David Artell: Grimsby as dominant as possible in victory over Accrington

David Artell felt Grimsby were as dominant as they could be in a 1-0 victory as they got past Accrington in an entertaining midweek League Two clash at Blundell Park.

Hull loanee Tyrell Sellars-Fleming scored his first Football League goal to get the home side back in the win column after back-to-back draws, extending their unbeaten league run to nine games.

Grimsby were dominant in the early passages, but they could not put away their early chances, which kept Stanley in the game.

However, after going ahead just before the hour mark, they held on for a hard-fought victory to bring themselves one point behind Walsall, who hold the final play-off place.

“I think it was as one-sided as a 1-0 win can be,” said the Mariners boss.

“We’ve had 29 shots at their goal, which I think says it all and we end up scoring with a shot from outside the box.

“We’ve got to give their goalkeeper a lot of credit, but we’ve also got to be a bit more ruthless.

“I always backed our players to find the breakthrough as long as our levels remained the same, which I think they did.

“Jacko (goalkeeper Jackson Smith) had a couple of saves to make from long-distance shots, which were routine in that sense, but I don’t think they really troubled us.

“That’s because of how we’ve defended against the ball and it would’ve been much more comfortable if we’d taken our early chances.”

After three-straight victories, Accrington could not keep out Grimsby to extend their own unbeaten run.

Stanley boss John Doolan said: “We’ve lost the game and there are obvious reasons why we’ve lost the game.

“They came out of the blocks quickly, so we give them credit for that, but we defended resolutely.

“We were there to stop them coming away from home and Ollie’s (Wright) made some decent saves, but we then asked a few questions of their goalkeeper as well.”

A late red card for Accrington’s Devon Matthews – and a great Shaun Whalley strike, which ended up in the goal but was preceded by a foul and chalked off – angered Doolan.

He added: “It was right in front of me and I’m certain it wasn’t a red card, but I don’t want to say too much because I know I’ll get myself in trouble.

“It was there for everyone to see and we feel we should have come away with a draw at least with the chances we created, even the one at the end for Shaun Whalley that was disallowed.

“Something happens before that which I’m not going to discuss and then Shaun puts it (into the) top corner, but the referee gives a foul.”