Halifax fall again to close rival to add to FA Cup derby dismay

The result means another defeat for Halifax against teams around them, adding to losses to Bristol Rovers and Forest Green.

The visitors looked happy to soak up early Grimsby pressure and hit them on the break, and the hosts struggled to breach the well-constructed defensive wall in front of them.

Only from a Halifax corner did Grimsby find the room they sought, breaking quickly through Scott Neilson before Harry Pell’s shot was saved by Matt Glennon.

Lenell John-Lewis then found space inside the area but sliced his volley wide before spurning an even better chance by heading off target from six yards.

Halifax looked set to reach the break at 0-0, but just as half-time was looming Pearson rose superbly to power in a header from Grimsby’s sixth corner of the half.

Halifax almost did go in level when Marc Roberts’s header was cleared off the line before Lois Maynard fired wide from almost the same spot on the pitch from which he had done so late on against Bradford City on Sunday in the FA Cup.

Grimsby nearly scored again when Nathan Arnold’s cross was tipped onto the bar before Aristote Nsiala’s header was cleared off the line by Simon Ainge. Pell’s drive from outside the box shaved a post but it was Halifax applying all the pressure late on, with Richard Peniket going closest, heading Adam Smith’s cross wide on the stretch.

Grimsby: McKeown, Thomas, Pearson, Magnay (Clay 55), Pell, Arnold, Parslow, Disley, Neilson (Mackreth 85), John-Lewis, Nsiala. Unused substitutes: Brown, Hannah, Pittman.

Halifax: Glennon, K Roberts, Ainge, M Roberts, McGinty (Smith 71), McManus, Maynard, Marshall, Peniket, Dyer, Boden (Schofield 77). Unused substitutes: Senior, Bolton.

Referee: Ross Joyce (Cleveland).