Stevenage fell to a 3-1 defeat at Grimsby Town on Tuesday Night as goals from Whitehouse, Clarke and Vernam made for a miserable evening in North East Lincolnshire...

Despite a positive first half in particular in which Boro created plenty of goal scoring opportunities, the hosts went into the break 1-0 up. In the second half despite plenty of effort and will to attack, things got worse for Stevenage, as Grimsby scored twice more, albeit the second coming via an innocuous looking penalty.

Lakin scored in added time to give Boro the feintest of hopes to rescue the game, but the Mariners were able to see out the win to pick up all three points.

Boro got off to a bright start, creating two good chances inside the opening two minutes. First, Carter – looking to score his third goal in as many league games - skewed a left footed strike wide from the edge of the box, before Jackson cut inside on his left foot to curve an effort towards the top corner, only to see McKeown claw the ball away.

But then, in the 16th minute, a deep cross towards the back-post was sent towards the towering Hanson and despite Farman keeping out the initial header, Whitehouse was on-hand to gobble up the rebound.

Stevenage looked for an instant response and after patient play by Carter in the build-up to allow the play to develop, he off-loaded to Cassidy who played-in James-Wildin, whose shot was blocked.

Digby had a pop at goal from 22 yards soon after and then Jackson was presented with a golden opportunity to level things up on the volley from eight yards out, but his effort lacked power and McKeown was able to save.

It was all Stevenage in the race for the second goal and Carter came close again on 24 minutes, taking the ball down brilliantly from 30 yards out before working the space to shoot, only to see his shot take a deflection, reducing the pace on the ball and allowing McKeown to make the stop.

A poor pass across the midfield allowed Grimsby a chance at a second in the 33rd minute, but Hanson was forced too far wide and his ambitious effort was never troubling Farman.

Boro were as threatening as they had been all season throughout the first half, but a lack of quality in-front of goal combined with a moment of hesitation at the other, meant that Grimsby lead at the break.

After struggling to make any in-roads inside the opening 15 minutes of the half and just as Graham Westley was preparing to bring on new loanee David Parkhouse, the Referee awarded Grimsby a penalty as Cuthbert collided with Clifton, allowing Billy Clarke the chance to convert from the spot, which he duly did to make it 2-0.

Parkhouse replaced Jackson immediately after before List came on for Denton, as Boro attempted to throw everything at the match in-order to rescue at least a point.

It was Grimsby that pushed on though, scoring a third on 72 minutes as Vernam ran half the length of the pitch before buying the ball past the helpless Farman to all but wrap up the points.

Boro continued to try to and get back into the game and Lakin hit a sweet strike in added time to put Stevenage on the scoreboard, but it was too little too late as Grimsby won 3-1.

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