Curle surprised by Jolley's departure as Grimsby boss

Michael Jolley and Keith Curle shake hands before last season's 2-2 draw between Northampton and Grimsby

Grimsby have gone seven games without a win in all competitions, five of which have been defeats, ahead of tonight's FA Cup first-round replay at Newport County.

But there was more to Jolley's departure than met the eye after audio emerged of his foul-mouthed rant at a BBC journalist last month.

"Yes, I was," said Curle when asked if he was surprised by the news. "They obviously won't be happy with their league position but they do have games in hand.

"If they win two or three of those games, they'd be right back in the mix."

Ex-Woking manager Anthony Limbrick, Jolley's former assistant, looks set to take charge for Saturday's trip to the PTS after being named interim manager.

On whether or not the change of manager impacts his preparations for the game, Curle added: "Yes and no. We analyse opposition teams over three or four games and you get certain similarities with certain managers.

"I think the assistant has been given the job for two games and he'll be implementing some of his ideas.

"But you'd think that, as their assistant manager before, some of his ideas will be the same as the manager's ideas or very similar.

"He'll have a good understanding of the players that they have in the building and what they need to do to put in a performance at the weekend."