Grimsby Town Under 18’s made the long trip to Crewe Alexandra on Tuesday night in the First Round of the FA Youth Cup having won in two qualifying rounds to get there.

It was a difficult night for the young Mariners against a strong Crewe side who started the game well having lots of possession and Town struggling to break the opposition down, when they did they lacked that final ball or quality to create any real openings.

Crewe opened the scoring after 20 minutes with a neat finish inside the box.

Town battled away and did have some spells when Scott struck over the bar and a corner ricocheted around in the box but just wouldn’t fall for Town.

Crewe then doubled their lead on halftime after Town failed to clear their lines leaving a simple finish for the Crewe forward.

During the second half, Town started the brighter, as Milner saw his shot blocked and Town were on top. Branwell’s header hit the bar from a corner from the resulting corner kick.

Braithwaite also went close when he shot over from the edge of the box. Braithwaite also made the keeper pulled off a fine save from distance.

That was it for Town though as Crewe added a third from range to seal the match.

Next up for Town is Bradford City in the league on Saturday 11am at Bradley Football Development Centre.