Match report by David Elliott at Gigg Lane
GRIMSBY Town finally ended their search for a league win as they triumphed at Gigg Lane.
First half goals from Liam Trotter and Nathan Jarman did the trick for the Mariners, who claimed a first three points in 23 attempts.
And they had to do it the hard way after Jean-Paul Kalala was sent off for a second bookable offence shortly before half-time.
Bury dominated for long periods but they failed to convert their chances and were frustrated by a fantastic defensive effort from Mike Newell's men.
The ten men stood firm in the face of almost constant pressure in the second half but they had their chances to make the game safe, with substitute Danny North going close to adding a third goal at the end of the 90 minutes.
But the relief was there for all to see at full-time and with that first win registered at last, the 321 travelling Town supporters in the crowd would have gone home with renewed optimism about the weeks and months ahead.
Newell made three changes to the team that crashed out of the FA Cup at Morecambe.
All three were in midfield, with Jamie Clarke, Liam Trotter and Nick Hegarty coming into the side in place of Peter Till, James Hunt and Chris Llewellyn.
Phil Barnes shrugged off an arm injury to take his place in the Mariners goal, with Robbie Stockdale, Ryan Bennett, Rob Atkinson and Tom Newey making up the four-man defence.
Clarke, Trotter, Jean-Paul Kalala and Hegarty were the midfielders, with Nathan Jarman and Adam Proudlock renewing their attacking partnership.
The Grimsby substitutes were Richard Hope, Danny Boshell, Gary Montgomery, Peter Bore and Danny North.
Bury boss Alan Knill opted to leave striker Andy Bishop on the bench, instead starting with former Wrexham front man Andy Morrell, with Glynn Hurst also available to provide further firepower from the substitutes list if needed.
Grimsby were again looking for that elusive first win of the season and at the same time, the men from Blundell Park were trying to end a winless run stretching back some 22 games to the victory at Mansfield in March.
Town played in their red away shirts with white shorts to avoid a clash of colours with the Shakers' white home shirts.
The first real action of the game came on three minutes, when Clarke upended Michael Jones midway inside the Town half.The free kick was taken quickly but the hosts could not capitalise, with the end result being a goal kick.
Grimsby's first chance came soon afterwards when the ball ran for Hegarty inside the penalty area but his shot from 15 yards was saved by home keeper Wayne Brown.
The home side were looking the more threatening and they had another opportunity on seven minutes when Stephen Dawson had a shot blocked from 20 yards.
Former Rotherham midfielder Chris O'Grady was the dangerman and his attacking skill went some way to winning the first corner of the game on nine minutes.Brian Barry-Murphy's kick was headed over the bar by Efe Sodje.
Moments later, Proudlock looked to be through on goal as he tried to run onto a through-ball. He felt he was pulled to the ground by Sodje but referee Graham Laws had other ideas and waved play on.
Proudlock was booked for his protests, as was Kalala.
Then Clarke had a run that took him into the Bury penalty area before his shot from a narrow angle brought a good save out of Brown at his near post.
Grimsby took the lead on 16 minutes when the Bury defence failed to deal with a cross from the left.The ball was hoisted straight up into the air and when it came down, TROTTER was there to bundle it into the net from close range.
The Mariners had controlled most of the possession in the early stages of the game and would now look to build on what was only their fourth away league goal of the season.
The hosts responded by winning a corner soon afterwards and after the ball was missed by one attacker, Sodje narrowly failed to connect at the far post and Town escaped with a goal kick.
With 22 minutes on the clock, Grimsby doubled their advantage with a superbly worked goal.
Stockdale won a challenge 35 yards from goal and played the ball to Clarke out on the right.His cross was then met on the volley by JARMAN, who guided the ball into the net from eight yards to the delight of the travelling Town fans at the opposite end of Gigg Lane.
The Mariners had now picked up the scent of that long-awaited victory, albeit with three quarters of the game to play.
Bury immediately set about trying to get a goal back but when they won a free kick 25 yards out and in a central position, Barry-Murphy smashed it straight against the Town wall.
Another chance went begging for the hosts on 27 minutes, when Morrell sent a header wide from close range following a cross from the left.
Incredibly, Grimsby nearly went 3-0 up moments later when the home defence were caught napping from a free kick.
