Grimsby Town host Accrington Stanley at Blundell Park this Saturday in an important weekend in League Two. Both sides are floating around the midtable, though some closer to the bottom than comfortable, and need a win to really move up the table.
Grimsby currently sit 18th in League Two after 12 games. The Mariners have three wins, five draws and four losses, leaving them on 14 points, four points above the relegation zone.
In their last five games in all competitions, Grimsby have one win, one draw and three losses. Gavan Holohan and Abo Eisa gave Grimsby a 2 - 0 lead after 30 minutes, but would go into halftime level after Liam Kelly and Ronan Darcy scored for Crawley Town. The second half was level for the rest of normal time, but Danilo Orsi popped up in the 96th minute with a goal for Crawley as they won 3 - 2. Grimsby lost once again at Swindon, this time Dan Kemp and Jake Cain scored for Swindon as they won 2 - 1 with Donovan Wilson on the scoresheet for Grimsby.
Grimsby bounced back against Barrow. Danny Rose and Wilson both scored in the 2 - 1 win over Barrow with Sam Foley scoring for Barrow. The draw came against Tranmere with Rose scoring once again, this time with Rekeil Pyke, as Grimsby drew 2 - 2, Kieron Morris and Connor Jennings on the scoresheet for Tranmere.
Last time out for Grimsby was against Bradford in the Football League Trophy. Pyke opened the scoring but Ciaran Kelly and Emmanuel Osadebe scored to give Bradford the 2 - 1 win, despite Osadebe being sent off late on.
Accrington Stanley, on the other hand, sit 11th in League Two. After 12 games, Accrington have five wins, two draws and five losses. This leaves them on 17 points, just three points adrift of the last Play-off place.
In their last five games in all competitions Accrington have two wins, one draw and two losses. Accrington slumped to a 2 - 0 defeat against Tranmere with Joshua Hawkes scoring a brace as Jay Rich-Baghuelou sent off for Accrington. The Owd’ Reds then hosted Stockport, who raced to a 3 - 0 lead through goals from Isaac Olaofe, Will Collar and Louie Barry. Jack Nolan did score in the 87th minute, but it wasn’t enough as Stockport won 3 - 1.
The draw came against Morecambe, with James Connolly opening the scoring for Morecambe and Tommy Leigh equalising for Accrington with a penalty in the 70th minute as the game finished 1 - 1. A win for Accrington came against Forest Green Rovers. Josh Andrews bagged a brace for Accrington in the 2 - 1 win, with Mathew Stevens scoring for Forest Green.
The most recent outing for Accrington came against Harrogate Town in the Football League Trophy. Lewis Trickett scored twice and Korede Adedoyin scored a hat-trick in a 5 - 3 win for Accrington.
Grimsby and Accrington Stanley have met just 13 times in their histories with the first meeting coming back in 2006. Accrington have the better record in the fixture with seven wins in comparison to Grimsby’s four wins, with the other two meetings ending in a draw.