George Thomson sealed a fine captain's performance with a spectacular strike minutes into the second-half to earn Town a 1-0 home win against Grimsby Town.
The victory saw Town make it three wins in a row at The Envirovent Stadium, moving up to eleventh place in the table and back to just four points off the playoff positions with three games to play.
There was one change to the Town side that fell to defeat away to Notts County at the weekend with Derrick Abu replacing Warren Burrell in defence.
For the visitors, fresh from a 1-0 victory over Newport County that eased any lingering relegation worries, Harry Clifton, Jamie Andrews and Justin Obikwu all returned to the startling line-up.
In the tenth minute a powerful run from Dean Cornelius saw him play in George Thomson out wide on the right but his cross was deflected safely into Jake Eastwood’s arms.
A minute later Abraham Odoh and Matty Daly combined well down the left-hand side before Abu then delivered a tempting cross from the right but there was a lack of a Town presence in the box to attack the ball.
A mix-up in the Town defence after fifteen minutes allowed Gavin Holohan to break forward but James Belshaw raced from his line to smother the danger as the Mariners midfielder got his shot away.
Justin Obikwu then found himself with space in the box but with more time than he perhaps though he dragged his effort wide of the target.
There was a distinct lack of action for the majority of the first-half with the referee playing centre stage with numerous stoppages for infringements.
With five minutes left of the first-half there was a moment of controversy when Obikwu thought he had given the visitors the lead after a corner had been recycled, but celebrations were cut short as the eagle-eyed referee’s assistant flagged for offside.
On the stroke of half-time Levi Sutton threatened tested Eastwood properly for the first time when his marauding run and shot forced the Grimsby keeper to parry the effort away for a corner.
Town didn’t have to wait long to for their goal after the break though and once again it was that man Thomson who was thew catalystf. Receiving the ball just inside the Grimsby half he turned, strode forward and let fly from fully thirty-yards beyond the helpless Eastwood.
Abu then set off towards the visitors box on the hour mark but a heavy touch saw the ball run away from him at the vital moment when he seemed set to let fly.
Grimsby made their first change on the hour mark when Andrews was replaced by Kieron Green before Denver Hume was introduced in place of Clifton shortly after.
Holohan had a golden opportunity minutes after the changes when a cross deflected into his path ten yards from goal in a central position but he blazed the ball high over Belshaw’s crossbar.
With fifteen minutes remaining Simon Weaver made his first change when Muldoon entered the fray in place of the hard working Josh March.
Struggling to find an avenue back into the game the visitors made a double – and final – change that saw Charles Vernam and Donovan Wilson replace Holohan and Obikwu.
Town suffered a blow shortly after when Sutton was forced off through injury with Stephen Dooley replacing him.
Daly then had a pair of efforts in the space of a minute that forced smart saves from Grimsby keeper Eastwood as Town went in search of a second goal that would surely kill the game off.
Abu went into book with a little over five minutes remaining for pulling back his opponent, an incident that saw Grimsby manager David Artell himself go into the book for waving an imaginary card.
Abu then had to be replaced when he went down with an injury with Burrell coming on in a straight swap positionally.
Thomson then almost capped his fine evening when his long range free-kick was acrobatically tipped over by Eastwood, who was undoubtedly the busier of the two keepers on a night where Town deservedly returned to winning ways.
