By Match report: Town secure hard-fought victory against Barrow
Grimsby Town edged out playoff-chasing Barrow to earn all three points in League Two this evening.
A second-half goal from Danilo Orsi was enough to secure a 1-0 victory for the Mariners, while Max Crocombe made a couple of excellent saves for the hosts.
Paul Hurst made four changes from the side that drew at home with Mansfield Town on Saturday, with Anthony Glennon, Josh Emmanuel, Evan Khouri and John McAtee all coming into the starting lineup.
Barrow started the game the brighter of the two sides, pinning Town back in their own half for the first few minutes. They had an early effort through Ben Whitfield that took a deflection before it was saved by Crocombe.
The Mariners grew into the contest and had a chance of their own on eight minutes, as Otis Khan latched onto a long ball over the top, beat his man and sent a low shot to Paul Farman’s right that the keeper did superbly well to tip around the post for a corner.
Jake Young then went close to opening the scoring for the visitors when he acrobatically got on the end of a searching ball forward, with his volley just going over the bar.
There was very little to shout about for either side over the next 20 minutes, as neither team were able to create any chances and they largely cancelled each other out in the middle of the park.
Barrow went desperately close to taking the lead on 37 minutes through Young, but Crocombe pulled off an excellent save low down to his left to palm the ball around the post for a corner.
At the other end, Harry Clifton had a long-range, snapshot that fizzed a few yards wide of the post after it dropped for him nicely about 25 yards out from goal.
Khouri, who showed some neat footwork across the half, saw a goalbound effort just before the break take a hefty deflection and it bounced behind for a corner.
The visitors went close to taking the lead three minutes into the second half when a deep corner into the box was headed back towards goal by Tyrell Warren, but it hit the underside of the bar before being eventually cleared away from danger.
A dangerous ball into the area a couple of minutes later found Niall Canavan free about eight yards out and Crocombe pulled off another superb save with his feet to divert it behind for a corner.
Barrow, who had the much better of the opening 10 minutes of the second half, thought they had taken the lead through Josh Kay on 57 minutes, but his effort was ruled out for an offside in the build-up.
The Mariners had an excellent opportunity to take the lead just past the hour-mark when Emmanuel played a lovely through ball into the path of Otis Khan and he just couldn’t quite squeeze his shot past the keeper about 10 yards out from goal.
A neat move then saw Town take the lead on 76 minutes through Orsi. Gavan Holohan carried the ball forward and played a pass into the box before it was laid off to the striker, who worked some room and showed great composure to guide the ball into the corner of the net.
At the start of four minutes of injury time, Tom White’s lovely hit free-kick just drifted wide of the post to almost grab a late equaliser for the visitors.
The Mariners saw out the last few minutes well to secure a hard-fought victory.
