Grimsby Borough will take the positives from defeat

BOROUGH joint boss Nigel Fanthorpe insists there were plenty of positives – if not points – to take from the weekend defeat to AFC Emley.

The Wilderness Boys went down 2-1 at the Bradley Community Stadium thanks to two goals either side of half-time.

The visitors went ahead through Aaron Joseph's fine strike on ten minutes before Paul Sykes added a second on the hour mark.

However, Borough got themselves back into the match when Louis Grant struck on 75 minutes to set up a frantic finish.

But despite their best efforts, the hosts could not find an equaliser.

And after witnessing his team's performance, Fanthorpe was upbeat about Borough's fortunes for the remainder of the season.

"It was a good game of football at the weekend," he told the Telegraph.

"We knew Emley were going to be a good side as they're pushing for promotion and looking good.

"They're a solid, all-round side and have a good striker up top but we defended well.

"We played well but missed chances and you're always going to give yourselves a tough task if you do that.

"We gifted them the first goal really. We didn't clear our lines and then their lad stuck it straight into the top corner from 25-yards so we can't really have too many complaints – it was a great strike.

"But from our point of view, we gave it away really.

"Then in the second half, we missed an absolute sitter from three yards out.

"That should have been buried and then it's a different game.

"But as it was, they went up the other end and scored from a corner to make it 2-0.

"We made some changes, went 4-3-3, and then for 20 minutes we were all over them.

"We got the goal we deserved to really put the pressure on and, in truth, it could have gone either way."

Borough now have eight games remaining in their Baris Northern Counties East League Division One season.

And Fanthorpe believes that the Wilderness Boys can finish strongly if they replicate the kind of performance they put in against Emley.

He continued: "It wasn't a bad effort from our lads on Saturday and we can take a lot of positives from it.

"I know it's a loss and no points added but we competed well.

"Emley are paying quite a bit out for players, whereas we aren't paying anything but we took them right to the wire and, as their manager said after the game, it could have gone our way on another day – that's the way it goes.

"We look forward to our next game against Askern Villa on Saturday.

"We always seem to play well there because it's a nice, flat pitch and we hope that continues.

"If you look at their results, they look to be struggling but hopefully we can put a good performance in and get a result.

"Certainly if we put in the sort of performance that we did on Saturday, we should be ok."

He added: "We've got eight games left now and I've told the lads that we've just got to give it our best shot from here until the end of the season."