Grimsby Town have maintained second place in the Conference Premier after a Shaun Pearson goal gave the Mariners a 1-0 win over Halifax Town.
The home side started on the front foot against their promotion rivals, with Daniel Parslow having a long-range strike go wide before Lenell John-Lewis saw a goal-bound shot blocked for a corner.
John-Lewis, who has netted nine times for Grimsby this season, should have given his team the lead midway through the half when he jumped highest to meet a cross but his header from six yards cleared the crossbar.
John-Lewis then forced a fine save out of Matt Glennon before the Halifax stopper reacted well to tip a Scott Neilson strike over the bar.
Four minutes before the break, Grimsby finally got the goal that their play deserved when a corner from Nathan Arnold was met by Pearson who powered a header into the net.
Halifax came out after the restart eager to improve after a drab showing during the opening 45 minutes and although they threatened twice through Paul Marshall, they didn't trouble James McKeown.
However, a reshuffle from Grimsby helped them rediscover their form of the opening period, with Arnold having a shot tipped onto the bar before Harry Pell saw a header cleared off the line.
Pearson nearly netted a second header on the hour but it missed the target before Pell let fly with a venomous effort from 25 yards that just evaded the bottom corner.
Grimsby continued to push for a second but despite failing to give themselves some breathing space, they comfortably held on to maintain their recent good form in the top tier of non-league football.
Darren Plant
