By Martin Walker

Darlington's unbeaten start to the season came to a frustrating end as Grimsby won by the one goal at the Arena.

Steven Watt's 49th-minute header was enough for Neil Woods' side to take the three points back to Blundell Park.

It wasn't the best performance by Darlington, although they rallied late on as they searched desperately for an equaliser.

But it was too little, too late, and Mark Cooper was again left to think about his side's inability to open up their opposition.

Both sides struggled to get going in the first half in what was a dour opening 45 minutes.

Rob Eagle whipped in a sharp left-wing cross in the 27th minute which Ian Miller just managed to clear.

The frustration in both sides started to show as they approached half-time. Hatch clashed with substitute Bradley Wood just inside Grimsby's half and, thanks to the intervention of the referee's assistant, referee Richard West showed the Darlo striker a yellow card.

Arnison conceded a free-kick on the half-way line for a lunging tackle on Eagle but escaped a caution and then Darran Kempson took Russell out with a cynical foul inside the area but also got away without a booking, much to the dismay of the Darlington fans.

Darlington made one change at half-time, with young striker Michael Smith coming on for the ineffective Richard Offiong.

But it was Grimsby who opened scoring four minutes after the re-start when Watt headed in from Eagle's corner to prompt plenty of noise from the 317 travelling Mariners.

Darlo tried to create an opening in the 53rd minute when John McReady teed up Gary Smith on the edge of the area but he couldn't find the target.

The home side probed again in the 57th minute when Hatch neatly laid off for Gary Smith inside the area but his shot was deflected wide.

Smith had another pop at goal two minutes later when his namesake Michael did well to set him up but he couldn't guide his effort on target.

Russell did well to keep Eagle's long-distance, curling shot out of goal in the 63rd minute and Michael Smith headed just wide three minutes later from sub Chris Senior's pull-back.

Grimsby went close to a second in the 69th minute when Peter Bore sent a right-sided cross but Alan Connell's glancing header was a few feet wide of Russell's right-hand post.

Darlington were desperately searching for a leveller and Paul Terry scrambled the ball back into the box but Senior just couldn't get to it and Town cleared.

Substitute Joe Clarke hit a speculative effort from 35 yards after 77 minutes that had Kenny Arthur scrambling across his line for the first time in the game but Clarke's shot was always going wide.

Russell had to make another smart save with 10 minutes to go when Connell looked certain to score, but Russell managed to get across his line to his header away.

McReady forced a corner two minutes later when his shot from the edge of the areas was deflected wide, and Hatch had his first effort anywhere near goal in the 85th minute when Terry's weighted ball into the left channel was met by Senior, but his cross was headed well over by the big striker.

Hatch had a couple of half-hearted appeals for penalties turned down as Darlington continued to search for an opening, going down in the box under pressure, and with a minute to go Senior tried turning on the right side to get a cross in before the ball crossed the line for a goal-kick.

Darlo went frustratingly close to finding the equaliser in injury time when Arnison did well down the right, but the diving Senior just couldn't reach his cross in front of goal.

Russell had to make another fine save in the dying moments, tipping over from another Connell header, before Hatch headed just over from Arnison's corner in the last action of the game.

Matchfacts
Goal: Watt, 48
Bookings: Hatch, 39; Watt, 45; Cummins, 72; Gobern, 76; Arnison, 79
Darlington: Russell, Arnison, Brown, Miller, Hone, McReady, Terry, G Smith (Senior, 62), Gray (Clarke, 49), Offiong (M Smith, 46), Hatch.
Unused: Jack, Chandler.
Grimsby: Arthur, Bore, Ridley (Wood, 24), Hudson, Kempson, Gobern, Cummins, Watt, Connell, Corner (Ademeno, 60), Eagle (Peacock, 77).
Unused: Garner, Samuels.
Referee: Richard West
Attendance: 1,993