POSTPONEMENTS, FA Trophy involvement and a run of tricky away fixtures had seen Altrincham drop into the relegation places since the turn of the year, so a trip to third-placed Grimsby was always going to be a difficult task.

And it very much proved to be so, despite the Lincolnshire side never having beaten their part-time visitors in five previous attempts before Saturday's 5-0 National League triumph.

Altrincham blooded all three of their recent loan-signing forwards for their league debuts but went down to their heaviest defeat of the season.

The absence of captain Luca Havern with a broken nose did not help the cause.

It started badly for Alty when Grimsby scored inside two minutes. A ball, from the right, found Andy Monkhouse, who slotted home from close range.

After referee Nield had awarded the hosts a dubious free kick, the ball was played in for Omar Bogle to head home unchallenged at the back post to make it 2-0 in the 19th minute.

There was a further injury misfortune for Alty when Simon Richman did not appear after the interval. He had suffered a blow to the head in the first half.

Alty conceded again from a free kick after 53 minutes when the ball was played in from the right and Monkhouse scuffed a low shot into the net.

And yet another dead ball prompted Grimsby's fourth goal as Padraig Amond headed home a corner nine minutes later. Goal number five arrived in the first minute of added time when Nathan Arnold drove a shot into the roof of the net.

For Alty, O'Keefe had headed onto the bar late in the game but they rarely threatened otherwise.

However, they should have had a penalty when Josh Gowling punched the ball away from Michael Rankine's head in the second half but the defender escaped unpunished by an unimpressed and unimpressive referee.

ALTRINCHAM: Deasy, Griffin, Moult, Leather, Richman, Rankine, Heathcote, Ginnelly, Sinnott, Mottley-Henry and Margetts. Subs: Williams, Lawrie, Reeves, Crowther, O'Keefe