It was more set-piece frustration for David Artell and Grimsby Town against Barrow at the weekend in another disappointing defeat amidst an early-year slump.

The momentum gained from two important wins at home to end 2024 has quickly subsided as the Mariners have now lost three of the last four.

They were given the opportunity to control proceedings at Barrow as they held the majority of the possession, but they were blunt in attack for the most part, and the concentration was lacking in the set pieces in the second half.

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A header from a corner denied them three points against Chesterfield in the previous game, and two more opposition goals came from dead-ball situations this Saturday, and that was where Artell went straight away in his post-match analysis.

He said: “Our standards have slipped from set-pieces in the last couple of games and that’s cost us. You’ve got to want to head the ball. They’re a big team, and they have some big players, but that doesn’t mean you’ve got to concede two goals to set-pieces.

“I’ve said to the players before the game if they don’t concede from set-pieces, then we’ll win the game. We end up empty-handed, and it ends up being a poor result. We had lots of the ball but didn’t do enough with it.

“We’ve been beaten by a team who didn’t want to attack. That’s not a criticism of them; that’s their game, and we’ve succumbed to one transition and two set-pieces.

“We’ve not created enough or scored. That’s ultimately the difference in games; it’s what happens in both boxes. We’ve made undeniable progress. But we’ve not cracked it. We know where we are and exactly where we are. There’s lots of work in progress.”

The key takeaway from the Chesterfield draw for Artell was the mentality of his time after going ahead early, as they let the visitors back into the game and paid the price with two points dropped at home.

He brought it up again after the Barrow defeat, this time citing the fact that Town have only once won a game from behind this season, the 3-2 victory at Carlisle United. He is not questioning their effort, more so their mental toughness to recover from minor setbacks before they become major ones.

“It’s not for want of trying,” added Artell. “We have got better compared to this time last year, some things have progressed really quickly, and there are other things we haven’t even begun to address and need a lot of work still.

“We’ll continue to get better, but every now and then, you get a bit of a rude awakening, and if you don’t defend set-pieces, then you’re susceptible to losing in the manner we did.

“I said after the last game that we’ve got to improve our mentality because we’ve only come back to win one game when we were behind this season, and that was against the bottom team.

“Once we went one behind today, the players didn’t give up, but at the same time, I think they’re finding it hard not to let it affect them and then make sure they go again.”