Grimsby boss David Artell ‘not fussed’ who his giantkillers draw next

Grimsby boss David Artell joked he would like to face Tottenham away in the Carabao Cup after his side reached the fourth round for the first time in 24 years with victory at Sheffield Wednesday.

Jaze Kabia’s second-half header sealed the Mariners a 1-0 win at Hillsborough as the League Two side followed up their stunning win against Manchester United in the previous round by securing a place in the last 16.

When asked who he wanted to face next, Artell said: “I’m not particularly fussed, because the thing is, I could sit here and say I’d like to go to such-and-such a ground.

“I’ve never been to Spurs yet, which would be lovely, but then the footballing gods might give us, I don’t know who’s left in, Millwall, Port Vale, I don’t know.

“So the good thing is that we’re in the hat and we’ll see what happens.”

Grimsby created the better chances against a young and inexperienced Wednesday side, who started with nine of the fringe players who upset Leeds in the second round and failed to test Mariners goalkeeper Christy Pym.

Artell, whose side have also beaten Shrewsbury in this season’s competition and sit fifth in League Two, added: “To get to the last 16 of any competition, regardless of who you face, who you don’t face, is a terrific achievement.

“The fact that it’s not been done for 24 years shows that level, if you like, of achievement.

“So the players deserve a huge amount of credit for the consistency of their performances.

“Both in the league and in this competition, it’s not been easy. We’ve had a League Two team, a Premier League big boy and a Championship team.

“That’s not an easy run. Nobody can say we’ve somehow had the footballing gods in on our draws or something.”

Wednesday fans were outnumbered by about two-to-one as they continue to boycott certain games in protest at club owner Dejphon Chansiri and over 6,000 travelling Grimsby fans revelled in the spotlight.

But Owls head coach Henrik Pedersen, who made wholesale changes to protect his senior players in a threadbare squad due to the club’s financial crisis, said he was proud of his players.

Pedersen said: “I’m disappointed that we have lost, but behind this loss I’m again really happy for the performance from our young guys.

“In the big picture now I’ve seen three cup games with our young guys and when I look back from when we started the pre-season and to see where all the young guys are today, then I can only be proud of this development.

“Tonight I think we played a very equal game against a really good Grimsby team and our boys showed that they can also, in a game like this, make a really good performance.”