JOINT boss Rob Scott hailed the versatility of his Grimsby Town side – saying his players can win 'any way they need to' ahead of a hectic run-in that begins with tomorrow night's trip to Nuneaton (7.45pm).
Scott acknowledged that the Mariners were far from their best in Saturday's 1-0 win over AFC Telford, but was pleased with the way his players ground out another three points to maintain their lead at the top of the Blue Square Bet Premier.
That victory sends Town into tomorrow night's trip to Nuneaton – their first of three midweek games in consecutive weeks – on a high.
Scott believes the Mariners will need to call on all both their footballing and battling qualities from now until the end of the season.
Speaking to the Telegraph, he said: "We've been on a fantastic run and I'd like to stand here and say we'll win every game from here until the end of the season playing wonderful football, but it's not going to work that way. If we need to grind out results, we'll do that.
"That's the biggest difference with the squad that we've got – they can win any way they need to.
"They can play good football, but they can also grind out results and they've shown that in the space of just over a week from playing Luton in the Trophy to Saturday against Telford.
"Alfreton last week wasn't pretty, but we won that and on Saturday we got the points again.
"We'd like it to be all plain sailing from now until the end of the season, but it's not always going to be like that. Teams are going to want to come here and try and put one over us.
"They know what we're all about now and they're going to try and set up against us.
"And it's down to us to find different ways to beat that opposition.
"It's going to be a tough run-in but we're picking up points and that's the most pleasing aspect."
Scott revealed that despite the result on Saturday, the Mariners' dressing-room wasn't entirely satisfied with their performance – and the boss pointed to that work ethic as one of the main reasons for their success so far this season.
"A few were not totally happy in their own performances even though we won the game," he continued.
"You don't always want to see that because you want them to be playing well all the time, but they are a good honest bunch and they know when they're not playing to their full potential.
"That's the pleasing thing about this group of players; they always want to be better.
"Saturday was another clean sheet and defenders and keepers loves that, but Shaun Pearson, for example, still came off and said there were things that he felt he could have done better.
"That shows what this group are all about, they are conscientious and want to do better. We know we need to keep improving every week and the players take that on board – that's a good sign."
