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Earlier in the day Clarets Mad published the latest in our 100 Great Moments Series but we accept no responsibility for the defeat because we published numbers 6 and 5 but we’ll try 4 and 3 on the morning of the Spurs game next week.
We scored some good goals, particularly our third with Robbie Blake turning just inside the Grimsby box and hitting home hard and low in the bottom corner to the keeper’s right. But in a game of so many goals we were never in front and always chasing.
The defending, if I am being polite, was simply shambolic. Despite being told that Coxy was fit and ready to go he didn’t feature and rather than the expected move back into defence for Steve Davis (surely the best idea) we drafted in Mark McGregor.
Poor McGregor was no worse than anyone else though and it was Arthur, so impressive recently, that faced the wrath of Stan and he was hauled off just before half time with us 4-2 down. He seemed to be involved in just about every mistake that went on at the back although it did look as though he was fouled on their first goal.
So 40 minutes gone and Steve Davis moved to the back, not on your life. In one of the most bizarre moves I have seen Davis stayed in midfield and Graham Branch moved to the centre of defence with Briscoe going to left back. Poor Branchy just never gets to play in his more favoured position up the field but never did I expect to see him playing there and certainly not with Davis in midfield.
Half time discussions are always remembered at Grimsby. We were disgusted two seasons ago at the poor effort, stunned last year as our promotion hopes all but disappeared but tonight nobody quite knew how to react at a half time scoreline of 4-3 down. Seven goals in the first half is not common and whilst some spoke of our goals most were just a little concerned that we could concede four to a side as bad as Grimsby.
But the second half was hardly underway and we were level again at 4-4 and you just thought our extra class might tell. Seven minutes later though and we were behind again to a penalty. Whether it was a penalty or not is open to debate, I had a very good and close view and I think it was and certainly it was no different to the one we were awarded on Saturday.
Marlon had no hope of saving this one and once again we were chasing the game. It was so crazy that you never gave it up, goalscoring seemed to be so easy. But it was Grimsby who were next to score and with just 18 minutes left we were two behind again at 6-4.
Surely that was it but just as we had given it up we won a penalty for ourselves. Difficult to see how clear a penalty it was but it was definitely clear to see that Fred West had relinquished the penalty taking role. Robbie Blake made no mistake and with another seven minutes left we were back in with a chance.
Nothing would have surprised me and even a 7-6 win at that stage could not be ruled out. As it happened though there were to be no more goals even with four minutes added on and once again we collected nothing from Grimsby.
I am certain I have never seen a game like this before, certainly not in professional football, and I am sure I am unlikely to witness anything like it again.
Looking for a man of the match is easier than usual, rule out any player who had defensive responsibilities. It just has to be a forward and for me it is Robbie Blake who always looked the most likely to create for us. Somewhat surprisingly, given that so many players ended up playing out of position, he remained in a forward role throughout the game.
Referee Danson kept his cards in his pocket all night but did make some strange decisions. One saw him trying to sort out a brawl on the half way line as Burnley almost scored. He hadn’t bothered to stop the game.
Somehow I just don’t think there will be quite so many goals on Saturday in front of the Sky cameras when we take on Preston at Deepdale.
The teams were:
Grimsby Town: Danny Coyne, Iain Ward, Simon Ford, Paul Raven (Terry Cooke 11), Tony Gallimore, Stuart Campbell, Alan Pouton, Stacy Coldicott, Darren Barnard, Steve Livingstone, Steve Kabba. Subs not used: Shaun Allaway, Wes Parker, Darren Mansaram, Jonathan Rowan.
Burnley: Marlon Beresford, Dean West, Mark McGregor (Dimitri Papadopoulos 74), Arthur Gnohere (Alan Moore 40), Graham Branch, Paul Weller, Steve Davis, Lee Briscoe, Ian Moore (Glen Little 73), Gareth Taylor, Robbie Blake. Subs not used: Paul Cook, Tony Grant.
Referee: Paul Danson (Leicester).