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Paul Hurst was delighted with the attitude of his Grimsby Town players as they battled to a hard-fought 1-0 win over one of League Two’s in-form teams at Sutton United.

The Mariners became the first road team to win at Gander Green Lane since November and ended Sutton’s nine-game unbeaten streak with a strong performance from minute one to the end. Michee Efete came up with the goal in the first half and Town dug in defense after half-time to preserve their slim lead.

That makes it back-to-back wins and clean sheets for Grimsby heading into their big FA Cup quarter-final in Brighton on Sunday, but furthermore, Hurst was pleased to see his players’ focus wasn’t on that game as they headed . in this difficult task in Sutton.

READ MORE: Grimsby Town player ratings as resilient team effort sees Mariners to Sutton United win

Hurst said: “I was very pleased, some of it wasn’t always pretty, but it was against a Sutton team who were nine games unbeaten going into the game and had a very good home record which always gave teams a really tough game. I thought the guys took on that pit though and from what I saw it was a well deserved win.

“The little adjustment we made to the system seemed to work well. Looking at the guys, I was a little worried about their body language and behavior to begin with, but that was wrong of me. Straight from the word go they were on the bottom striker and put in a professional, hard-working and courageous performance.

“It had to be (a physical battle) and I told the players in the hotel that if I felt like someone was getting saved tonight, I just wouldn’t play them on the weekend because tonight was the biggest game at the time. so I was very pleased with the attitude they showed tonight.”

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