Grimsby cruise to five-goal FA Cup win over St Albans
Conor Townsend celebrated extending his loan deal at Grimsby by playing a pivotal role in his side's 5-1 hammering of St Albans City in their FA Cup first-round clash at Blundell Park.
The 22-year-old left-back lengthened his stay from Hull City until January on Friday and his sublime first half free-kick, and eye-catching performance overall, set the Mariners on their way to a comfortable victory.
Two goals from Padraig Amond and a strike apiece for Jon-Paul Pittman and Marcus Marshall sealed the win.
The Mariners were in the ascendancy from the first whistle and a slick move resulted in Joe Welch making a smart save from overlapping Townsend on seven minutes.
The hosts opened the scoring on the half-hour mark - Townsend curling a quite beautiful 25-yard free-kick into the top corner.
The lead was doubled in first-half stoppage-time when substitute Amond, who had been on the pitch less than three minutes, took advantage of a mix up in the St Albans defence to burst through and prod the ball home.
The National League South strugglers pulled a goal back on 62 minutes when Louie Theophanous hit a fine effort in off the bar.
But just as the visitors began to grow in belief, Pittman crashed the ball home from Nathan Arnold's low centre in the 70th minute.
Substitute Marshall skipped through some tired challenges in the 85th minute to score before Amond nodded home in injury time to seal the win.
Source: PA
