The Mariners bounced back after a run of four straight league defeats

Cameron McJannet has placed Grimsby Town’s “front-footedness” as a key factor in their recent upturn in league form as they look to sustain that level.

The centre-back returned to the line-up against York City, having had a rare spell out of the team through injury, and he played a starring role in another big win.

The Mariners responded well to four straight league defeats, with a dogged draw away at Rochdale and a big win at Gillingham without McJannet and a few other key players, mainly defenders, with David Artell forced into a change of shape.

That formation change has inadvertently helped free up certain aspects of Town’s play, with McJannet enjoying that added freedom against York as one of the wide centre-backs.

The 28-year-old believes it was more down to a change in mentality regarding the recent positive turn in form, which has seen the side blitz their last two league opponents.

“I think it started at Rochdale with how brave the lads were in that game,” stated McJannet. “Showing that if we get knocked down, we’re always going to get back up and be more front-footed, more aggressive.

“We didn’t take all our chances in that game, but then we went to Gillingham, and we did at the key moment to completely kill the game, and the same against York at a similar time to put that game to bed.

“I think it has been a mixture of things: the front-footedness, the aggression and being clinical with our chances at good times. The gaffer made a point of saying that we’re going to ‘get after’ the opposition more from the off and I think that frees everyone up.

“From my own perspective anyway, I think that as long as I play on the front foot, am aggressive and make it a hard time for the opposition, then we’re doing most of the job anyway, and the nice football comes after that once you regain some confidence.”

The team eventually managed to come out the other side of the worst losing run the club have suffered under current boss Artell, but the mental challenge during such a period should not be understated.

McJannet said confidently that there was no drop in belief in the dressing room, which has been proven true to some extent by their response.

He added: “That’s football; you can’t give up on one another after a couple of bad results, and even if just one person does, it affects the whole team. There are going to be tough moments in a season, but you always stick together, and that was the same during the loss streak.”

A goal and an assist for McJannet against York was quite the return, especially considering it was from centre-back, but he made full use of the extra width he could play with being on the left of a back three as opposed to a central pair.

“I was still playing centre-back,” explained McJannet. “But I think a lot of people thought I was wing-back because I was given the reins to get up the pitch. I know I have got it in my locker to do that, and we’ve all seen how well Harvey Rodgers has done in that kind of role recently.

“Because we’d changed shape, the gaffer said the opportunity was there for us to get forward on both sides, so I took the opportunity to do it when I could.”