“I’m not going to reveal how he got it”: Grimsby reaction after keeper cup heroics

David Artell declined to divulge the method Jake Eastwood used to save penalties following Grimsby’s shoot-out victory over City.

The Mariners’ hero was Eastwood, who closed out Brad Halliday and Neill Byrne to give the home team a 9-8 victory in the extra-inning game that decided the Carabao Cup first-round encounter.

After Byrne’s miss in the tenth round of kicks, George McEachran scored the game-winning kick in the last round. Sam Walker had previously stopped the first kick from Grimsby captain Kieran Green, but he was unable to stop the next nine.

“The guys were outstanding,” stated Artell, the Grimsby manager. “Sentry shootouts are difficult.

They are both a technical and a psychological test, and I believe we passed both with great success.

“You cannot practise the psychological aspect, but you can practise them.

Jake was aware of the route. I won’t reveal to you how he found out.

It was not in his thoughts. I won’t tell you how he obtained it.

“Miss the first one if you’re going to miss one. Numerous statistics indicate that the first and fourth penalties are the most significant.

You give yourself the best opportunity of making up for lost time if you miss early. Jake performed incredibly well, and we were well-prepared.

Just four minutes after Richie Smallwood’s City miss from the penalty spot, Donovan Wilson gave Grimsby the lead.

Andy Cook tied his former team, forcing penalties to be used in the match.

“We showed some real character,” Artell continued. We played a great first half, and I thought we scored a great goal.

We eventually ran out of legs and were unable to implement those adjustments.

“We had a scholar or two, but they had a stacked bench full of pros.” However, the guys persevered and used a shoot-out to get us over the finish line.