Two Successive Defeats for Ollerton After Grimsby Loss

Report by William Lavelle.
Photo by DC Photography Retford. Link to full album here.

In a game of limited chances, high flying Grimsby Borough ran out 3-0 winners against a somewhat wasteful Ollerton side who slipped to their second successive defeat.
Ollerton appeared to take a few minutes to get into their usual passing rhythm and looked to be second best in the opening minutes. Though Grimsby looked to be the more dangerous team early on they couldn’t quite make it count.
Ollerton came back into the game and looked to be very dangerous down the left wing with wing back Jordan Buckham being a constant thorn in the Grimsby defence but the overall start game was still quite subdued for both sides. 
The first significant chance of the game came through creative midfielder Sean Dickinson who played a perfectly weighted through ball to Gav King who cut in on to his favoured right side but took too long to get his shot off from close range.
Ollerton continued to look like the team more likely to score as Kyle Ludlow had a chance but couldn’t quite find the right connection with his effort at the back post. 
For the middle periods of the first half the game appeared to enter a lull and neither team were able to create any significant chances for long periods. Both defences enjoyed long periods of success and usual suspect Liam Cooper was making constant interceptions and blocks. 
After the brief lull in the game Grimsby endured their first period of sustained success as Ben Sibbick’s low cross found Jack Bradbury who lifted the ball over the onrushing Ryan Brooks to provide James Wroot with an easy finish, but the goal was controversially ruled out for offside. The decision was protested by the travelling Grimsby fans but the referee had made the correct decision as Wroot was ahead of goalkeeper Ryan Brooks at the time of the pass.
Unfortunately, only a minute later the offside decision was rendered irrelevant as the combination of Bradbury and Wroot was once again successful for Grimsby as Bradbury played in Wroot who swept the ball over an onrushing Brooks to break the deadlock. 
Ollerton still had a level of success throughout the first half as Jordan Buckham’s well struck, acrobatic scissor kick from King’s flick on was fantastically saved by Scott Drury.
Both teams continued to look dangerous for the remainder of the first half but it was Grimsby who were able to make their pressure pay as what looked to be an attempted cross by Jack Bradbury floated over Brooks and into the far corner to double Grimsby’s advantage going into the break. In the last two meetings between these sides, Ollerton had come from 2-0 down and Dave Winter's side faced the same task on Saturday. Ollerton may have felt slightly hard done by as they looked the better team for periods in the opening 45 minutes but Grimsby were far more efficient in their spells on top.
Both teams appeared to adopt a far more cautious approach to start the second half as Ollerton were hoping to limit the prevalent Grimsby attack from late in the first half and Grimsby were content with taking fewer risks and sitting on their two goal advantage.
As the half went on Ollerton looked to be the more offensive team and the first real chance of the half came when King laid the ball off Dickinson on the edge of the box but his effort was fairly central and didn’t really trouble Drury. 
Ollerton continued to press for a route back in the game and almost found it when Kyle Clarkson’s whipped free kick was almost met by Cooper for an easy finish at the back post but it was turned behind by Grimsby full back Josh Sunter.
Ollerton probably should’ve got one back as Jordan Buckham’s whipped cross found Lewis Bingham at the back post but he arguably struck it far cleaner than he needed to as he blazed the ball over from a few yards out. 
Despite their more defensive approach to the second half, Grimsby did still create chances as Bradbury’s curling shot from close range was well saved by Brooks before goal scorer James Wroot blazed the simple rebounded effort over the bar.
Shortly after, Brooks was forced into making a brilliant double save as Grimsby really could’ve been out of sight at this point.
Ollerton continued to press for an equaliser but Gav King was unable to beat Drury in a one on one situation and just minutes later Grimsby sealed the game as Sibbick was able to lift the ball over Brooks to give Grimsby a comfortable three goal advantage. 
The score line was quite disappointing but Ollerton did have some success throughout the game and arguably didn’t deserve to lose by the three goal margin.
Some factors did go against Ollerton, mainly the fact that they had only one natural midfielder at their disposal with Sam Stretton, Ben Bowring and Mark Carter all unavailable and manager Dave Winter bemoaned the fact he was ‘missing an entire team’ after the game.
Ollerton can take some solace in the fact that six of their last eight league games have been against the current top nine but they will still be hoping for improved performances ahead of another double fixture week .