Ollerton Town end losing streak in style

Ollerton settled into the game from the first minute and looked comfortable having reverted back to the 5-3-2 formation which had proved to be effective at times last season.

They were able to make their early pressure pay as Gav King scored his 20th goal of the season by curling an effort from the edge of the box into the bottom right corner, leaving Grimsby goalkeeper Adam Drury rooted to his spot in the middle of the goal.

Grimsby proceeded to dominate possession, but were unable to carve open a stubborn Ollerton defence and almost went two behind just minutes after the opener. Jake Tittley bombed down the left wing and whipped in an excellent cross but King’s header back across goal sailed just wide of the post.

Ollerton remained relatively untroubled throughout most of the half but Marc Cooper was able to draw Grimsby level just before half time, slotting past Olleton’s debutant ‘keeper James Leverton.

Winter’s side showed an excellent mentality after the sucker punch late in the first half and were able to regroup and respond strongly at the start of the second period.

King especially was able to reap the rewards of this fast start as his chasing down of a loose back pass towards Drury forced an error from the ‘keeper and King easily poked home to restore Ollerton’s lead.

This lead wasn’t to last more than a few minutes though as Marc Cooper matched King’s brace by firing home an equaliser for Grimsby, in spite of protests due to Ollerton being down to ten men as a result of Alex Sennett’s injury.

Ollerton weren’t to be deterred by being pegged for the second time in the game but King may have been left wondering how he was prevented from scoring his hat-trick.

Drury first made a tremendous double save to deny King in a one-on-one then got down well to save another effort from King on the half volley just minutes later.

Winter’s men continued to press forward in search of a potential winner and were finally able to beat Drury for a third time through Lewis Bingham. Grimsby failed to clear Bingham’s initial corner and Bingham followed up on the rebound to send Ollerton back into a well deserved lead.

Ollerton made sure to give Grimsby no route back into the game as Aaron Sennett-Neilson went on a mazy run before laying the ball off towards Sean Dickinson on the edge of the box who expertly curled the ball into the bottom right corner for a quick fire double to finally put the game beyond any doubt.

The final minutes were professionally seen out to secure what was a crucial win for Ollerton and which pulls them away from a potential relegation fight and perhaps raises questions as to how they were so close to the relegation places due to the quality of performance displayed here against Grimsby.