Double Trouble

By: Rob Sedgwick
Date: 17/10/2026

GRIMSBY plummeted to their fourth successive defeat to sides near the foot of the League Two table, and another home reverse thanks to a 2-0 defeat by Northampton. The match was marred by two serious injuries to Tharme and Pruti, both of whom had themselves come into the side to replace injured defenders.

Tharme had to be helped off the pitch early in the second half with what looked like a serious hamstring tear. Pruti then broke both bones in his leg with a badly timed challenge in which he was worse off. The referee awarded a red card, and then Pruti was stretchered off after a long medical delay.

Tharme, Pruti, Walker and Morgan were all new starters, with McJannet, Sweeney, Fin Cartwright and Cook making way.

Grimsby started poorly, and Pym was called into action early on to deny O’Brien-Whitmarsh. Then Town had to block the ball twice on the line from another spell of pressure from the visitors. A slip by Tharme led to a chance for Dale, and Pym was there once again to top wide.

Town were under the cosh but finally came to life after half an hour when a breakaway attack ended with Morgan producing a save from Jeacock.

Northampton deservedly took the lead when Amaluzor attempted a clever backheel which ended up with Evans, who picked out Warhurst, who finished from close range.

Grimsby has more of the play for the last 20 minutes but produced little of note, with Northampton happy to slow the game down. Disaster struck early in the second half when Tharme pulled up during a Northampton attack which was cleared for a corner. The centre back was unable to walk off and had to eventually be helped off the pitch by two of the physio team.

Grimsby responded well and had two good chances, the first when Walker had his shot tipped onto the bar. The second came from a good piece of play by Amaluzor, who picked up Vernam's darting run into the box, but the Town winger fired over from point-blank range when it looked easier to find the target.

Poor marking from a Northampton corner led to the second goal. The unmarked Evans headed the ball down at the far post, and Guthrie smashed it into the net to the delight of the away fans at that end.

It got worse for Grimsby; already they were 2-0 down when Pruti made a flying tackle that saw his shin strike Wormleighton's leg. There was a loud crack, the referee showed the red card to Pruti on the ground, and then there was a long stoppage while Pruti, consoled by Kieran Green, received treatment. He was eventually stretched off, and Finn Cartwright replaced Vernam.

Northampton had a two-goal, one-man cushion so could afford to spend much of the rest of the game passing the ball around and probing for a gap. Cook came on for the Mariners and went close with a header from a Finch cross.

The match drifted to the full-time whistle through 12 minutes of injury time with the result a foregone conclusion. Town conceded two goals, lost two players through injury, and Pruti broke two bones in his leg.

Grimsby were poor for most of the match. They had two chances early in the second half when the score was 1-0, but other than that Northampton controlled most of the game, even when it was 11 v 11. Morgan is clearly unsuited to playing as a lone striker, and both wide players were struggling, which meant Grimsby struggled to create much against a side who had never won away all season. The makeshift defence and the injuries showed how weak the squad is once the competitive first-choice XI becomes unavailable. Grimsby have two tough-looking away matches next week at Rochdale and Gillingham, and there is going to have to be a massive improvement if the Mariners are to get any return on those games..

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