward in search of an equaliser towards the end of the game, but they failed to create any notable chances and Accrington saw the game out well to ensure that they progress through to the next round of the competition.
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