Heritage Number #1163
Twenty-five years ago, Cheltenham’s Whaddon Road set the scene for a match that, at the time, had little to do with Grimsby Town. In the years that followed, however, it would become an early chapter in a career that eventually led the Mariners back to the Football League after six years away.
On August 25th 2001, a 20-year-old Craig Disley walked out onto the Whaddon Road pitch as a Mansfield Town player. By the 47th minute he had headed home a brace of goals to put his side 2-0 up with the first two goals of his senior career. The match finished 3-2 to Disley’s team and, unbeknownst to him, marked the beginning of a career that would go down in Mariners history.
The brace was more than just an eye-catching introduction. Disley would go on to score seven league goals in his first season at Mansfield, helping Stuart Watkiss’s side secure promotion to the Second Division. For a 20-year-old midfielder, it was a promising beginning, but few could have imagined where his career would eventually take him.
A decade later, Disley would find himself at Blundell Park, beginning a six-year spell that would see him become one of the defining figures of a new era for Grimsby Town.
In June 2011, Disley made a move that, on the face of it, looked like a step backwards. He left a Shrewsbury Town side that had finished fourth in League Two for a Grimsby team preparing for its second season in non-league. For the former Mansfield man, it was an opportunity that he had actively sought after. “I declined other clubs’ approaches because I’d made my mind up after seeing the place, the training ground and meeting the manager.”
In his first season, the midfielder made 44 starts and picked up one goal and four assists. There was little to celebrate from a team perspective, however, with the Mariners finishing 11th in the Conference, well outside the play-off spots.
By the time his second season in Cleethorpes rolled around, Disley was handed the captain’s armband. The 2012–13 campaign saw a dramatic improvement at Blundell Park. By the end of the season, the newly appointed captain had led his side into the promotion play-offs, while also helping book a trip to Wembley for the FA Trophy final.
Unfortunately, neither would end in glory. Newport County edged Grimsby 2-0 on aggregate in the play-off semi-finals, before Wrexham held the Mariners to a 1-1 draw at Wembley and prevailed 4-1 on penalties in the FA Trophy final.
Disley and his side were not to be deterred, though, with the following season ending with another trip to the play-offs. The captain finished as the club’s second-highest scorer with 12 goals in all competitions. Two of those came in the semi-final against Gateshead, as Disley found the net in both legs. They would ultimately count for little, however, with Gateshead prevailing 4-2 on aggregate and leaving Grimsby to contemplate another season outside the Football League.
In the 2014-15 season, they were back for more after finishing third in the Conference. This time, Grimsby faced Eastleigh in the semi-finals, with another trip to Wembley on the line. A 5-1 aggregate victory over the south coast side booked their place under the famous arch once again, giving the former Mansfield man another opportunity to lead his side out at the national stadium.
The Mariners led the final in just under two minutes, Lenell John-Lewis’ strike giving them the perfect start. Bristol Rovers replied on the half-hour mark, courtesy of Ellis Harrison. Once again, penalties beckoned for Disley and his side. The captain stepped up first, sending the keeper the wrong way to convert. But there would be no happy ending once again. Jon-Paul Pittman’s miss left Grimsby trailing in the shootout, before Lee Mansell converted the decisive penalty to send Bristol Rovers back to the Football League.
For Disley, it was a third consecutive play-off failure. Yet despite the disappointment, he committed his future to Grimsby for another year. There was little time to dwell on another Wembley setback, though, with the Mariners back at Blundell Park for 2015–16 and the objective unchanged: finally take Grimsby back to where they belonged.
Grimsby finished fourth in the National League, securing another place in the play-offs. Braintree Town were the team standing between them and another trip to Wembley. The first leg left Grimsby staring down the barrel of a fourth consecutive play-off heartbreak, with Braintree winning 1-0 courtesy of a Kenny Davis penalty. The second leg was a different story.
Two second-half goals turned the tie on its head. Padraig Amond levelled the aggregate score from the penalty spot in the 75th minute before Omar Bogle struck in extra time, sending Grimsby through 2-1 on aggregate. Once again, Disley was heading to Wembley.
Promotion back to the football league was within touching distance again. Only Forest Green Rovers stood between the Mariners and a return to the Football League.
The breakthrough came just before half-time. Omar Bogle headed Grimsby in front before reacting quickest to double the advantage moments later, sending the Mariners into the interval 2-0 ahead. Forest Green threatened a comeback when Keanu Marsh-Brown reduced the deficit in the 60th minute, but Grimsby held firm. Then, in the fourth minute of stoppage time, Nathan Arnold put the result beyond doubt.
The final whistle confirmed what Disley and Grimsby had been chasing for years: a 3-1 victory and promotion back to the Football League after six seasons away. After three consecutive play-off disappointments, the captain had finally led the Mariners back to where they belonged.
Twenty-five years earlier, a 20-year-old Craig Disley had scored the first two goals of his senior career at Whaddon Road, with no idea of the journey that lay ahead. What began as a promising afternoon in Cheltenham had eventually become the opening chapter of a career that would see him lift Grimsby Town back into the Football League.
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