A woeful and inept Town crashed to a humiliating 3-0 defeat at lowly Grimsby. The Blues were two down within fifteen minutes and never recovered, conceding a third in the second half.

George Burley kept with the same side which had won at Wimbledon on Sunday with Darren Ambrose remaining on the bench.

The early exchanges were little indication of what was to come, Tommy Miller putting a Finidi cross from the right over the bar in the first minute. Three minutes later Marcus Bent spurned yet another good opportunity putting the ball wide after being played in from Couñago.

All much as at Wimbledon; chances being created, but not taken. Worse, however was to come. In the seventh minute after Holland had lost possession, Campbell played the ball inside to Steve Kabba in the middle on the edge of the area. The loanee from Crystal Palace was inexplicably unmarked with neither Wayne Brown nor John McGreal anywhere near him. The youngster took the ball in towards Marshall and slotted it between the helpless keeper's legs for only Grimsby's second home goal of the season.

In the 16th minute Town had another opportunity. Jermaine Wright hitting a shot which Coyne in the Grimsby goal saved with his feet.

Kabba's pace was giving the Town defence a very hard time and in the 17th minute his strong running won a penalty. After leaving Clapham for dead he entered the area with Wayne Brown in pursuit. The Town defender launched himself into the tackle and succeeded only in bringing the striker down.

There was no question that it was a penalty and Pouton stepped up and beat Marshall from the spot.

From there it was always going to be uphill for Town with Grimsby unsurprisingly now happy to sit back and let Town come at them.

The Blues looked bereft of ideas with Finidi George the only player seemingly capable of creating anything worthy of being called a chance. In the 23rd minute The Nigerian ran onto a Jermaine Wright ball and put a low cross back towards the midfielder. With the goal gaping Wright hi his shot over the bar.

While that ought to have made the score 2-1 Kabba had already brought a fine save from Marshall after once again getting away from the Town defence. Then, only minutes later, Brown, having a nightmare evening, had surrendered possession lamely on halfway. Kabba ran in on Marshall who dived at his feet.

Had it not been for the Town keeper the half-time score could have been even worse than 2-0. Even so, and despite a few half chances in the later stages of the half, the boos rang around the Osmond Stand.

Town made one change at half-time, Darren Ambrose replacing the anonymous Tommy Miller. The youngster went wide allowing Jermaine Wright move to the centre of midfield.

The Blues had the better of the opening exchanges of the half, Couñago almost playing in Bent before Ambrose had the ball in the net. Bent had played him in on the left of the area, Ambrose cut in and fired past Coyne only to see the linesman's flag in the air.

Town were having most of the play but clear-cut chances weren't being created. Holland hit a volley well over and Ambrose saw an effort go by the post, but Coyne in was troubled very little.

On 59 the fate of the game was sealed, if it hadn't been before. Ambrose put over a corner from the Town left which was cleared to the edge of the Grimsby area. Holland and Brown between them managed to allow the ball to be cleared to the left where Santos broke away. His cross sailed into the Town box to the unmarked Kabba who again beat the again blameless Marshall.

It was a dreadful goal to concede, starting as it did from a Town corner and particularly as Kabba and other Grimsby players were not picked up by retreating Town defenders all of whom had gathered at the front post.

And that was that for the game. Town pushed for a goal in a rather half-hearted manner while Grimsby occasionally broke and gave the Town defence a far trickier time of it with both McGreal and Brown continuing to make unforced errors.

The announcement of four minutes injury time was greeted with boos by the Town fans, fed-up with watching their side fail to get anywhere near a goal. Boos once again rang out on the final whistle.

It's difficult to recall a less impressive display from Town. In the earlier stages it was much like Sunday's game at Wimbledon with a few chances characteristically created and missed. However, the complete and utter disorganisation at the back and truly awful displays from Brown and McGreal in particular, combined to give the Grimsby attack the look of world-beaters.

While the first two goals were down to appalling defending and individual errors the third was once again a case of a side catching a pressing Town on the break as we have seen so many times before, even against opposition as poor as Avenir Beggen.

Time for Town to get things right is running out, as the board's patience may be with the current manager.

Photo: Action Images

SpruceMoose added 17:39 - May 4 Balls.
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Vic added 00:06 - May 5 Burley Out.
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