Sunday The Decider

By: Bill Osborne
Date: 16/05/2001

With the Portsmouth defeat last night it appears that the realisation that Town will have to do it themselves has come to the fore. Despite earlier forecasting that Grimsby's future was in fate's hands, Manager Lawrence is now looking to the game against Fulham on Sunday as the deciding factor.

A point against Fulham, which will not be easy, is all Town need to stay in division one. A point that could have been secured in any other match in the season but now seems almost impossible to achieve against a side topping the division.

Talking today about the situation, Lennie Lawrence told the Grimsby Telegraph: "At least now we can stop this pathetic dependence on other clubs, we need to go into Sunday's game with one thing crystal clear in our minds. If we lose, we get relegated."

"If fate plays cards that fall in our favour with regards to other things, then so be it, but we cannot depend on it."

On the game last night Lawrence said "I think perhaps we're all guilty of naivety. To think that we were relying on a club who have spent £5-million on players this year alone, to lose.

"It's naive and a bit pathetic, and I'm as guilty as everybody else."

With Handyside ruled out and Stacy Coldicott struggling to get fit for the game Lennie said, "From the day I came in, to the end of the season, I'm asking myself the same questions."

"Will so and so be fit? Will they last 90 minutes? "At least now the nonsense is over with. We've had two weeks of total inertia."

"We tried our best at Birmingham and played well against Blackburn and our performances have not been anything to be ashamed of. I just hope that we don't look back at that first half against Sheffield United and end up regretting it."

With Fulham selling out their 2,200 ticket allocation and Town selling 4,500 tickets it looks like being the biggest gate of the season. This can be a bonus for Town who will need a good noisy crowd to spur them on

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