Grimsby Town 2 Harrogate Town 1: Sulphurites suffer fifth consecutive loss

Having spurned a glorious opportunity to take the lead midway through the first half, Simon Weaver’s struggling side conceded twice after the break, with Stephen Duke-McKenna’s delightful late free-kick ultimately proving to be a mere consolation goal.

Town headed into the fixture boasting a 100 percent Boxing Day record as a Football League club and unbeaten in eight previous meetings with the Mariners.

Grimsby, meanwhile, had managed to avoid defeat in only one of their previous nine home fixtures in all competitions, yet they actually emerged as pretty comfortable winners in the end, so lacking in confidence and attacking quality were their visitors.

The opening exchanges were relatively even, but it was David Artell’s team who looked the more dangerous initially, James Belshaw forced to tip a Jayden Luker strike that deflected off Evan Khouri around his post, before Kieran Green headed a right-wing corner into the side-netting.

At a time when they desperately need both goals and results having managed just one of the former and none of the latter during their previous four matches, a huge chance for Harrogate to break the deadlock came and went in the 24th minute.

A clever turn by Matty Daly on the right-hand edge of the home box saw him escape the attention of two defenders and make it to the byline before pulling the ball back for Duke-McKenna to somehow clear an open goal from just four yards out.

Grimsby were next to threaten, coming even closer to opening the scoring five minutes later.

A free-kick was pumped long from inside the home half and two towering flick-ons helped the ball into the path of Green, who volleyed against Belshaw’s right-hand upright.

The Mariners continued to ask questions of the Sulphurites’ defence during the period which followed, but Harrogate were determined to try and build from the back and played some decent football at times, with Duke McKenna involved in most of their better moments.

The second period began with Grimsby on the front foot, and having failed to capitalise on a couple of promising attacking positions, they moved ahead after 55 minutes.

Luker cut inside on to his left foot and delivered a delicious in-swinging cross from the right corner of the penalty area, which the unmarked Khouri appeared to glance inside the far post from close range.

Town’s performance with the ball was less cohesive during the opening stages of the second half, though they did manage to fashion half a chance to equalise when Matty Foulds swung over a fine cross from the left, but substitute Jack Muldoon got his header all wrong at the back stick.

Mariners skipper Green then spurned an opportunity to double the home lead on 69 minutes, blasting over the top from a tight angle from around eight yards out.

Their blindingly obvious lack of a focal point in the final third and worrying absence of cutting edge meant that Town never really looked like they were going to force their way back into the contest anyway, but their hopes of a fightback were seemingly ended in the 74th minute.

And it was again all too easy for the hosts to penetrate. Luker turned and drifted inside Foulds wide on the right, then slotted a pass through for untracked substitute Jason Svanthorsson to beat Belshaw one-on-one.

With Weaver’s team staring down the barrel at yet another damaging defeat, a glimmer of light appeared at the end of the tunnel in the 82nd minute.

Having somehow failed to find the back of an empty net from point-blank range during the first half, Duke-McKenna managed to curl an exquisite set-piece over the Grimsby wall and into the top corner from just outside the box, halving the deficit.

Seven minutes of stoppage time were added on as Harrogate pushed for an equaliser, and one almost arrived with 93 minutes on the clock.

Duke McKenna’s free-kick delivery from the left sparked a scramble inside the penalty area and Matty Daly saw a strike blocked by Jordan Davies on the goal-line.

But, that was as close as the Sulphurites would come, with Belshaw required to produce a good stop right at the death to prevent Danny Rose from making it 3-1.

Thursday’s loss leaves Harrogate 20th in the table, where they now sit just four points clear of the bottom two.