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Paul Hurst blamed “poor decisions” by his players in the final third for Grimsby Town’s failure to progress to victory in their home draw with Walsall.

The Mariners took the lead in the first 20 minutes when Bryn Morris fired from outside the penalty area, and that was after Town had made a good start to the game, but they were unable to build on that as the game progressed.

Hurst’s men went into half-time leading by one goal, but early in the second half the Saddlers equalized when Donervon Daniels converted from close range, and opportunities dried up for both teams as the match wore on.

READ MORE: Grimsby Town player ratings with Mariners unable to capitalize on strong start against Walsall

Hurst said: “The first 20 minutes or so we played very well, my concern was if we were going to score and we did. In the second half, it became a bit of a fight, I still think we did better, but they got the goal.

“(Walsall) were quite brave in their approach, throwing men forward and leaving our forwards one on one or two on two at times, so the challenge for the players was if they could find that final pass.

“There were a lot of good positions, but I didn’t make the most of them, there wasn’t much in the game and opportunities were few. There was some effort from the players, but some bad decisions in the attacking positions, which meant we didn’t test their goalkeeper massively.

There were a couple of incidents in the second period that Hurst analysed, with Niall Maher getting away with only a yellow card for a tough 50/50 challenge with Liam Kinsella, and Saddlers goalie Owen Evans getting the same treatment for shoving Andy Smith.

Hurst added: “In that situation, I thought Niall won the ball, and I belong to a generation of players where I like my players to tackle and compete to show their passion and commitment, and that’s the situation.

“It was a strong tackle, but their player wasn’t down for long. With the goalie incident, it might have seemed harsh if it was a red card, but my only point would be that if you aggressively run into someone like that and push them to the ground, you certainly put yourself in a situation where you could be sent off. off.

“If that happened somewhere else on the pitch, would it be a red card? He could have been and I’m sure Michael (Flynn) would have been mad at his goalie if he got sent off and that’s how I viewed those situations.”

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