Grimsby boss: Our margin of victory 'flattered' Carlisle United
Grimsby Town boss David Artell insisted the margin of Carlisle United’s defeat to his side “flattered” the Blues.
The Mariners manager felt his side “dominated” proceedings and should have won by more than their 2-1 margin.
But Artell also conceded that Carlisle should have had a penalty of their own before Danny Rose’s spot-kick won it for the hosts.
United led through Sam Lavelle’s early goal before Justin Obikwu equalised and then Rose struck.
“It was deserved. After the bloody nose we got after five minutes, we dominated the game if truth be told,” said Artell.
“They’ve hit the post at 1-0, that was a turning point but I don’t think they deserved another goal.
“We had 25 shots, and not being ahead at half-time was disappointing, but it gave the lads a lot of belief to go on and get the win.
“We haven’t come from behind a lot this season but we’ve done it here. Both forwards score again for the second week running and there’s a lot to be pleased about today.”
Artell watched the first half from the stand before returning to the touchline in the second half.
“I spoke to the bench after about 20 minutes and tweaked something and I think that helped us dominate,” he added in a club interview.
“Up to that point we were the better team but not by the margin it turned out to be from that point on.
“From that point on we were dominant. If truth be told I thought 2-1 flattered them and we should have scored more.
“But a win’s a win…”
Grimsby went five games unbeaten at home as they eventually got the better of Mark Hughes’ United.
Artell admitted it had not been easy to second-guess how Carlisle would set up in Hughes’ first game in charge.
“It was a real hard one to predict, we didn’t know how much the new manager would change things,” said Artell, whose side moved up to ninth and three points off the play-offs.
Sam Lavelle confronts Jason Svanthorsson over the Grimsby penalty incident - of which David Artell and Mark Hughes' opinions differed (Image: Richard Parkes)
“He [Hughes] was forced into one change, with Jordan Jones being suspended, but kept everything else the same. That was helpful, but on the other side of the coin formations only tell you a snippet.
“It’s about principles and how you get them to play.”
Artell, meanwhile, insisted Zac Kennard-Kettle was right to penalise Lavelle’s challenge on Jason Svanthorsson for Grimsby’s winner, despite Hughes' insistence that it was a "blatant dive."
“I thought it was a good call,” he said. “I also thought theirs was a penalty in the first half [when Joe Hugill went down under keeper Jordan Wright’s challenge], just so people don’t think that I am one-sided.
“I will tell it as I see it. I haven’t seen either incident back but that was my view.
“I will say I thought it was brilliant improvisation [for our penalty], Greeny [Kieran Green] passing to Jason, and a great bit of skill from Jason.
“He [Svanthorsson] was excellent again. It won us the game – it shouldn’t have just come down to that but we definitely deserved it.”
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