Swindon Town were forced to defend resolutely and Sol Brynn pulled off a string of impressive stops as Scott Lindsey’s side rallied to claim all three points at Blundell Park to defeat Grimsby 2-1, despite being reduced to ten men following Saidou Khan’s early sending off in the second period.
Luke Jephcott opened his Town account with the game’s first chance, before Ronan Darcy notched his first goal in a Swindon shirt to cancel out Ryan Taylor’s equaliser during an entertaining first forty-five.
There were two changes to the Town starting eleven with Jonny Williams away on international duty with Wales and Louis Reed missing out through injury, paving the way for Saidou Khan and Luke Jephcott to come in.
Ten minutes past before we saw the first action of the tie and it resulted in a Town goal, with Scott Lindsey’s side finding a way through after solid spell of possession.
Ben Gladwin swung a corner in from the right that the hosts failed to clear properly, with Ronan Darcy picking up the pieces, driving into the box and shooting low across goal, forcing Grimsby stopper Max Crocombe to dive low and push the effort away, but there was Luke Jepchott to tap home his first for the club.
Not satisfied with the impressive start, Swindon went in search of another moments later, testing the Grimsby defence on several occasions in the space of five minutes.
First, Tyrese Shade gathered the ball out wide on the left, before cutting in and trying his luck, but his powerful strike rebounded out for a corner, and just minutes later, the hosts threw bodies on the line to block further strikes inside the box from Luke Jephcott and Ronan Darcy following two more dangerous Gladwin corners.
However, as we hit the 25-minute mark Grimsby found themselves on level terms, just minutes after Brendan Kiernan had threatened Sol Brynn’s goal for the first time with a low effort from the edge of the box that the Town stopper saw safely wide of his left hand post.
But then the sucker punch for Swindon, as a low deflected pass found it’s way through a sea of bodies to forward Ryan Taylor inside the box, and he composed himself to lift the ball past the onrushing Brynn for the equaliser.
Both sides looked to continue attacking one another and it was end to end stuff for the ten minutes that followed.
Frazer Blake-Tracy sent a back post header from a floated Ben Gladwin ball over the bar, before Alex Hunt sent a long range dipping free-kick narrowly over for Paul Hurst’s side.
As half time approached, chances were few and far between as both sides battled to make another breakthrough, but then, with just a minute to the interval, Swindon found a way.
Ben Gladwin was involved again as he burst into the area, beating his marker with ease before cutting the ball back to Ronan Darcy who struck a low, first time shot neatly into the bottom right hand corner to give Swindon the lead once again.
An entertaining first forty-five was brought to a close by referee Declan Bourne, with Scott Lindsey’s side in front.
Grimsby made a change at the break with Otis Khan coming on to replace Brendan Kiernan, and the game burst into life once again.
First, Anthony Glennon was booked for a late challenge on Tyrese Shade, before the disciplinary stats were evened up shortly after as Saidou Khan was shown his first yellow of the afternoon for bringing down Michee Efete.
Grimsby created the first opportunity of the half, as Lewis Richardson crossed dangerously into the box from the right side, only for captain Luke Waterfall to direct his far post header wide of the mark.
Scott Lindsey looked to switch things up as we approached the hour mark, as he swapped Tyrese Shade for Rushian Hepburn-Murphy, fresh from his debut goal for the club in midweek.
Moments later, Remeao Hutton almost inadvertently increased Swindon’s lead, as his deep cross to the far post almost caught Max Crocombe out in the Grimsby goal, forcing the stopper to tip the ball over.
However, Swindon found themselves reduced to ten men shortly after, as Saidou Khan was booked for a second time by referee Bourne for a foul on Anthony Glennon, forcing Scott Lindsey into a change, as Ellis Iandolo entered the action in place of the impressive Ronan Darcy.
Swindon were then dealt another blow as substitute Hepburn-Murphy was forced off with an injury having only been on the field for a matter of minutes, with Ricky Aguiar called upon to take his place.
Scott Lindsey’s side changed their shape to combat Grimsby’s attempts to drive forward as their boss Paul Hurst made a double switch to try and affect the game.
With ten minutes remaining, Ben Gladwin looked to stun the home crowd with a snapshot from the edge of the box, but his effort was deflected over by compatriot Luke Jephcott, before the hosts then threatened twice in quick succession.
First, Sol Brynn was forced into a good save by sub Jordan Maguire-Drew as he got down well to divert the substitutes low curling effort wide from the edge of the box, before a goalmouth scramble saw defender Efete fire high over the bar.
With seven minutes of stoppage time to endure, it was backs to the wall stuff from Scott Lindsey’s charges, but they defended resolutely as Grimsby came close three times in the space of a couple frantic minutes.
First Sol Brynn pulled off an impressive save to deny a close-range effort on goal by the hosts, before a follow-up shot was cleared off the line.
Then, just a minute later, Danilo Orsi struck a post after more great goalkeeping from Brynn to deny a flurry of close range attempts at goal, but Swindon held on to take all three points in Lincolnshire and make it three straight league victories which propels them up to eighth in the standins.
MATCH INFO:
Grimsby Town Line-up: 4-4-2
1. Max Crocombe (GK) – 6. Luke Waterfall ©, 3. Anthony Driscoll-Glennon, 2. Michee Efete, 26. Andy Smith, 15. Harry Clifton, 16. Alex Hunt, 8. Gavan Holohan (20. Danilo Orsi 77mins), 27. Brendan Kiernan (11. Otis Khan 45mins), 29. Ryan Taylor (23. Aribim Pepple 77mins), 19. Lewis Richardson (7. Jordan Maguire-Drew 72mins).
Subs not used: 31. Niall Maher, 4. Kieran Green, 21. Keyendrah Simmonds.
Scorers: Taylor 25
Yellow Cards: 3. Driscoll-Glennon 48mins
Red Cards: None
Swindon Town Line-up: 4-3-3
1. Sol Brynn (GK) – 20. Frazer Blake-Tracy, 4. Tom Clayton, 21. Angus MacDonald ©, 2. Remeao Hutton, 23. Saidou Khan, 10. Ronan Darcy (3. Ellis Iandolo 65mins), 7. Ben Gladwin, 28. Tyrese Shade (19. Rushian Hepburn-Murphy 59mins (17. Ricky Aguiar 73mins)) 24. Jacob Wakeling, 15. Luke Jephcott.
Subs not used: 25. Conor Brann (GK) – 6. Mathieu Baudry, 22. Marcel Lavinier, 33. Morgan Roberts.
Scorers : Jephcott 13, Darcy 44
Yellow Cards : 2. Hutton 85mins, 20. Blake-Tracy 90+7mins, 23. S. Khan 49mins & 62mins, 15. Jephcott 87mins.
Red Cards : 23. S. Khan 62mins
Referee : Declan Bourne
Assistant Referees : Joe Simpson & Wayne Grunnill
Fourth Official: Mark Jones
Attendance: 6,805 (453 away fans)
