It’s also the third League game in a row where the opposition have changed their manager since the start of this season. After an excellent first season back in the EFL last season, with an 11th placed finish and an FA Cup quarter final appearance, a run of four consecutive defeats, culminating in a 1-0 loss at Doncaster, cost Paul Hurst his job at the end of October and Grimsby have been under the caretaker charge of Ben Davies and Shaun Pearson, the latter a player U’s came up against while he was with Wrexham. They have yet to lose since making the change, knocking Slough out of the FA Cup and coming from behind to beat Morecambe and draw with Forest Green, the former their only win in the last seven league games, and they are currently in 21st pla ce, six points ahead of Sutton. Their line-up this season includes striker Donovan Wilson, who left Sutton in the summer.

Sutton are unbeaten in the last three matches and would move to within three points of Grimsby with victory on Saturday. Rob Milsom is a doubt after coming off injured in Tuesday’s Bristol Street Motors defeat at Charlton, but manager Matt Gray is more hopeful that Dominic Gape, who also took a knock on Tuesday that required him to be replaced, will be fit to be included in the squad. Aiden O’Brien and Joe Kizzi should both return after missing on Tuesday, as should Lee Angol, who was suspended for the Charlton game, while Dion Pereira returns from international duty with Antigua & Barbuda, for whom he scored his first goal last weekend.

Last season’s visit to Blundell Park early in the season saw U’s come back with a hard-earned point after a goalless draw, while Grimsby won by the only goal of the game in the return meeting in March.

Saturday’s referee is Matt Corlett, who is in his first EFL season and has already taken charge of one Sutton game this season, at Newport in August.

Admission is available on the day at Grimsby, prices are : Adults £24; age 65 and over/age 18-22/student with proof of ID £17; unaccompanied junior age 14-17 £8; accompanied junior age 3-17 £6, under 3 free.  Our accommodation is in the Osmond Stand.

There will as usual be an audio commentary on the game through our iFollow service, with a match pass costing £2.50 or a great value monthly pass, which will include next Saturday’s FA Cup game at home to Horsham for which match passes wont be available, at £4.49. Overseas viewers can watch the game on Saturday for £10. You can buy a pass here.

There is no supporters’ coach on Saturday. 

For drivers, the post code of the ground, which as all students of the game know is in Cleethorpes rather than Grimsby, is DN35 7PY. Take the M1/M18/M180 and at the end of the M180 continue on the A180 to and through Grimsby to Cleethorpes, and the ground is on the left adjacent to McDonalds. Parking is limited and available in local streets, however some roads do have matchday parking restrictions. You can also reach the M180 by leaving the M1 at Junction 21A at Leicester and following the A46 to Lincoln then the A15. 
 
By rail you can leave King’s Cross at 9.48 or 10.48 and change at Doncaster to arrive at Cleethorpes about three hours later. Return trains are at 24 minutes past the hour from Cleethorpes, again requiring a change at Doncaster. The station is about a 20 minute walk from the ground. Note that there are no Thameslink services between Herne Hill and Sutton this weekend.