'In the last three games I think they’ve been outstanding as a collective'

David Artell called for his Grimsby Town players to show character after their last loss to Northampton Town, and he feels he has got what he asked for over the last three games.

The Mariners were in danger of undoing a solid start to the league campaign, with the 2-0 home defeat to the Cobblers on October 17 being their fourth straight league loss.

Injuries to defenders in the build-up and during that game left the squad in a tough position, both mentally and in terms of depth, but in a moment of adversity, all they could do was pull together.

Artell switched to a back three given he had no fit left-backs to choose from, and yet despite some encouraging aspects to their performance, they were trailing again in the following game away at Rochdale.

Town managed to fight back to take the lead in the second half, and despite the disappointment of conceding a late equaliser in that game, there was something to build on results-wise at last.

What has followed since against Gillingham and York City is a team revitalised and playing with a new sense of purpose, finding the ruthless edge to score nine goals in those two games with dominant second-half performances in both.

Town found inspiration in their own struggle against the odds on a damp evening at Rochdale, with a forced change of system and youth players patching up a makeshift bench due to injuries amid a losing run.

Artell said: “I’ve spoken already through this run about this, but being 1-0 down at Rochdale, having played okay in the game but having also lost the last four, you’ve got to show some character at that point.

“The lads did show more than enough in that moment, to play as they did in the second half there and get something from the game. I thought they were outstanding overall at Rochdale given the context of having a youth team player on the bench because we had no other fit players.

“I think the squad had a moment of realisation after that game that they still had enough in them to perform and get results, and from that moment on it has galvanised us, that’s the truth.

“As much as we can say things at them, we’re all in it together, and this is us, don’t let the season slip away, and in the last three games I think they’ve been outstanding as a collective.”

Even when results were positive at the very start of the campaign, Artell was calling for his side to be more clinical, with a lack of killer instinct proving to be costly in that run of defeats, but the tide may have turned.

“We study how these teams play,” explained the Mariners head coach. “And we knew with York that they concede a lot of goals in the second half, so if we stuck at it and trusted in our changes to make an impact, then we could have a lot of success.

“Our subs can make us stronger in those moments or at least as strong, and not weaker. They brought some excellent players off the bench, but in the end we deserved to win the game, that’s for sure, and it was the same at Gillingham.

“Everything that could go wrong did against Northampton, and yet we still did okay and didn’t deserve to lose. Against Shrewsbury we did, but in the last three we definitely haven’t, and if we keep playing that way we’ll do well. We’ll still lose games when we don’t deserve it because that’s football, but we can only control our performance.”

It is still a small sample size, but the last two games have shown that Town can put teams to the sword, and that has to be encouraging for all involved.