Mariners go down to undeserved late defeat

GRIMSBY'S WINLESS RUN EXTENDED

- By SAM ALLEN

GRIMSBY Town's winless run stretched to five games as they were beaten by a 96th-minute Tranmere Rovers winner in a 2-1 defeat at Blundell Park.

Darragh Burns netted his first Mariners goal to equalise in the second half after Charlie Whitaker's opener for the visitors, and despite controlling most of the game, David Artell's side were downed by Kristian Dennis' goal at the death.

The Mariners were without both George McEachran and Kieran Green, who picked up knocks in the weekend's draw away at Swindon Town, so they were swapped out for Evan Khouri and Jamie Walker.

Those absentees left Geza David Turi free to start back-to-back league matches for the first time in his Grimsby career.

As expected, Christy Pym was back in goal after serving his one-game suspension.

The first clear chance for Town fell to Burns, who was still searching for his first Grimsby goal, and he shot wide as Tranmere goalkeeper Joe Murphy did not get much distance on his punch from an aerial ball.