6 days Ago By [email protected] (Sam Allen)
David Artell felt a draw was a justified result for Grimsby Town against Newport County as he reflected on a back-and-forth contest with some controversial decisions. There were no goals in the game, but there was still plenty of action to look back on, including a penalty for Newport that was saved by Mariners goalkeeper Jordan Wright but still drew a strong reaction from Artell post-match. Town’s winning run on the road came to an end, but they made sure not to lose a game that could have seen all three points go to either team without much complaint.
Wright’s penalty save, amongst other routine stops, earned back-to-back clean sheets for Grimsby, and that aspect of the result was most pleasing to their head coach. “I thought both teams could have won it, and both could have lost it,” admitted Artell. “It was a competitive game.
On the one hand, I’m delighted with the clean sheet and our unbeaten run continuing away from home. “On the flip side, did we do enough to win it? Maybe, on another day. We had some great chances, but so did they.
So, maybe a point is a fair result. On another day, we score our chances and win two or three nil, or they score theirs and do the same. Grimsby Town fans at Newport County (Image: Jon Corken) “The crucial thing is that if you can’t win the game, then don’t lose, and last year we probably would’ve lost that, so it’s pleasing that we didn’t.
The back four have been good along with Jordan in the last few, so we’ve got to keep that going.” Kieran Green picked up the fifth yellow card of the campaign, which will see him face another suspension for the next league outing at home to Colchester United. Still, his tackle on Kyle Hudlin, which brought about Newport’s penalty, looked to be clean.
That is at least how Artell saw it, and it was another one of those days where a few other contentious calls or no-calls could have swung the result one way or the other. “The penalty decision was horrific,” said Artell. “Both benches agreed that’s just not a penalty.
Referees make mistakes, and that was 100 per cent a mistake. It was a clean tackle, a brilliant tackle. “I don’t think the referee had his best game.
They could have had a penalty early on, and there should have been a red card in the first half – Kamwa nearly broke Ty [Warren]’s leg. And we scored a goal that wasn’t offside. The ref made some bad decisions, but then so did my players and Newport’s players.
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