Grimsby Town suffer another home defeat in 1-0 loss to Colchester United

Grimsby Town fell to their fourth straight home league defeat, losing 1-0 to Colchester United in a scrappy affair at Blundell Park.

U’s substitute John-Kymani Gordon scored the only goal of the game with his first touches off the bench, and the Mariners were unable to force a reply and stop the visitors from securing their first away win of the campaign.

With George McEachran injured and Kieran Green suspended, the opportunity opened up for Curtis Thompson to make his first league start of the campaign. Callum Ainley also came into the team for a rare start.

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The visitors had an early chance through Harry Anderson, who was unable to keep down his effort from just outside the six-yard box as it was fired across the penalty area from the left flank by Samson Tovide.

Anderson had another golden opportunity within the game's first seven minutes, getting on the end of a cross from the opposite side from point-blank range. Jordan Wright stopped his diving header, and then a foul was called as players scrambled for the loose ball.

After those early scares, Town managed to get their foot on the ball more and crafted a clear opening for Callum Ainley, who found space in the box to receive a pass from Denver Hume and shoot, only for Matt Macey to save it.

Town were controlling possession, but they were caught out in one instance with Curtis Thompson unable to get the ball out of his feet, losing possession and presenting a chance for Tovide to shoot, but his effort was straight at Wright.

There was a lull in the game in terms of chances towards the end of the first half. The constant rain and strong winds affected the general play, with the ball spending a lot of time in the middle third of the pitch.

Towards the end of the half, there was some extra bite to the challenges, which brought some stoppages and a slowing down of the play. Half-time came at a good moment for both teams.

The second period started in the same fashion as the first had ended, with little to report in terms of open-play opportunities for either team as the game was stop-start. Anderson had the ball in the back of the next in the 65th minute for the visitors, but he was deemed to be offside as he latched onto the knockdown from a corner.

Wright did well to get down and stop a shot at his near post from Tovide, who managed to roll his marker and shoot in a quick motion, which could have caught the Grimsby goalkeeper out.

Chances were hard to come by for Town, but they almost opened up the visitors with a quick passing move. Evan Khouri’s cutback was intercepted before it could reach someone in black and white.

Kymani-Gordon came on for the visitors and, with his first touches, gave them the lead with just over ten minutes to play in normal time. Town lost the ball deep in their own half, and Colchester quickly moved the ball across the box to the goalscorer, who tucked the ball past Wright into the bottom right corner of his net.

Justin Obkiwu was played in four minutes into stoppage time, but Macey was off his line quickly to stop him from netting a late equaliser for Town as they fell to another tough home defeat.