Stevenage boss Darren Sarll was delighted to see his team finally win a League Two match at the third attempt this season, as they saw off Grimsby Town 3-1 at the Lamex Stadium.

Danny Newton opened the scoring for Boro in the 37th minute, before Jonathan Smith added a second goal for the home side in stoppage time at the end of the first half.

Borough were given a further boost early in the second period when Sam Jones saw red for the Mariners, before Ben Kennedy came off the bench to net Stevenage’s third.

The only sour note came in the final 10 minutes when Danny Collins headed home a free kick for Town to deny Boro stopper Joe Fryer a clean sheet.

But that did not seem to detract too much from Sarll’s pleasure at picking up a first three points of the season.

“When we turned up at 1.30pm, the aim like every week was to win the game,” said 34-year-old Sarll, who had seen his side draw at Colchester and be held to another draw by Newport County.

“You hope the performance can entertain the supporters and we can put on a bit of a spectacle, but the large and overriding factor of playing football is winning games.

“At times, things don’t fall for you, but they fell for us today and when Lady Luck is on your side, you shouldn’t question her, you should open the door and say ‘come on in’.

“The last 15 minutes, we could have seen them off with a little more endeavour and ruthlessness, but it was nice to get a few of the lads on.”

Stevenage’s comfortable win was in part down to their impressive display in the opening 45 minutes.

Both Newton and Smith struck to give Boro a two-goal lead at the break, which Sarll believes was just reward for the way the hosts began.

“We started with a good tempo, good intensity, and I was pleased with the way players got around the pitch,” hadded.

“Dale Gorman and Jonathan Smith in particular started well and imposed themselves on the game.

“We moved the ball okay in the first half, the last 15 minutes of which I was pleased with offensively. But all the way throughout the first half, I was pleased with our shape. We didn’t look like we were going to concede a goal and we restricted them to long range shots.”