Grimsby Town v Woking - Match Preview - Vanarama National League 

Grimsby Town will look to go six games unbeaten when they welcome out of form Woking to Blundell Park in the Vanarama National League on Saturday. 

The Mariners are coming into this game on the back of a 3-1 away victory against Dover Athletic in their last game. First half goals from Shaun Pearson and a first in black and white for on-loan Carlisle forward Tristan Abrahams gave Town a two goal lead at Crabble. Jake Goodman clawed a goal back for the hosts with five minutes of the first half to play but the points were wrapped up for Paul Hurst's men in the 72nd minute thanks to John McAtee's 11th goal of the season. The win for the Mariners now means they have picked up 13 points out of a possible 15 available. The result also keeps Town very much alive in the hunt for a play-off place. Grimsby currently sit three points behind 7th place Notts County, who lost a crucial game against Chesterfield in the week. The Spireites coming back to win 3-1 on the night despite being 1-0 down at half-time to Ian Burchnall's Magpies. 

In regards to injury news, Paul Hurst has confirmed that Arjan Raikhy will miss the game due to a calf injury. The on-loan Aston Villa midfielder was substituted due to the injury he suffered in the win at Dover. Hurst has also confirmed that Ben Fox is recovering well from his hamstring tear that he suffered in the victory at Notts County last month but has insisted he will not rush him back into the fold when he returns. Fox currently remains out and with no previous absentees coming back, it's understood that the Mariners are down to 15 fit players for this game. 

In terms of our opposition this weekend, Woking are currently sat 16th in the National League table but their recent form makes for grim-viewing for Cardinals supporters. The club are winless since beating Wealdstone on the 22nd January and have won just two matches out of their last 15 in total. Due to this poor run of form, Woking made the decision to part company with manager Alan Dowson in the week following their previous result, a 2-0 home defeat by the hands of Notts County. Dowson spent the best part of four years at the club, guiding them to an immediate return to the National League after Woking were relegated to the National League South. Since the sacking, Dowson has since criticised the club for the manner of how he was dismissed. It's understood that he received a 20 second phone call from Kelvin Reay (who was a director of the club who has since resigned) to say they're making a change in management with no face-to-face talks being held. The club have confirmed that Dowson's assistant Ian Dyer will take caretaker charge of the Cardinals when they travel to Blundell Park on Saturday. 

In the previous encounter between the two sides earlier on in the season, it was Grimsby who went home with all three points back in October. Despite chances to win the game for the home side, the Mariners snatched all three points in the 87th minute when Max Wright played a brilliant ball to Harry Clifton, with the midfielder smashing it home from outside the box past goalkeeper Craig Ross. The result at the time kept Grimsby at the top of the table with Woking down in 11th. 

So what can we expect from this match?

Looking at the basis of it and how things are going at the moment for both sides, Grimsby are the ones going into this game as clear favourites but as we all know, football is not played on paper. For Grimsby, to keep grips with the teams in the play-off places, this is a game that they simply need to win. The Mariners also have one of the best home records in the league and I think from now between the end of the season, some of their upcoming home games are huge. If they win their home games and take as many points as possible on the road, they will have a good chance of cracking into that top seven. Realistically, I can only see one winner in this game but in saying that, I do think it will be harder than what some people think. Woking will certainly have a point to prove to not only their caretaker manager Ian Dyer, but also to their potential new manager whoever that will be. They will want to start turning some wrongs into rights and that is Grimsby's job to make sure that doesn't happen. I think Grimsby will win the game but I don't think for one minute it will be straight-forward. At the minute, as long as Town are getting the results, I don't think people are massively bothered how well they play. At the end of the day, three points is all that matters.

Last Five Fixtures:

Grimsby Town - WWDWW

Woking - DLLDL

Last XI:

Grimsby Town: 21. Crocombe, 2. Efete, 5. Pearson, 6. Waterfall, 22. Amos, 15. Clifton, 17. Raikhy, 30. Burgess, 10. McAtee, 18. Sousa, 9. Abrahams

Substitutes: 8. Coke, 11. Scannell, 12. Dieseruvwe, 20. Grant, 26. Smith

Woking: 13. Ross, 2. Lofthouse, 3. Casey, 4. Champion, 6. Diarra, 8. Nwabuokei, 9. Effiong, 11. Johnson, 16. Annelsey, 17. Allarakhia, 18. Kabamba

Substitutes: 1. Smith, 5. McNerney, 7. Loza, 10. Kretzschmar, 14. Oakley

Date: Saturday 5th March 2022 

Location: Blundell Park 

Kick-off time: 15:00