Grimsby Town, conquerors of Liverpool in the previous round, found Arsenal a tougher nut to crack last night. Lennie Lawrence's players can now go back to the task of avoiding relegation to the Second Division. For several of the home team it is a return to the reserves which looms.
Within four minutes Lawrence saw his side fall behind to Edu's header. That the Brazilian's first goal in English football came from a cross by Jermaine Pennant highlighted the fact that Arsene Wenger had picked a predictably weakened side.
Junichi Inamoto, given a first start long awaited in his native Japan, made little impact.
There was little to excite the crowd with the game producing so few chances. A few off-target long-range efforts were all Grimsby mustered before half-time and Arsenal, though doing most of the pressing, were creating very little.
They improved in the second half as Denis Bergkamp began to exert far more of an influence.
Not surprisingly it was the Dutchman who provided Wiltord's goal 16 minutes from time, crossing for the Frenchman to head in and end Grimsby's hopes of an upset.
ARSENAL: Taylor; Tavlaridis, Keown, Stepanovs, Juan; Pennan Aliadiere, 82), Inamoto (Halls, 85), Van Bronckhorst (Svard, 75), Edu; Bergkamp, Wiltord.
GRIMSBY TOWN: Coyne; Neilson, Groves, Butterfield, Chapman; Butterfield, Burnett, Willems, Campbell; Jevons, Allen (Boulding, h-t).
Referee: D Gallagher.
