SWINDON TOWN 0

GRIMSBY TOWN 1

By Peter Mitchell

I thought Grimsby would win this one as I always felt they were going to be more focused than the home side – a win would give the visitors a massive boost in their bid to stay in the league. All Swindon had to play for was a faint chance of making the play-offs – but you’d think that was worth playing for, wouldn’t you?

Manager Phil Brown made six changes, which in itself made you wonder if he, despite his positive words, had really given up the ghost.

There was a debut for promising 18-year-old central defender Joe Romanski, but at the expense of the experienced Ben Purkiss. Paul Mullin partnered Marc Richards up front and there were returns for Keshi Anderson, Amine Linganzi, Ryan McGivern and goalkeeper Reice Charles-Cook.

Paul Mullin had the ball in the net after 30 minutes but the goal was eventually disallowed after the referee was intimidated by half a dozen bulky mariners. The linesman did not signal and the referee at first seemed to give the goal but, following the protests, he merely booked Mullin for handball.

Soon afterwards James Dunne won a good ball in the middle, fed it to Anderson who in turn slipped it to Richards. The striker’s effort, hitting the top of the bar, would be Town’s closest effort of the game.

In first half injury time McGivern gave away a stupid and needless penalty by tripping Harry Cardwell – a decision Phil Brown felt was both harsh and wrong. One thing was certain and that was another inconsistent and poor performance by all officials.

Charles-Cook only had a couple of saves to make after the interval as Grimsby were more than happy to sit back and protect their precious lead. Swindon were again knocking the ball about well but with very little creativity.

For most of the second half they huffed and puffed a lot but with very little on the end of it. Matt Taylor worked a short corner with Anderson and his curling shot was well anticipated and saved by McKeown in the Grimsby goal. The only other close call was when substitute Scott Twine shot narrowly wide near the end.

Another hugely disappointing performance was met with boos from the departing dejected home fans. Town should feel appreciative and gratified that, once again, over 6,600 people turned up to watch some very ordinary entertainment.

It was one of those games where, as you left, you asked yourself – “was your journey really necessary?” – and in this case, “definitely not!” came back as the resounding answer. It doesn’t auger well for season ticket sales next season when the same uninspiring fixture list will be on offer.

Phil Brown is obviously positioning himself in the hope of a permanent post and has started distancing himself from the squad. He is quoted as saying that he could only work with about 70% of the players and that it was 100% certain that several had not shown the right application. Unfortunately I think a few of those “several” will be with us again next year.

The game coincided with celebrations to mark 25 years since Swindon won their only promotion to the Premier League. The likes of John Moncur, Steve White, Dave Mitchell, Fraser Digby, Paul Bodin and Sean Taylor – together with ex-manager John Gorman – were paraded before the start. Both the standard and the result emphasised simply how far the club and performances have dropped since their heyday.