Newey sent the ball into the penalty area from inside the Bury half and Atkinson and Bennett had the freedom of the 18-yard box.Atkinson connected with a header that was fumbled by Brown but the home keeper saved any further embarrassment when he stopped Bennett's follow-up effort.
Bury won a corner just after the half-hour and from it, the ball broke to Dawson on the edge of the box.He looped a header towards goal but he could only watch it sail over the bar.
Morrell won another Shakers corner on 33 minutes and after the ball was flicked towards goal, Grimsby were indebted to Stockdale, who poked it away from the far post.
The Mariners had enjoyed all the luck so far but it could not prevent them going down to 10 men on 36 minutes.Kalala fouled Dawson near the halfway line and Mr Laws had no hesitation in showing the Congolese international a second yellow card.
Grimsby switched to a 4-4-1 formation, with Proudlock playing up front on his own and Jarman dropping back to fill the gap in midfield.
Bury were galvanised by the sending off and they were almost back within one goal soon afterwards, with Barnes making a brilliant save from a shot from 18 yards.
Town had a free kick in a promising position with seven minutes of the half to go but Clarke's curling shot cleared the bar.
They then began to ride their luck in the final stages of the half, with a series of crosses into the Mariners box missing their targets.
Then as added time approached, a free kick was given for a foul on O'Grady right on the edge of the area on the left.
Newey cleared it for a corner, which was played short for Barry-Murphy and another corner followed when the ball was deflected behind.
Two minutes of added time were played and the Mariners held onto their two-goal advantage, meaning it would have been a happy dressing room at the break.
The only down side of the first half was the sending off of Kalala, which the hosts would look to take full advantage of with the extra man for the remainder of the game.
Bury made a substitution before the restart, with Bishop replacing Morrell.
And their intentions were signalled within 20 seconds of play resuming, with O'Grady flashing a shot over the bar from wide on the left.
Then a free kick was given on the right and Barry-Murphy's cross was cut out for a corner by Jarman.
Bishop ran into the Town area on 49 minutes before pulling the ball back across the six-yard line but as had happened a number of times in the first half, it eluded the man at the far post, this time O'Grady.
Grimsby were struggling to get out of their own half as the home side threw everything at trying to reduce their deficit.Bury were controlling possession but for all their pressure, Barnes was not having much to do between the sticks as the Lancashire side suffered from the lack of an end product.
The Town stopper did have to make a save on 57 minutes after an O'Grady shot from 20 yards but it was still the band of travelling supporters from North East Lincolnshire who were making all the noise with their team 2-0 to the good.
Danny Boshell was introduced to the action on the hour in place of Hegarty in what was Newell's first substitution of the afternoon.
The first Mariners shot on target of the half followed four minutes later, with Trotter's 30-yard effort collected by Brown at the second attempt as Jarman looked to follow it up.
Bury's second change saw Richie Baker come on for Barry-Murphy, while Peter Bore replaced Jarman for Town soon afterwards.
Bore's first contribution was to win a free kick as he looked to get away from Sodje inside the Bury half.
Barnes had to make a save from Dawson with 20 minutes to go, with the midfielder's 20-yard shot looking to be curling into the top corner.
The home side continued to attack but still, Town managed to hold their lead fairly comfortably.
Dawson went close with another 20-yarder on 77 minutes but too often, the attackers would choose the wrong option when in good positions or fail to find the right man at the crucial moment.
Knill sent on another striker with a little over 10 minutes still to play.Glynn Hurst replaced Jones to become the fourth forward in the new-look 4-2-4 formation as the home side looked to throw everything at the Mariners.
Hurst should have put his side back in with a chance of getting something from the game when he found himself through on goal two minutes later.But 18 yards out, he stabbed his shot wide and Grimsby's two-goal lead remained intact.
Barnes conceded another corner, Bury's 15th of the game, when he tipped a Dawson shot around his post with six minutes left.
The Mariners nearly added a third goal a minute later when a cross from Clarke narrowly evaded the head of Bore after good work by Stockdale on the right.
Danny North then came on in place of Proudlock for the final stages of the game and as the game moved into three minutes of added time, Bore failed to get on the end of a Boshell cross before another cross from the other side also evaded everybody.
North won a ball just inside the Bury half and took it into the box before firing a weak shot that was easy for Brown to gather.
It proved to be the last real action of the game and as the final whistle blew, the team took the acclaim of their loyal supporters.
The Mariners are next in action when they host Bournemouth on Friday.
