Grimsby Town 0 Harrogate Town 0: Sulphurites grind out valuable point on the road

Levi Sutton in action for Harrogate Town during Tuesday night's 0-0 draw with Grimsby Town at Blundell Park. Pictures: Matt Kirkham

The Sulphurites were indebted to goalkeeper Mark Oxley for a trio of important saves as they ground out a goalless draw at Blundell Park to edge a fraction further away from the relegation zone.

The visitors’ four-man back-line also excelled, with centre-half Tom Eastman particularly impressive, though there was little to write home about at the other end of the field with Simon Weaver’s men failing to create anything resembling a clear goal-scoring opportunity.

A tricky playing surface that was almost completely bald in patches may not have helped in that respect, though the Mariners were still able to get the ball down and play some decent stuff at times, and it was they who made most of the running throughout what was rather a turgid 90 minutes.

Sulphurites goalkeeper Mark Oxley played a big part in ensuring that his side came away from their trip to North Lincolnshire with a share of the spoils.

Indeed, after visiting striker Jack Muldoon rifled an instinctive long-range effort over the home cross-bar early on, there was only ever one side who really looked likely to find a breakthrough.

Grimsby first managed to seriously extend Oxley on 17 minutes when he had to show fine reactions to tip Niall Maher’s near-post header from a right-wing delivery over the top.

The Harrogate custodian’s next two meaningful involvements were less convincing. He failed to hold John McAtee’s awkward 25-yarder before being relieved to see Eastman on hand to clear off the goal-line having come for but failed to deal with Anthony Glennon’s dangerous delivery from the left flank.

The opening period ended with McAtee firing wide of the mark for the Mariners, while the second began with Harrogate midfielder Levi Sutton shooting straight down the throat of Max Crocombe.

The home side continued to enjoy the lion’s share of possession as the game wore on, however it took them until the 76th-minute to really threaten the Harrogate goal.

Glennon’s cross from the left was only cleared as far as Josh Emmanuel on the right-hand edge of the penalty area and he laid the ball back inside for substitute Alex Hunt, whose low curling effort brought a decent sprawling stop out of Oxley.

And the Sulphurites keeper was at it again in the first minute of stoppage-time, kicking out his leg to brilliantly keep out substitute Ryan Taylor’s close-range header from Emmanuel’s inviting right-wing centre.

Tuesday’s result means that Town are now unbeaten in their last three matches and have lost just one of their previous five League Two outings.

And a draw sees them climb back above Gillingham and into 20th position, where they now sit four points ahead of second-from-bottom Crawley.