Hatters chief hails Grimsby win as 'massive'
The visitors had to play for over an hour with 10 men after Jordan Cook’s brainless sending off, but they took the lead through James Collins’ 13th of the season from close range early in the second period and then clung on for another crucial triumph.
With Notts County in FA Cup action, it saw Town extend their lead at the top to nine points, while they are also 11 points in front of fourth placed Wycombe as well.
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Hide AdJones said: “It’s a massive win, a huge win, it really is, in the context of everything, it’s an absolute massive win.
“The way we’ve dug in and grafted, going down to 10 men, we said we’d get one opportunity and we have to take that opportunity and we did.
“Then they just showed a real grit and a desire to defend their box and it’s all about results these days, it wasn’t pretty in any way from us, but I’d have taken that all day long.”
Although the Mariners understandably dominated possession in the second period, they were kept at arm’s length by the Hatters for long periods, with keeper Marek Stech having little to do in the way of genuine saves.
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Hide AdJones added: “I thought we had probably slightly better opportunities (in the second half).
“They had a counter attack where Johnny Mullins has done well and delayed and got a touch on it and if Lawson (D’Ath) could have stayed on his feet we had three v one.
“There wasn’t many real clear-cut opportunities in the game, they obviously dominated possession second half having the man and putting three at the back, so it means we couldn’t press and get out.
“But I thought we defended stoutly you could see at the end how delighted they were with that as they felt that was a big win.”