Paul Hurst pleased to see hard work pay off in emphatic fashion

Grimsby manager Paul Hurst was delighted with how his side exploited Plymouth’s game plan in their 5-1 thrashing of the League One leaders in the FA Cup first round.

The Devon side took the lead just five minutes in through a great strike from Adam Randell, but Grimsby equalised in the 10th minute thanks to an Andy Smith header.

Michee Efete’s near-post header flew in after a neat short corner move from the hosts in the 33rd minute and, three minutes later, a brilliant Brendan Kiernan flick from a Harry Clifton cross made it 3-1 to the Mariners.

Seven minutes of first-half stoppage time had elapsed when Anthony Glennon made it 4-1 with a close-range strike.

The scoring continued after the break for Hurst’s side as Kiernan grabbed his second and Grimsby’s fifth of the afternoon with a volley inside the six-yard area.

Hurst said: “We looked a bit frightened and a bit timid to start the game, but credit to the players for turning it around.

“Plymouth made some changes, and I’m not naive to ignore that, but the team still deserve a lot of credit.

“We exploited their game plan very well and the players took the opportunities that were presented to them in the game.

“We lost both Ryan Taylor and Danilo Orsi on Thursday and Brendan Kiernan is not accustomed to playing up top on his own, but he did well and took his goals brilliantly while also linking the play.”

Hurst added: “We’d done quite a bit of work in the week on how we wanted to set up against how they usually do, and in the end, it worked out really well.

“We don’t aim to make a start like that in games, but if they end like that we will take it. No one saw that scoreline coming with the start we made.”

Plymouth boss Steven Schumacher said: I’m shocked really with the level of the performance that we put in. It was simply not good enough.

“The standards that we have been playing at lately, we were nowhere near it.

“We got what we deserved. Grimsby Town were by far the better team.

“They showed more energy than us, showed more passion and more commitment to win the game.

“They deserve to go through to the second round and we deserve nothing from it. We have been playing so well and that’s a real tough afternoon.”

He continued: “It just shows that if we don’t do the basics right, if we don’t compete in games and don’t try and win second balls, then you are not going to get an awful lot from the games.

“This might be a bit of a reality check as well to a few because I felt we were a little bit sloppy in the body language, and all sorts.

“We just didn’t ever get a grip of the game and it’s a real blip. It’s something we are going to have to learn from.”