Grimsby 1 st XV made the trip to Ilkeston for the first time in the Midlands 3 East North league tie to take on what transpired to be a very well drilled and determined side in very poor weather conditions. The home side opted to play downhill and with the wind for the first half and with some key players missing Grimsby got off to a poor start giving away a penalty in the first two minutes. This was duly kicked giving the home side a 3-0 lead. It soon became evident that the weather conditions would play more of a part in the outcome of the game than had previously been thought as scrum after scrum took place for poor handling errors. This for the most part was where Grimsby came unstuck on the day, as the Ilkeston pack applied plenty of pressure to the visiting front row time after time. It was from one of these scrums that the Ilkeston backs picked up on some spilt ball to spin it wide and put one of their two Three Counties wingers in for the first of their four tries. The conversion was successful giving a 10-0 lead and this is how it stayed until half time. Despite some intermittent periods of dominance and time in the home side's half Grimsby never really looked like scoring. Half time saw the substitution of Lowery for Spall making his return to the first team as fullback and some stern words from Captain Edwards. Grimsby kicked off hoping the slope and the wind would favour them, but unfortunately a long kick off and some poor defending saw the home side quickly work their way back up the pitch to score a well worked try in the corner. This was not the start that Grimsby needed 15-0 after only three minutes of the second half gone. As the conversion was missed it was evident that a few heads had started to drop. Grimsby , almost alien to such a losing margin then struggled to make any significant impact on the buoyant home side. The visiting side made another change to avert the pressure in the front row with Pomfret coming on for Robson. It wasn't so much that Grimsby did not get any ball, but more when they did it was at the scrum. Much of the ball being spilt at the back of the scrum or turned over as the pressure from the Ilkeston back line on the Grimsby halfbacks really told. The home side's backs moved the ball well and combined with their big men running off the fly half breaking the gain line regularly. Daly did well in his first game with the 10' shirt and the combination of Thomas and Cairns in the centre pairing defended well but on the day Grimsby were no match for the Ilkeston side. A third substitution saw Burke on for Martin and as the last few minutes wound down Ilkeston ran in two more tries to extend the lead beyond reach. A slight glimmer of hope to get on the scoreboard came with the award of a penalty in front of the posts and the decision was taken to kick the 3 points. It probably could have been predicted given the run of the game, but Saunders missed the kick much to the amusement of the vast home crowd. The referee blew for full time and Grimsby came away well and truly beaten 27-0. This was the biggest margin of defeat that the Grimsby side has seen in over two years and should serve as sufficient incentive to prove their metal and bouncebackability. Next week sees the league continue with a home game against Mellish. Grimsby will need to dig deep to turn their fortunes around.