Grimsby are once again going to play in the Conference next season despite having their best attempt at promotion since dropping out of the Football League three years ago. Having missed out on the play-off places in the previous season, the Mariners coaches Paul Hurst and Rob Scott made some ambitious signings in the summer in Joe Colbeck, Derek Niven and Aswad Thomas. The squad had a pretty strong and deep look early on but the opening weeks of the season were anything but smooth. No wins in the first four games made the rants nervous and twitchy while the serious achilles injury suffered by last season's top scorer Liam Hearn at the end of August raised the big question who is going to score the goals. But Grimsby bounced back emphatically and in some style in September when top sides like Mansfield, Forest Green, Gateshead and Luton were all beaten and most of them emphatically so. The arrival of loanees Nathan Pond, Scott Neilson and Ross Hannah strengthened each department of the team with Pond easily the best player in the team in the first half of the season. The Fleetwood man brought calmness and strength at the back and Grimsby were by far the stingiest team in the league defensively. They barely looked like conceding a goal and went on an impressive run of form that eventually saw them conquer the top spot in late November. The confidence in the team was starting to soar and the managers did a good job of maintaining the momentum. A key win over direct rivals Wrexham before Christmas was followed by a sweet 4:1 victory away at Lincoln and Grimsby definitely looked like the team to beat in the race for promotion going to the new calendar year. Impressive loan signings like Richard Brodie and Jamie Devitt made the squad looked even stronger but the main problem was that Pond returned to his parent club and was not replaced adequately. That was not initially a problem and Grimsby remained unbeaten until February 19 in a run of 12 league games without a loss. The 2:0 loss as Braintree in that game came as a shock though and proved a blow that Grimsby will struggle to recover. By then they were assured of a Wembley appearance in the FA Trophy final having beaten Dartford in the last four but arrived to the big game with Wrexham on an awful run of form. They had lost four games in a row in March, including against direct rivals Mansfield and Kidderminster, and looked to be running out inspiration and ideas as key men Niven and Craig Disley were out injured. The performance in the final was a solid one though and the game finished 1:1 after 120 minutes played but the Mariners failed to hold down their nerve in the shootout and came second best. The responded well to that disappointment though and had a good run of form for the rest of the regular season, coasting to a play-off spot. However, that costly run of form at the start of March had put paid to any hopes of automatic promotion and they had to focus on the play-off games against Newport County. Having dominated the first leg at home, they conceded out of nothing at the end and lost 1:0. They chased the tie away from home but were picked off on the break and eventually lost 2:0 on aggregate with their promotion dream over for another season. It was a tough lesson for the manager who seemed to have found the right formula but at the end there were still teams better than them but Grimsby will be confident of having more success next season.
