Grimsby Town vs Slough Town (FA Cup): Prediction, team news, injuries

The Grimsby Telegraph sports reporter Sam Allen gives the low down on Slough Town’s opponents in the FA Cup tonight (Tuesday).

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How have the Mariners been doing since they faced Slough Town on Sunday, November 5?

They have played just once since the first game, but it was a big one for Town, who needed to get back to winning ways to stop the league slide, and they did with a 3-2 home victory against play-off-placed Morecambe. It was just their fourth win of the season and the first for the interim coaching pair of Ben Davies and Shaun Pearson - a much-improved performance from their first game in charge of the team against Slough.

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Did they expect to beat Slough Town?

I do not think Town underestimated Slough at all, given they were on the right side of a few FA Cup upsets themselves last season on their historic run to the quarter-finals, beating five teams from leagues above in a row. There was an obvious disappointment though with the performance, particularly in the first half when the team struggled to adapt to the conditions. Davies was happy to see the team come back from behind in the end, something that had not done a whole lot this term, but they will of course want to see a better overall performance for the replay.

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Will they be fielding a stronger XI tonight?

Grimsby have a big league game at the weekend, away at Forest Green Rovers, who are also around the bottom of the League Two table currently, so it will be vital for Town to go there and get something from that game. That could play a factor in the selection on Tuesday night, but another thing that will affect selection is the two players that have gone away on international duty, wingers Otis Khan (Pakistan) and Abo Eisa (Sudan) who likely would have played some role in this game. I still expect it to be a relatively strong team, because momentum is important in football, however it comes, and Town have not done a whole lot of winning this term so they could do without an upset here.

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How are they likely to play?

The team’s style of play has not been clearly defined for most of this season, hence the poor form, but on Saturday we saw a much livelier performance with effective high pressing that we're used to seeing from the team and precise attacking play. Town like to push the ball wide if they can and get crosses into the box for their forward players, with the midfielders encouraged to make late runs into the box also. Off the ball, they are a great pressing team at their best and they force a lot of turnovers around the opposition box.

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Will playing at home be an advantage for them tonight?

It certainly should, given one of the main points made after the first game was the fact that Grimsby struggled to deal with the conditions at Slough, the astroturf pitch in particular as it is a surface that they are not used to playing on. Therefore, playing in more familiar conditions should give Town more of an edge and allow them to settle into their game a lot easier.

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Injuries/suspensions?

A couple missing on international duty as I mentioned, right-back Michee Efete is confirmed to be out with an injury, and there are a couple of unnamed players who are “struggling” from the weekend’s game so likely will not be risked from the start.

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Likely lineup and formation?

4-2-3-1 / 4-3-3 – Cartwright; Mullarkey, Rodgers, Maher, Amos; Conteh, Hunt; Clifton, Holohan, Wilson; Rose.

Jake Eastwood could be given another chance in goal over Harvey Cartwright, and Luke Waterfall could come in at centre-back in other potential changes.