Grimsby Town: Short-term deal for Rory Delap 2.0 led to 2022 promotion | OneFootball

Signing free agent full-back Jordan Cropper in the spring of 2022 proved a Paul Hurst masterstroke that was pivotal to end of season promotion.

Right-back Michee Efete's late-season injury was a real blow to Grimsby Town's 2021/22 National League play-off hopes. However, his replacement, Jordan Cropper, who was initially brought in on a short-term deal until the conclusion of the campaign, proved crucial in the Mariners' memorable promotion just a few months later.

Efete, now plying his trade for Scottish top-flight outfit Ross County, was a key player for Paul Hurst's side. The athletic right-back had a great engine that saw him get up and down the flank with regularity, fulfilling his attacking and defensive duties consistently, whilst providing the occasional goal threat through bursting runs or from set plays.

He picked up a long-term knock in the new year, however, and it was thought the Mariners would miss his impetus in the run in of a season they'd started exceptionally, but drifted away from the top of the table, leaving them with ground to make up to reach the top seven and a shot at the lottery of the fifth-tier's six-team play-off format.

Hurst moved to fill the void by bringing in former Burnley youngster Jordan Cropper, a free agent having been released by Clarets the previous summer after suffering a bad injury, in late March following a successful trial period at Blundell Park, and while the 22-year-old didn't possess the natural offensive attributes of Efete, he did possess another quite unique attacking outlet that Grimsby would profit from hugely in season-defining make-or-break matches

Cropper's Rory Delap-like long throws led to match-winning Grimsby moments

Cropper made his debut soon after, starting and impressing in the Mariners' 4-1 victory at rivals Chesterfield, the club he'd spent two separate loan spells with earlier in his career.

What quickly became evident is that the Nottingham-born brought a fantastic attacking tool to the table, a long throw that had the trajectory, pace, and distance to rival that of former Stoke City man Rory Delap.

Grimsby have had players with long throws before and since Cropper, but none have offered the sort of threat the right-back did.

Able to get his team up the pitch from defensive quaters, Cropper's unique skill-set allowed the Mariners to send centre-backs Luke Waterfall and Andy Smith forward to cause bedlam in the opposing penalty area when the ball went out of play further forward.

This came to the fore in the play-offs, where a Grimsby side who'd been in superb form over the latter few months of the campaign to secure a sixth-placed finish, won promotion back to the EFL at the first attempt against the odds.

Having seen off Notts County with a last-gasp equaliser in normal time and a late injury-time winner at Meadow Lane in the eliminator, Hurst and his men travelled to Wrexham for a semi-final clash against the big-spending side recently taken over by Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney.

In what was a game for the ages, the two sides traded blows in a game that finished 4-4 after 90 minutes. Up stepped Cropper and one of those catapult-like throws in the last minute of extra-time, with his delivery met by Luke Waterfall to send Mariners fans into raptures.

Having seen off the Red Dragons by the odd goal in nine, Grimsby faced a Solihull Moors side that had done the league double over the Mariners in the final, played at West Ham's London Stadium in the final.

Again, Hurst's side fell behind, and once again fought back to take the game to extra-time. With tired legs aplenty in the second-half of that extra-time period, Cropper wound up for one last throw into the opponents box. Fortunately, flicked on by Solihull striker Andy Dallas, Jordan Maguire-Drew pounced at the far post to seal an incredible promotion for the Blundell Park outfit.

After a lengthy spell out with injury, the full-back had done exceptionally well to step into a side gunning for big things and fit in so seamlessly, and it's fair to say without his contribution and those long throws, the end of the 2021/22 campaign may have turned out very differently.

Cropper struggled with injuries at Grimsby throughout the following season

Hurst kept much of the squad that had achieved that play-off success for the Mariners' return to the EFL ahead of the 2022/23 campaign.

As part of that, Cropper was offered, and duly signed, a new one-year deal to remain in North East Lincolnshire. However, injuries hampered his progress, meaning he made just a handful of appearances over what was a long campaign in both the league and cup.

Instead, the full-back would join National League Barnet towards the end of the season, but couldn't repeat his past play-off heroics with the Bees, as Boreham Wood saw them off in the end-of-season eliminator.

Cropper was released by the Mariners that summer, upon the expiry of his contract, and, after recovering from injury once more, joined Barnet permanently as a free agent in October 2023. The defender remains part of the Bees squad chasing promotion from the fifth-tier this season.

While he didn't make too many appearances overall for Grimsby, Cropper's part in helping Hurst's side over the line and to promotion was absolutely critical in the final reckoning. Those long throws posed opponents immeasurable problems.