Match report by David Elliott at Millmoor
GRIMSBY Town stand just three wins from a visit to Wembley after a hard-earned win over Rotherham United at a rainy Millmoor.
The Mariners marched into the Northern area quarter finals of the Johnstone's Paint Trophy after a 4-2 success on penalties following a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes.
After a poor first half, Town would have felt themselves lucky to go in only one goal down at the break, with Chris O'Grady's 18th minute strike separating the sides.
It was a different story after the interval though, with Town dominating and getting their equaliser through Peter Till.
The Mariners attacked in search of a winner but the hosts held out to send the tie to penalties.
And after Toner missed Town's first spot-kick, first the post came to the Mariners' rescue, then a Barnes save, coupled with no further Grimsby mistakes from 12 yards, sent Alan Buckley's side through.
Buckley started with his strongest possible line-up, making just one change from Saturday's narrow defeat at Peterborough.
Danny North was the man to come into the side, replacing the injured Isaiah Rankin as the lone striker in a 4-5-1 formation.
Rotherham-born Phil Barnes kept his place in goal after being an injury doubt ahead of the game.
He lined up behind Ryan Bennett, Nick Fenton, Justin Whittle and Tom Newey, with Peter Till, Danny Boshell, Paul Bolland, Jamie Clarke and Ciaran Toner making up the five-man midfield behind North.
As on Saturday, Buckley selected four strikers as substitutes, with Nathan Jarman in the matchday sixteen for the first time.He was joined by Peter Bore, Gary Jones, Andy Taylor and ex-Rotherham keeper Gary Montgomery.
The hosts made four changes from their weekend win over Mansfield, with keeper Andy Warrington, Graham Coughlan, Stephen Brogan and Derek Holmes all dropping to the bench.
The referee was Nigel Miller of Durham, who booked five Town players and sent off Jon Daly in a 2-0 defeat at Scunthorpe in November 2004, before sending off Nick Fenton in the 3-0 loss at Stockport last December.
Both sides were looking to reach the third round of this competition for the first time since winning it, with Town attempting to repeat their Wembley success of 1998 and Rotherham looking back to 1996.
The home side kicked off in wet conditions playing towards a small band of travelling Mariners supporters behind the goal.
Town won the first corner after three minutes but the Millers of Rotherham had the first chance when Marc Newsham cut in from the left before shooting low from 18 yards.Barnes dived to make a comfortable save.
Chris O'Grady then saw a shot from the edge of the area deflected wide for a corner, which was cleared by the Town defence.
Jamie Yates picked the ball up on halfway after a mistake by Boshell on nine minutes.He carried it forward before shooting from 25 yards, forcing a good save from barnes and another corner.
North won a corner for Town in the 14th minute but Bennett couldn't get his head onto Boshell's delivery from the right.
Danny Harrison saw a shot go over the bar a minute later before Marcus Bean had an effort deflected for a corner as the hosts looked to turn their dominance into an opening goal.
That goal wasn't long in coming, as on 18 minutes, Newsham got the ball on the edge of the area before laying it back to CHRIS O'GRADY, who shot first time past Barnes and into the top corner.
Rotherham deserved their early lead as they had created several good chances while the Mariners struggled to carve out any openings in front of goal.
Town made their first change after 23 minutes, bringing on Gary Jones in place of Jamie Clarke as the Mariners reverted to 4-4-2.
Rotherham could have gone further ahead when a centre towards Newsham was cut out by Newey three minutes later.
Then Grimsby had their first shot of the evening, Danny Boshell driving just over the bar from 25 yards.
Town began to get more possession and played some good football across the midfield and down the right through Bennett and Till.
But still the Mariners created little in the way of goalscoring chances and if there was to be a second goal, the sparse crowd inside Millmoor would have expected the home side to be increasing their lead rather than Town getting back on level terms.
And even the Town fans in attendance would doubtless agree that Rotherham should have doubled their advantage on 37 minutes.Peter Holmes found himself inside the box, one-on-one with Barnes but he somehow managed to slide his shot wide.
