Manager David Artell professed Grimsby will not celebrate survival in League Two after beating Swindon 2-0 at Blundell Park to secure their fate for next term.
Cheltenham loanee Liam Smith and forward Donovan Wilson scored the goals in the final quarter of the game to secure the win for the Mariners, who toiled for an opening goal for 75 minutes before the two late strikes came.
Closest rivals Sutton drew with Crawley which meant Artell’s side would have stayed up regardless of their own result but he was pleased to see quality prevail in the end to grab the win.
He said: “We’re not celebrating staying up. We’ve done our job by winning the game through having a good defensive shape and showing some quality in the final third when it mattered.
“We’ve often lacked quality in games but when we have had it recently then we’ve won games of football. Callum Ainley comes on and shows a great bit of skill to play in Liam when others might not have seen that pass.
“Goals change games and that moment changed the game and then Donovan scores a cracker. We’ve done our job in staying up but we’re not going to celebrate because we shouldn’t have been in this situation in the first place.
“I’ll take a fair amount of blame for that – it’s not about portioning out blame really but I make the decisions and the buck stops with me. Since the Doncaster game, we’ve undoubtedly improved and we haven’t lost many [at Blundell Park] since as a result.”
For Swindon, interim head coach Gavin Gunning got a chance to look at some young and upcoming talent in the game with their safety already secured as he reflected on a difficult campaign with one game still to play.
He said: “The composure Harley [Hunt] has shown in the game is fantastic and the young players are learning all the time and doing brilliant stuff at the same time. They’ve made mistakes but they’re learning from them which is part of the process.
“It’s been a bad season – we had a good first eight games but after that it has not been good enough and it is as simple as that. We stemmed the tide to start with [after the managerial change] and we’ve had to look at things differently in recent weeks.
“The last two games have been about giving some of the younger players a chance.
“We could’ve been ruthless and not given them a chance but when you know you’re safe, having won three out of the previous four, it is key to take this chance to see what the youth players can do at this level.”
Al Hilal crowned Saudi Pro League champions after Al Hazm hammering
Al Hilal secured their fourth straight Saudi Pro League title after Aleksandar Mitrovic starred in Saturday's 4-1 thrashing of bottom side Al Hazm.
Faiz Selemani restored parity after Mitrovic's 15th-minute opener at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, only for Jorge Jesus' hosts to roar back and be crowned champions with three games remaining.
Ahmed Al Juwaid's own goal handed the initiative back to the dominant Al Hilal, who led 4-1 at the break after Mitrovic added another to his tally and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was on target.
The second of Mitrovic's strikes took him to a team-leading 26 league goals this term as Al Hilal breezed to another title, moving an unassailable 12 points clear of Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr.
Jesus' side are unbeaten through all 31 games this season after securing their record-extending 19th top-flight crown in history, while Al Hazm need to win their last three matches to have any chance of staying up.
Al Hazm's relegation rivals Al Tai boosted their chances of survival in Saturday's earlier clash after a 1-1 draw away against Al Raed.
Al Tai are just a point away from 15th-placed Abha Club in their bid for top-flight safety after Ibrahim Al Nakhli's strike was cancelled out by Al Raed's Mohammed Fouzair in the second half.
Al-Ittihad 0-5 Al-Ettifaq: Ekambi scores hat-trick in five-star display
Karl Toko Ekambi netted a hat-trick as Al-Ettifaq got back to winning ways in style with a 5-0 thrashing of Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League on Friday.
He scored twice in four minutes at the end of the first half to send the visitors into the break 4-0 up before getting his third just 10 minutes after the break.
Seko Fofana had already given Steven Gerrard’s side the lead five minutes into the contest, while Moussa Dembele doubled their advantage from the penalty spot.
Al-Ittihad had the chances, but they could not find the back of the net, as they stayed fifth, but are now just six points above Al-Ettifaq.
Data Debrief: Clinical finishers
Al-Ettifaq had five shots on target against Al-Ittihad, scoring with all of them while creating an xG of 3.62.
With his hat-trick against Al-Ittihad, Ekambi has now scored 11 goals for the season, netting more than once for the first time since joining the club.
Al-Akhdoud 2-3 Al-Nassr: Brozovic stunner delays Al-Hilal coronation
Marcelo Brozovic scored twice – including a fine half-volley in second-half stoppage time – as Al-Nassr beat Al-Akhdoud 3-2 to delay Al-Hilal's Saudi Pro League title coronation on Thursday.
Former Inter midfielder Brozovic fired in a seventh-minute opener from outside the area before Cristiano Ronaldo tapped into an empty net to double the visitors' lead.
Sadio Mane struck the woodwork early in the second half and Al-Nassr relinquished control of the game from there, with goals from Hassan Al Habib and Saviour Godwin making it 2-2.
However, Brozovic blasted a bouncing ball home following a goalmouth scramble in the first of seven minutes of stoppage time to hand Al-Nassr a fifth straight win and keep them within nine points of Al-Hilal, with three games still to play.
They have only delayed the inevitable though as the leaders – who have only dropped four points all season – need just one more point to secure their crown ahead of facing Al-Hazm on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Brozovic upstages Ronaldo
While it's usually Ronaldo writing the headlines for Al-Nassr, he was upstaged by Brozovic on Thursday as the Croatian found the net with both of his shots, also leading all players on the pitch for final-third passes (19) and completing 90.1 per cent of his passes overall (81/95).
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