04/12 Stockport 1st Half

On a bitterly cold day with a swirling wind, Town lined up almost the same team as played against Norwich.

The main points that I remember were as follows:

After just a few minutes, Lester had the ball in the net but it was disallowed for offside. Butterfield had gone on a run and beaten a couple of men and his deflected shot fell into the path of the advancing Lester who rounded the keeper before slotting it in. The linesman's flag was already up for the first of the many incorrect decisions of the day. I'm pretty certain Lester was onside when the ball was struck.

After the bright early spell when the midfield was finding quite a bit of space, Stockport began to get into the game and the Mariners wilted. The first Stockport goal came when their No. 7 got a bit of space near the right hand side of the box. Buckley came across, breathed a bit heavily on him and he threw himself to the floor - the referee awarded a penalty for what was a blatant dive. The penalty was chipped straight down the middle of the goal as Coyne threw himself to the right.

The half ended without much else of interest happening although the Grimsby fans took great pleasure in chanting 'cheat' every time their No. 7 got the ball and booed the referee and linesman as they left the pitch.