Grimsby Town manager Michael Jolley has emphasised the importance of getting the “right balance” against Cheltenham Town on Saturday (3pm).

The Mariners host Michael Duff’s side – who are currently second in Sky Bet League Two – at Blundell Park on Saturday, after Tuesday’s 0-0 draw away at Cambridge United.

And Jolley says his side must get the “right balance” as they look to return to winning ways in League Two.

Speaking on iFollow Mariners, he said: “We give a lot of thought to how we approach every game.

“We don’t like to change radically too much – most of the season we’ve played a back four, and I think that’s served us well.

“The defenders all played really well on Tuesday. Ludvig Öhman and Luke Waterfall were excellent alongside Mattie Pollock.

“They get paid to defend our goal and defend our box well, and they all did it really well on Tuesday.

“You only have to look at our opponents on Saturday – Cheltenham – they play 3-5-2, but they play it very aggressively.

“Their wing-backs get high and get a lot of crosses in the box, and other teams in this league use it in different ways.

“It really depends on the emphasis – whether it’s on attacking or defending, and where you put the players.

“But with every home game we want to get on the front foot and try attack our opponents.

“We want to have the right balance to us as often as we can, so we’ll give it some thought.”

And Jolley backed the Mariners to be strong at both ends of the pitch, ahead of Saturday’s game against the Robins.

He said: “We’re at home – the emphasis is on us to try and take the game on.

“But we’ve got to be careful that we don’t take it on too much because if we leave ourselves open too much we saw what happened against Leyton Orient.

“We’ve got different kinds of midfielders. Jake Hessenthaler, Ethan Robson, and Jordan Cook are more technical players.

“Other people like Elliott Whitehouse and Harry Clifton give us a different kind of thrust in midfield, and more energy, and can ask different questions of our opponents.

“So we have to make sure that we get the balance between the good attacking play that we want, and good defending as well.

“I think it’s important that we stay in the game. We’ve got to deal with set plays as well because they’re a good set play team.

“But if we’re able to do that then we think we’ve got some possibilities and some ways of scoring goals ourselves.”

Luke Hendrie will be out with a hamstring strain for the next few weeks, while James Hanson and Ethan Robson will face late fitness tests ahead of Saturday’s game, and Max Wright is expected to return to training next week.