GRIMSBY Town gave the Blundell Park faithful an early Christmas present with last night's fine 2-1 victory over promotion rivals Forest Green Rovers.
The Mariners stretched the gap between them and the Gloucestershire outfit to six points thanks to goals from Lenell John-Lewis and Craig Disley.
Chris Stokes had equalised for Ady Pennock's men but it wasn't enough, as Town signed off for Christmas in style.
After a largely forgettable opening ten minutes – with the only talking point being whether Sam Russell had handled outside his area – Marcus Kelly drilled a poor free-kick into the Town wall after a foul on the edge of the box.
Only an excellent stretching header from Shaun Pearson prevented James Norwood from getting on the end of Chris Stokes' fine, cross-field ball and Norwood's theatrical dive then won a free-kick that he deflected off the wall and into the path of Jon Parkin, who flicked over from ten yards.
At the other end, good work from John-Lewis forced Luke Oliver to concede a deep throw that was worked to Carl Magnay, who twisted and turned before delivering a fine ball into Jon-Paul Pittman, but he lifted his header on to the roof of Russell's goal.
Parslow set the US-born striker loose the touchline, and he shrugged off the challenge of Luke Oliver before squaring to John-Lewis, who saw his close-range shot blocked while, minutes later, Russell spilled behind the frontman's well-struck effort.
After the resulting corner was cleared, John-Lewis and Russell went head-to-head again – and this time, it was the Town man who won out.
After intercepting the ball, Magnay used the outside of his right boot to carve a superb ball into the box, and with Russell hesitating, John-Lewis went in bravely to dink the ball over the keeper for his 14th of the season.
Looking for another, Pittman again showed his marker a clean pair of heels before seeing his shot from the angle charged down after cutting into the box from the flank.
Town were firmly on top, but when a long ball evaded Magnay, Parkin cleverly laid back into the path of the onrushing Norwood but, one-on-one, he couldn't find a way past James McKeown, who produced a fine save.
On the stroke of half-time, the Rovers' forward pulled the ball out of the air superbly, just inside the box, but the quality of his shot didn't match the quality of his first-touch, as he carved a poor effort past the right-hand post.
John-Lewis' impressive burst earned Town a corner just before the break, but when that came to nothing, referee Darren England promptly sent the two sides in at the break.
Rovers started brightly and it was only a slack touch that prevented Kurtis Guthrie from getting an early sight of goal, while at the other end, Brown's cute ball into the box found Pittman, who drew a stunning, low save from Russell down to his right.
Parkin steered a tame effort on goal seven minutes after of the break and a minute later, Ady Pennock's men won another free-kick that Guthrie flicked into the arms of McKeown.
Rovers' bright spell owed much to the fact that Town were gifting the ball back to them with over-cooked balls in the swirling wind.
But when Town did keep it on the deck, Brown found himself space and advanced on goal.
After spying Mackreth bursting up on his right, he paused before feeding his fellow Scouser, who saw his one-on-one effort kicked away by Russell.
Brown was next to try his luck when he scuffed an effort at goal after Coles' shoddy clearance.
And the hosts were made to pay for their missed opportunities when, just after the hour mark, the visitors drew level.
Parkin picked up the ball on the edge of the box and with Town appealing for offside, he fed Norwood into the channel, whose shot was deflected up and into the air. A poor headed clearance fell to Stokes who steadied himself before volleying past McKeown.
Rovers were getting on top, with Parkin becoming more and more of a presence. The man nicknamed the Beast used all of his experience to draw another foul from Pearson, but ballooned over the resulting free-kick.
Hurst responded by bringing on Craig Clay for Scott Brown and immediately from that restart, Town retook the lead in fine style.
John-Lewis picked up the 25 yards out, turned and clipped an impudent ball over the back-four and into the path of Disley, who poked past Russell to put his side back into the lead.
Stung by falling behind after enjoying their best spell of the game, Rovers looked for an instant response as Guthrie saw his shot blocked superbly by Nsiala before McKeown palmed over Norwood's stinger seconds later.
Scott Neilson replaced the tiring Pittman, with Arnold going up top with John-Lewis while Lee Hughes replaced Norwood.
With less than five minutes to go, another Rovers player took a tumble and the referee blew up for another free-kick and somehow, Marcus Kelly's free-kick went all the way through the box and Blundell Park drew a collective sigh of relief.
The fourth official indicated four minutes of stoppage time to be played but that looked certain to be added to when Magnay went down with a nasty-looking head injury. Dazed, but on his feet, the Geordie trudged off and was replaced by Bignot for the final seconds.
When it came, the referee's whistle – his last of the night – received a much warmer reception than it had previously, as he called time on a fine victory for the Mariners.
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