David Artell felt Grimsby were good value for their 2-1 home victory over Bradford with a ruthless edge being the one thing missing from their performance.
Mariners skipper Danny Rose scored his first goal of the season before half-time and Icelandic import Jason Dadi Svanthorsson scored his first goal in English football after the break to give Grimsby a two-goal advantage.
Half-time substitute Olly Sanderson pulled one back for the Bantams in the 78th minute and Graham Alexander’s side pushed for a leveller, but it was too little, too late for the visitors in the end as they fell to their first league defeat of the campaign.
Artell did not have much choice for midfield changes to stem the late Bradford fightback, but full-backs Lewis Cass and Matthew Carson came on and steadied the ship in the middle late on.
The Grimsby boss said: “I thought we were full value for the three points and were dominating the game until we ran out of legs and had to bring on two full-backs to play in midfield, who I thought were brilliant when they came on.
“If I’d have known they would do that well I would’ve brought them on earlier, but that is where we’re at.
“I thought we played some really good stuff and should’ve been out of sight which would be the one small criticism I would give the performance.
“We’re not consistent enough in the things we do just yet but that is part of the journey. We should’ve been more ruthless, which could be the weight of the final pass or making sure you hit the target.
“We’ve come up against one of the best squads in the league and beaten them, and the only bad thing was that it was nervy towards the end because we hadn’t scored more. We’re on the right track and we keep making these small improvements in what is a real tough start that we’re in the middle of.”
Alexander was honest in his assessment of Bradford’s performance, agreeing with Artell’s perspective with regards to which team was more deserving of the victory at Blundell Park.
The Bradford boss added: “I don’t think we deserved to win the game in the end so we have to analyse where we can be better. We defended terribly – they scored a goal where they’ve gone from one penalty area to the other, which they should never do.
“If I’m speaking honestly [we need to be better] all over. We spoke about the basics before the game, and I think the majority of the duels across the pitch were won by them. We get back in the game and score a goal, but we can’t pretend that we deserved three points because we didn’t.”
