Grimsby Town 4 Notts. County 0

Rob Jones: Man Of The Match.....Again!

League Two leaders Grimsby romped to their biggest win of the season as they crushed an undisciplined Notts County 4-0 at Blundell Park.

The Mariners gave a debut to on loan Sheffield United man Simon Francis, who replaced Gary Cohen in the starting 11. Andy Parkinson came in for Tom Newey, in the only other change to the starting 11 that draw with Boston at the weekend. Cohen was dropped to the bench and so Tony Crane made way for him, also Gary Jones was not amongst the subs, he was replaced by Ciaran Toner. The Mariners lined up with 3 former County players in there line up and 1 on the bench.

Goalkeeper Steve Mildenhall and midfielder Paul Bolland enjoyed lengthy stays with The Magpies, while Andy Parkinson had two short loan spells at Meadow Lane when he was at Sheffield United. Sub Simon Ramsden also played for Notts County, spending the entire 2002/2003 season there on loan from Sunderland. County lined up with former Grimsby centre back Mike Edwards, the ex-Hull man played with Town for one season, the 2003/2004 campaign.

Without a win at Blundell Park for over 50 years County never looked like breaking that hoodoo as they were pushed aside by a devastating attacking performance from the Mariners.

To make things worse for County they had Lewis McMahon sent off on 48

Simon Francis: Decent Debut

minutes for violent conduct and also had David Pipe carried off with what looked like a serious injury in the second half.

Grimsby pushed and former Manchester United keeper Kevin Pilkington saved well from Michael Reddy to deny the home side, Paul Bolland was felled in the area by ex-Mariner Mike Edwards, only to have the decision ruled out by the ref.

Notts County looked slow and aslepp and it was no suprse Grimsby tore into them and a goal looked likely even before central defender Rob Jones rose to power home a header from a John McDermott cross on 27 minutes.

Striker Martin Gritton had a goal wrongly ruled out for offside but it didn't matter as Grimsby grabbed a second in the final moments of the half with a Gritton header after keeper Kevin Pilkington had made a good save.

On loan defender/midfielder  Simon Francis who played down the right flank caused County problems all night, with McDermott, Francis, Gritton and Reddy all linking up superbly.

County needed to keep it tight at the start of the second half but it all fell apart within the first minute when Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala, the Carling Cup hero against Spurs last week, cracked in a stunning 25-yard effort off the underside.

Gary Cohen: Scored his first goal for Grimsby!

And with the sending off and injury things looked bleak for Notts but Grimsby did take the foot off the pedal without County seriously threatening to get back into it. One of the 4 ex County players in the Grimsby side Paul Bolland was taken of injured and was replacec by Ciaran Toner ealry on in the second half.

Young striker David McGoldrick should have scored after being let in by Jones but after rounding the keeper he was denied by a marvellous saving tackle from the defender.

Grimsby weren't finished and sub Tom Newey set up fellow sub Gary Cohen for his first goal for the club 10 minutes from time.

Grimsby sensibly took off strikers Michael Reddy and Andy Parkinson with the game already won and with Saturday's visit to Shrewsbury in mind that looked the right thing to do.

Grimsby are now looking worth their place as leaders whereas, after five games without a win, County's early season promise has well and truly evaporated.