Hurst - Grimsby Town can't just rely on powerful frontman

PAUL Hurst insists Grimsby Town cannot afford to rely on the form of Lenell John-Lewis to pull them through games.

Against Welling on Saturday, the burly striker had to leave the pitch with a cut to his forehead – the second he's received in as many matches.

Hurst feels there was a dip in his side's performance after the enforced substitution as the Mariners went on to lose the fixture 1-0.

And the joint boss was disappointed with the reaction to the former Bury man's departure.

Hurst said: "Obviously we lost Lenny to another cut on Saturday and I think that had a negative impact on us as a team.

"That's far from an excuse because we shouldn't be pinning our hopes on one player.

"These things happen but, at the minute, he's looking a really big player for us.

"It was another positive performance from him on Saturday and we would have liked to have kept him on for longer.

"There's no getting away from the fact that when he went off, we didn't play as well.

He added: "These things usually come in threes don't they?

"He's had two bad cuts in a row now so we might have to make sure he gets one in training to get it out of the way!"