Amaluzor Ends the Spell

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 30/12/2025

GRIMSBY finally ended their long winless run of nine games without a win and eight halves without a goal with a late winner to condemn Shrewsbury to another defeat. It was a battle between two teams in poor form and lacking in confidence, but it leaves the Mariners ending the year on a high.

Grimsby had the lion's share of the possession during the game, but the Shrews had good chances as well, and Town relied partly on misses by the opposition to keep another clean sheet.

David Artell made changes to his attacking players. Jude Soonsup-Bell made his first league start, and Walker and Khouri were the other incoming changes. McEachran, Green and Kabia all stared on a strong-looking bench.

Burns looked lively early on and created Town's first chance with a one-two with Walker, but could only shoot straight at the keeper. Grimsby were dominating possession, but as so often recently, had little to show for their efforts in difficult conditions and were struggling to bring Soonsup-Bell into play.

Shrewsbury had their best chance towards the end of the first half. Perry broke for the visitors and fired a shot which rebounded to Sang, who wasted the opportunity, blasting the ball over the bar.

Confidence was low as Town chalked up their eighth half without a goal, and they once again had most of the ball in the second half. Smith, though, was alert to make a fine save from a Marquis header and was fast to retrieve it to safety. It was a wake-up call for the Mariners.

David Artell brought on his "first team" replacements from the bench for the last half hour, hoping for a change in fortune. Two of them combined when Kabia had a chance from Green's cross, but his shot was straight at the keeper.

The deadlock was finally broken on 83 minutes. Green and then Khouri found some space before the latter picked out Amaluzor. It wasn't perfectly struck but had enough on it to beat the keeper and send relief all around Blundell Park.

The Mariners held on for the remaining 12 minutes of playing time.

It was far from convincing against poor opposition, but 4 points from the 2 home games is no more than Town deserved. They can also look at two clean sheets. Although errors haven't been entirely absent, Smith is a more reliable keeper than Pym, so one source of mistakes has been eliminated, which trickles through the rest of the side.

Grimsby have two tough away games with trips to top ten opposition, Fleetwood and Cambridge, in the New Year before the FA Cup match with Weston.

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