Grimsby boss Russell Slade: Cheltenham equaliser was offside

Posted Sunday, February 04, 2018 by PA

Grimsby boss Russell Slade felt Cheltenham should not have been awarded their equaliser in the 1-1 draw at Blundell Park.

The hosts went in front inside the first three minutes when Brian Graham headed straight into the path of Simeon Jackson, who had the simplest of tap-ins on his Mariners debut.

But Cheltenham hit back late in the second half through Will Boyle to ensure they returned to Gloucestershire with a point.

The result means Grimsby are now without a win in their last 11 games in Sky Bet League Two, although they did bring a run of four home defeats to an end.

But Slade believes they should have had more, particularly after striker Jamille Matt spurned a golden chance to grab a late winner.

“It was a wonderful opportunity,” Slade said. “He has just apologised in there, he knows it was a great chance.

“We had a few opportunities to be fair. It was nice for Simeon to get off the mark, he nearly got on the end of another one sliding in.

“It was a difficult game and the pitch was a little difficult today, for both teams in all fairness.

“Cheltenham had a few opportunities, but I think we had more. I was disappointed with the goal that we did concede.

“(Harry) Pell was just standing in an offside position. It’s actually offside. I’m disappointed that the linesman hasn’t seen that, or the referee.

“There were a few players out there with not too many league games behind them, with (Charles) Vernam and Mallik (Wilks) of course, so it was good for them.”

Cheltenham boss Gary Johnson was disappointed to see his team concede so early on, but was happy to stay ahead of Grimsby in the table with the point.

“It was similar to our last game,” Johnson said.

“Both teams decided to go quite long as it was quite wet out there, and obviously both teams would have liked to have won.

“We did all we could for two or three days in training and we said that we’ve got to stay in the game for the first 20 minutes or so.

“But then the same happens again. It was a good set-play from them, and exactly the same goal as the one we scored.

“We shouldn’t have given the free-kick away in the first few minutes, and then it took us the rest of the game to find a little bit of quality to get the game back.

“In the end, we’re competing with the Grimsbys of this world, so it meant that we kept them back behind us, and we’ve still got a game in hand on them.”