The Millers then won a free kick on the right by the corner flag a minute later, which led to Newsham turning the ball wide from close range.
Two minutes were added before Mr Miller ended a first half where Grimsby had struggled to make any impression on the goal guarded by debutant Jamie Annerson.
Aside from Boshell's shot from around 25 yards, Town had created very little and could perhaps count themselves fortunate to be going in at the break only one goal down.
Rotherham had dominated the half in terms of scoring chances and would probably have felt they should have secured their passage into the Northern area quarter finals in the opening 45 minutes.
As it was though, only O'Grady's strike separated the sides at the interval, giving the Mariners every chance of staying in the competition, subject to a better showing after the restart.
Grimsby began the second half by replacing Danny North with Andy Taylor.And the Mariners won an early free kick for a foul on Boshell 30 yards out in a central position.Newey fired his shot straight into the Rotherham wall.
Grimsby began purposefully and won a string of early corners as they pushed for an equalising goal.
And the Mariners got their leveller five minutes after the break.
Town counter-attacked after a Rotherham corner through Peter Till.He played a one-two with Toner before racing into the box.Unchallenged, TILL slid the ball past Annerson and into the bottom-left corner in front of the 205 travelling Town supporters.
Andy Taylor won a corner for Town after a good challenge by Ryan Cresswell before Toner shot just over from the edge of the area.
Rotherham then had the chance to create a goalscoring opportunity when they were awarded a free kick for a push by Boshell but Jamie Yates shot over from 25 yards.
Yates had another chance to attack the Town defence on 61 minutes, moving into the box before having his shot deflected for a corner.
Town broke again a minute later through Toner and Till.The ball came to Bolland on the edge of the area but his goalbound shot was cleared for a corner.
Just as at Peterborough on Saturday, the game had been much better since half time, with Town now looking the better of the two sides, buoyed by their early second half goal and aided by the pace of Taylor.
Good play by Newey on 68 minutes almost led to Town taking the lead.The Mariners left back turned his man before crossing but Jones couldn't connect properly with the header.
Rotherham made a substitution straight afterwards, sending on Stephen brogan to replace Peter Holmes.
Grimsby won another corner three minutes later, which eventually led to toner curling a shot just wide of the far post from out on the left.
Toner then had another go a minute later, drilling a shot in from outside the box that was pushed wide by Annerson for a Town corner.
Rotherham used their second substitution to put Derek Holmes on in place of the goalscorer, Chris O'Grady with 15 minutes to go.
Till had a shot deflected over from 30 yards soon afterwards before Fenton headed over from the resulting corner.
Then Newey shot from a similar distance but had less success, hitting the top of the stand.
So far, the second half had been something of a role reversal from the first, with Grimsby now doing all of the attacking and suffering very few problems at the other end.
As the game moved into the final ten minutes, the volume seemed to be turned up around Millmoor as both sets of supporters tried to encourage their teams towards what would surely be a winning goal.
But at the same time, those fans knew the game had to be settled on the night, and a penalty shoot-out loomed large.
Town had a great chance to win the game in the last minute of normal time when Toner picked the ball up on the left of the box before unleashing a fierce curling shot.Unfortunately for the Mariners, it went just the wrong side of the far post.
Two minutes of added time were signalled as Town looked to avoid the spot kicks by grabbing the goal their play had deserved.
But in the end, it wasn't to be decided in the 90 minutes and after Grimsby had played so well in the second half, their fate was to be decided from twelve yards.
Toner saw his penalty saved but Town were given a let off when Newsham hit the post with his effort for the home side.
Grimsby then scored each of their remaining penalties, while Barnes saved from Holmes to take Town through to the Northern last eight.
Penalties
Toner - SAVED (low to right)
Newsham - MISSED (hit post)
Newey - SCORED (centre) 1-0
Harrison - SCORED (bottom left) 1-1
Boshell - SCORED (in off post) 2-1
Holmes - SAVED (bottom left) 2-1
Taylor - SCORED (top right) 3-1
Brogan - SCORED (top right) 3-2
Till - SCORED (bottom right) 4-2
