By Nathan Jackson
December 29 2007

In an unbelieveably boring game Grimsby took all the points when Gary Jones capitalised on Ben Smith failing to keep a routine catch in his hands, PLEASE BRING MARRIOTT BACK! Otherwise it was a pretty poor City performance and overall we probably did deserve to lose, but w were heading for a rare clean sheet before Butterfingers Ben decided that he just couldn't let City not concede.

Grimsby kicked off the game but it was an incredibly slow start to the game with only Wright's challenge on Barnes being worth making a note of. 15 minutes had past since the first decent chance and that came when Hegarty shot across the box and Beevers blasted over his goal and out for a corner. Bennett's header was palmed behind by Smith, who was making a rare save in the process.

Dodds had City's first attempt with a shot from 25 yards, that coming a full 20 minutes into the game. Within a few minutes and Hegarty was released on the left and had the full pitch ahead of him but Bencharif caught up with him and made a last ditch challenge. Hegarty appealed for a penalty but the referee ruled it out.

Then came a rather amusing moment when Bencharif seemed to have failed in his attempt to keep the ball in play and so Hegarty picked it up to throw it, but the refere blew the whistle and gave the Imps a free kick. Of course City made nothing of it but it was still rather amusing.

The dire first half ended with neither side managing to create a decent chance in the final 15 minutes.

City almost scored a brilliant goal when they broke from a corner. Freck started the move before passing to Wright, he ran up the wing and cross into Freck but the header hit the outside of the net.

Boshell's header went onto the top of the net before Kerr was booked for a foul on Bolland. Jones replaced North for the Mariners but City again counter-attacked and won a free kick on the edge of the box. Frecklington wasted it by smashing it straight at the wall.

Dodds was replaced by Ollie Ryan after the striker appeared to get injured in a challenge. Freck went off for Jamie Hand, a decision that proved very unpopular with the Imps fans. Hand was booked in the 85th minute for a challenge on Mason. The kick was taken and was headed out of play before Ben Smith tried to catch it, however a typical mistake from the goalkeeper saw him fail to keep the ball in his hands and Gary Jones scored his third goal against the Imps in two calender years.

Slack defending saw Grimsby almost grab a second when no-one bothered to go towards the ball and a cross was headed just over. Kerr fouled Boshell from behind and was sent off. It was the midfielder's first red card for City and now means he will miss both of the games next week.

City failed to create anything and butterfingers had cost City yet another point.