Harrogate Town 1-4 Grimsby Town - FA Cup fourth qualifying round
Relive the match updates at: LIVE: Harrogate Town v Grimsby Town
Brendon Daniels fired Harrogate into the lead after 14 minutes when he swept home following a sharp turn inside the box by Dominic Knowles.
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Hide AdGrimsby, who sit third in the Vanarama National League, pulled level before the break when Padraig Amond crashed home Omar Bogle’s cross from close range.
Controversy followed shortly after when Daniels looked to have been upended inside the Grimsby area, but his protestations only earned him a yellow card for simulation.
Referee Simon Bennett was again at the heart of the action after the break with a similarly contentious decision. The official awarded a penalty to Grimsby winger Nathan Arnold, despite Harrogate defender Lewis Turner appearing to win the ball in a clean challenge.
Prolific marksman Omar Bogle had the resultant spot-kick saved by Peter Crook low down to his left but the striker headed home the follow up into the opposite corner.
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Hide AdTwo minutes later, Arnold escaped down the left from a long ball and slid a shot past Crook to deflate the home support and send the higher league side closer towards a place in the hat for the first round.
Harrogate were rattled and struggled to find the same rhythm that had caused issues in the first half, while Grimsby grew in confidence and began to move the ball around nicely.
Simon Weaver shuffled his pack using all three substitutions for the hosts.
Paul Thirlwell made a welcome return from injury, while Jack Emmett and Dave McGurk were also introduced for Paul Clayton, Joe Colbeck and the injured Luke Shiels.
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Hide AdGrimsby were forced into a change, too, when Bogle went off with a head injury with 20 minutes remaining. His replacement, Jon-Paul Pittman was soon causing the same mischief, though, and he played a killer pass to put Amond in for the game’s final goal.
The striker sealed his side’s progression with his second of the afternoon, latching onto Pittman’s pass and cushioning the ball past Crook.
Grimsby could have extended their lead further late on, but Amond was denied his hat-trick by the linesman’s offside flag after cleverly lifting over Crook.
Read more reaction, analysis and comments in Thursday’s Harrogate Advertiser.