David Artell praises Grimsby’s match-winner Harvey Rodgers

David Artell heaped praise on Grimsby’s match-winner Harvey Rodgers, with his goal securing victory over Exeter on the opening day.

The 29-year-old, who was the Mariners’ player of the year and made the League Two team of the season last term, has opened the campaign with two goals in as many games after his first-half strike settled a 1-0 win at Blundell Park.

The defender scored three times throughout last campaign, with his manager challenging him to be a greater attacking contributor this year.

On Rodgers, the Mariners boss said: “I said to him that he can score upwards of six to eight, and he can assist the same number with the amount of great positions he gets into.

“He deserves a huge amount of credit for the progress he has made over the last couple of years, while still having lots to improve upon.

“He gets up and down the pitch tremendously, so he must be a nightmare to play against for the opposition’s winger.”

After losing in the play-off semi-finals in May, Grimsby are hungry to get better this time around, with Artell expecting a lot more from his team in the coming weeks and months.

“I thought we deserved to win,” added Artell. “I think if they’d got an equaliser at the end, it would’ve been unjust.

“We had 43 touches in their box, which shows we’re getting into the right places a lot of the time, but not always executing or making the right decisions.

“That said, I thought their goalkeeper made some great saves, and we were also profligate with a couple of our shooting chances.

“We should score more, but I know that’ll come with greater match sharpness and just a greater feel for the game and certain situations once we get into the bones of the season.

“We deserved the win because we gave up very little aside from some moments from set-pieces and one counter-attack towards the end.”

For Exeter boss Matt Taylor, there is still a lot of mending to do following relegation from the third tier last term, with the first two opponents of this campaign not giving any respite.

“It was a disappointing result, and there were certain parts of the performance that I didn’t like,” he said.

“Some parts were okay, and we created a few good chances, but we made too many mistakes, and it is a poorly-defended set-piece which has cost us.

“I said previously that it can’t become a pattern for us, but we’ve come up against a good team with promotion ambitions.

“There were messy moments from both teams, which aren’t a fair reflection of either team, at least where we think we can be.”