The previous weeks result between Middlesboro and Bury
meant this Game on the face of it was a play off for second place in the league. Manchesters visit to Grimsby at the start of the year brought a remarkable result when m/cr threw away a 3 goal lead and the lost the match with a goal being scored between the hooter and the referees whistle going off an 8-7 victory to Grimsby was a bitter pill to swallow for the m/cr team so they were even more keyed up for this encounter.
The game got off to its usual start for a m/cr goalkeeper the tradition of letting in the first shot they face continued 1-0 down after 6 seconds three and a half minutes later M/cr conceded a second dubious goal any shot close to goal when the forwards stick is higher than the goal cage is a hard one to call and after consultation the refs gave a goal.
I must of been a goal the m/cr coach could’nt be heard screaming at the refs, well the ARCADIA may not hold as many spectators as the pier but 60 to 70 spectators make the building like a bear pit and is akin to walking out to the Kop so it was futile trying to raise a voice over the noise the m/cr supporters were making.
The game settled down with m/cr playing its usual attacking game eddie Revill putting on his superman performance in goal, Steven Manford eventually pulled 2 goals back but m/cr were not level for long with Grimsby regaining the lead 3-2 soon became 3-3 then Mark Waddingham made it 4-3, half time came with no more goals being added.
The second half started with both teams having scoring chances but it was five minutes before m/cre scored and levelled the scored with Waddingham responding with another goal for Grimsby 5 -4.
M/cr were now starting to dominate play Jaime Labon added 2 more goals to the M/cr total and they were finally in the lead at 6-5. M/crs next goal was an identical goal to Grimsby’s 2nd goal, the ball being scored from the same position as Grimsby’s disputed goal again the referees gave it, the only difference that whilst it now gave M/cr team a 2 goal cussion just as the Grimsby goal had them, there was only 10 minutes left in the game and the first to crack under the pressure was young Nick Johnson putting just a little touch much into a recovery tackle, that brought him another card unfortunately when you have already had a blue card, its season over for Nick.
The game was going from end to end and Grimsby were awarded a freehit on the edge of the Penalty area and for Steven Hancock its as good as a penalty, Grimsby were back in the match at 7-6 to m/cr but one minute later the m/cr teams top scorer for the season Jaime Lobon was on target once more with over 70 goals for the season it couldnt have been more important. Ten minutes to go and m/cr had restored their 2 goal lead, as hard as Grimsby tried they could get the goals they needed and there was only 9 seconds left on the clock when Marc Waddingham got was what was proved to be the final score in an exciting match Manchester won by 8-7 honours even over the season for the two clubs.
The game didn’t end there Andrew Simms was still seething over the goal that m/cr scored which he considered high sticks he let his emotions get ahead of him and received a parting gift of a red card from the referee.
The Grimsby club were understandably down played in a great match and just missed out on second place to m/cr on goal difference.
Manchester’s elation was soon to become dissapointment, they wern’t second after all Middlesbrough had pulled off a shock but derserved victory against HBU, what an exciting season the premier league turned out to be but spread out over ten months what should be a draw for spectators becomes little more than a slow trickle.
The efforts put in by the teams this year have shown this is our premier event and we have to make it more so. So that it becomes a habit for spectators, a match once every couple of months fails to do that we need, we need to condense the time span and in turn this will increase the excitement and players certainly respond to spactators far better than four empty walls.
Paul Colton
