David Artell felt Grimsby Town were deserved winners as they came from behind to beat Carlisle United for the second time this season on Saturday.

Having done their first league double of the campaign over Bromley last weekend, the Mariners got another one over struggling Carlisle to make it back-to-back wins with a first victory at Blundell Park in 2025.

The win in the reverse fixture was the only time this season that Town have come from behind to get three points, and they did it for a second time against the same opponent, with Justin Obikwu and Danny Rose on the scoresheet again.

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Artell’s side went behind just five minutes in when Sam Lavelle headed in from a corner, but from that point on, Town created the better chances, ending the game with a massive 3.83 xG to Carlisle’s 1.29 despite evenly splitting the possession.

Artell said: “I thought the best team won; we were dominant for the most part, and I thought the result reflected the performance.

“We took a bit of a blow early on, and it was a poor goal to concede from our point of view, but I thought the lads showed unbelievable belief to come back.

“We’ve come from behind and done the double over a team for the second week running; we had 26 shots today and recorded another home win, so there are plenty of positives to take.

“We didn’t deserve to be behind at the break, but the team came out and ensured they won. We should’ve done so by more, but the fact is that we got over the line.

“If we keep churning out these kinds of results, then we’ll see where we get to come at the end of April. We’re not thinking about anything other than Doncaster next week, but we know we’ve got a good squad and the belief to keep getting these results.”

The win kept Town in touch with the play-off places as they head into a big game next weekend away at Doncaster Rovers, who are currently third in League Two and have won the last three meetings between the two teams.

Some belief has been restored for Grimsby after a small blip to start the year, and the players are going out with confidence and the freedom of thought to create the number of chances they did, including the one that set up Rose’s winning penalty.

On that, Artell added: “It shouldn’t have come down to penalty decisions, but one thing we did see was a brilliant bit of inventiveness and ingenuity from [Kieran Green] to pass it to Jason [Svanthorsson], which led to the penalty.

“I want the players to play with freedom, yes, within a structure and with principles of play, but also have the license to try things like that because it won’t always come off, but they won’t get shouted at by me if it doesn’t.

“It was also great feet from Jason to draw the penalty, and he had a moment in the first half where he waltzed past a few defenders to get a shot away. He was excellent again, and all-round, it was a pleasing performance.”