Grimsby Town boss Paul Hurst has described tonight’s visitors Carlisle United as having a “brave style of play” which warrants respect.
The Mariners clash with the Blues at Blundell Park appears to be a banker draw for many regular League Two pundits.
Speaking to the Grimsby website Hurst said: “I think Carlisle, in general, are quite brave in their approach and commit men forward.
“In the Swindon game, it looked like they were going man for man with a high press to try and stop them playing, so that is something we may have to deal with.”
A win and two draws put Carlisle a point ahead of Grimsby – a win, a draw and a loss so far.
This one looks too close to call with Hurst intent on his side maintaining a solid return to the EFL and Paul Simpson focused on continuing the improvement he initiated on his return to the club.
Hurst went on: “In the league, they have lined up with a three, stroke, five at the back with the wing-backs getting high up the pitch often with the main tweaks being in the midfield.
“We’ve certainly got an idea of how they might set up, but we don’t know for certain.
“We’ve been the same in the sense that I have tweaked little things positionally, so we can do all the tactical work and research but depend on the circumstances of the game early on, they might decide to make a change and vice-versa.
“I don’t think they necessarily set up to concede possession; they have come up against teams like Crawley and Swindon, who, from my understanding, are teams that want to control the ball and play out from the back.
“In terms of how we set up and the personnel we use, I want to try and keep things fresh because the games always come thick and fast at the start of the season, especially with us progressing in the cup.
“That will hopefully give Carlisle something to think about as well going into tonight’s game, and it is nice when other squad players come in and perform well, as it makes you more confident as a manager in being able to change the team regularly.”
In the Blues camp Simpson said: “Grimsby is never an easy place to go, and I’ve told the players that if they win their home games and get points away then they’ll be on track.
“With a draw on Saturday we have to do it the other way round this week, we have to go to Grimsby and make sure we do what we can to get a win there.
“I watched them last season where I thought they were a really good side. We had them watched earlier on in the season where they were a little bit conservative in the way they played.
“I’m sure getting a 92nd minute winner from Waterfall, they will want to go and build on that. We’ve just got to keep building on what we’re doing.
“I still believe every game is 90 percent about us and 10 percent the opposition. If we go and get our bit right, I hope we’ve enough to get a result.
“We’re unbeaten at the moment, and I think we’d have taken that. I think the performance against Colchester probably deserved a bit more, but we reacted in the right way after we took a bit of a sucker punch.
“We did that again on Saturday, we’ve shown good character and personality, and we have to do it again tonight.”
