Grimsby Town 0-2 Coventry City
City: O'Brien, Grimmer, Willis (Hyam 72), McDonald, Stokes, Doyle, Kelly, Jones (Nazon 86), Beavon (Andreu 78),, McNulty, Vincenti. Subs: Charles-Cook, Pearson, Stevenson, Biamou.
Grimsby: McKeown, Davies, Clarke (c), Dixon, Collins, Rose, Berrett, Summerfield (Jaiyesimi 72), Jones, Dembele, (Bolarinwa 83), Caldwell (Hooper 65(, Subs: Killip, Osbourne, Keeble.
Referee Richard Clark
Att 6767 (1,357 City)
Goals Marc McNulty 62, Jack Grimmer 75
Coventry City made it two out of two with a good 2-0 victory at Grimsby Town.
For many people, one down side of supporting Coventry City is that there is always something going on off the field.
There we were quite happily looking forward to the debut of Frenchman Tony Andreu, who had got himself out of a contract with Norwich City and joined City on a two year deal, when the Grimsby Safety Advisory Group decide that all Coventry City supporters are nothing more than pitch invading, flare throwing protesters and immediately order the Sky Blues to suspend ticket sales after 1350 were sold and prohibit the sale of tickets to City supporters on the day, affecting a good number who for whatever reason were unable to get to the ticket office or get on-line to purchase a ticket in advance.
This problem of ticket restrictions and whether it will be a feature of City's League 2 campaign was discussed as we made our way into Blundell Park and it's low roof in the away end, whose configuration made it easy to see why numbers were restricted, to see a City side with Dominic Hyam dropped in place of Jordan Willis.
The noise level from the City support, some of whom made a weekend of it, was excellent as the Sky Blues attacked the end opposite where the City supporters were.
That support saw abuse for former City boss Russell Slade and the willingness to want to return home as this part of North Lincolnshire is not the most salubrious.
Stuart Beavon headed wide in the eighth minute on a pitch which looked in good condition despite their Cup tie on Tuesday night having to be abandoned.
Eight minutes later and City had an escape when a Sam Jones shot from inside the area went just past the far post
Grimsby, playing in Cleethorpes. then won a corner. O'Brien dealt with that and City counted getting a free kick that Jones struck into the wall and McNulty ran to, to volley wide.
Siri Dembele was the best player on the pitch in the first half and if he continues to show his speed as he did in the opening 45 minutes, he is not likely to stay at Grimsby Town for long.
There was five minutes of the half remaining when Jones was twice fouled, once a shout for a penalty and only the second time did City get a free kick on the edge of the area .
The second half started with a City free kick and corner and some more dancing feet from Dembele for a team that was far more organised than Notts County had been.
Jack Grimmer played in Jones for a 54th minute shot which McKeown punched over for a corner that Vincenti met but headed across the face of the goal.
Twice the City fans fumed as first a handball for a penalty was not given and then Vincenti was tripped in the 57th minute with referee Mr Clark waving away the appeals.
Grimsby had one chance but in the 62nd minute, there was pandemonium in the away end when a home free kick was seized upon by Marc McNulty who rounded the keeper to score into the open net.
The Grimsby players were fuming and surrounded the match officials who awarded the goal and sparked some mad scenes amongst the jubilant 1300 City supporters.
City won a corner but had Jordan Willis limp off and replaced with Dominic Hyam with eighteen minutes to go.
McNulty won a corner in the 75th minute and took it and he picked out Jack Grimmer who powerfully headed into the net for City's second goal and mores celebrations from the City support.
Some home fans walked out as Tony Andreu came on for his debut to big cheers from the City support as there were more big cheers when a reckless tackle on Kelly saw James Berrett sent off with two minutes left.
Nazon fired over and drove wide twice late on for the Sky Blues, who worked hard with every player putting in a shift and got their reward.