Promotion favourites Salford City travel to Blundell Park to face Grimsby Town, with both sides searching for their first win of the League Two season.

After a hectic start to the 2020/21 season with three games in the first week, Ian Holloway’s side would have been grateful for the week off to prepare for their first home game of the season.

On the flip side, Salford travelled to Merseyside on Wednesday night for their Carabao Cup second round tie with Everton, which ended in a 3-0 defeat for Graham Alexander’s side.

The Mariners opened their league campaign at Walsall, losing 1-0 in a closely contested affair, with Elijah Adebayo grabbing the only goal of the game in the second half.

Town controlled the possession in the game but could not capitalise on it and the scoreless outing reignited rumours of fan-favourite and free agent Omar Bogle’s return, which, although Holloway finally admitted the club were speaking to the player, saying that the deal had “fallen flat on its face”.

Salford drew 2-2 at home to Exeter City in their opening game, so Alexander will be desperate for three points on Saturday with expectations high concerning what his team can do this season.

Team news

For the home side, Luke Hendrie has returned to training this week, while Bilel Mohsni has also been able to join his team-mates this week as he edges closer to making his debut.

James Hanson remains out, although is getting nearer to a return, while Max Wright still faces a few weeks' wait after suffering an injury against Morecambe in the League Cup defeat.

The midweek game forced Alexander to rotate his team slightly with the likes of Darren Gibson, Luke Armstrong and Bruno Andrade likely to return to the starting line-up on Saturday after dropping to the bench at Everton.

Predicted lineups

Grimsby Town (4-3-3): McKeown; Hendrie, Waterfall, Ohman, Preston; Taylor, Williams, Rose; Tilley, Green, Scannell.

Salford City (4-3-3): Hladky; Threlkeld, Clarke, Eastham, Touray; Lowe, Gibson, Hunter; Armstrong, Henderson, Andrade.

Ones to watch

Grimsby Town – Matt Green

Coming up against one of his former sides, Green will be looking to prove a point with the pressure on him to be the primary goal threat as the sole striker while Hanson is out with injury and new signings Montel Gibson and Ira Jackson Jr get to the desired fitness level.

The 33-year-old scored just twice in 29 league appearances last season so he will need to improve on that tally if he is to remain in contention for a starting spot when all the forwards are match fit.

Salford City – Ashley Hunter

The former Fleetwood winger Hunter will be relishing the opportunity to become Salford’s star player in his first full season with the club, and he got off to a good start with a goal against Exeter in the league opener.

Despite making only 11 league appearances last season for the League Two club after joining in January, the 24-year-old made his presence felt with five goals and one assist. Furthermore, this campaign presents a real opportunity for the wide midfielder to get into double figures in the league for the first time in his career.

Last time out

Grimsby will have fond memories of the last meeting between these two teams as the Mariners, in their final game under caretaker manager Anthony Limbrick, started the new decade with their first win in 15 games with a 1-0 victory over Salford.

With the newly appointed Holloway looking on from the stands, the now departed Ahkeem Rose struck late on to end what had been one of the toughest stints in the club’s recent history.

How to watch

This game remains completely behind closed doors and can only be viewed by purchasing an 'iFollow' match pass from either of the club's official websites.

What the managers said

With the Bogle deal falling by the wayside, the Grimsby manager bemoaned his apparent lack of luck in the transfer market, naming some of the other targets that got away.

Holloway said: “We missed out on Theo Robinson, that would have been big. We had Lofty (Ryan Loft) the other week, and he got taken from under our nose.

“I am in the business to try and find another one, a natural one who knows what they’re doing, and I know what he needs to look like and the size he needs to be.”

Alexander reiterated the importance of his side not losing focus or sight of their goals as they get back into league action.

The 48-year-old explained in his post-match interview: “It was Everton tonight – we have to go into Saturday’s game with the same mentality, without a shadow of a doubt, because that is our most important competition, and our ambitions lie there.

“Every game we play this season, people are going to be at us, want to beat us, and Saturday will be no different, so we have to take all the good stuff we did tonight and replicate it on Saturday.”

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