31-07-06: Grimsby Town (h) 1-2 (HT 0-1) Crowd (3,575)

Graham Rodger was born in Glasgow on 1st April 1967, the 6'2" 11st 13lb Central Defender joined the Wolverhampton Wanderers groundstaff as an apprentice and signed professional forms on 1st April 1984. He only played one League game for Wolves before he moved to Coventry City on a free transfer on 18th February 1985. He stayed at Highfield Road for four years, scoring twice in thirty-six League games of which five were as a substitute. He also made one start and had two games from the bench in the F.A. Cup, three starts and one game from the bench in the League Cup and was a substitute in one other game. The highlight of his time at Coventry was coming on as a substitute in the 1987 F.A. Cup Final win over Tottenham Hotspur and, after replacing the injured Brian Kilkline in the closing stages, he played an important part in the winning goal when he made a superb pass to Lloyd McGrath which resulted in the goal seconds later. He also played three times for the England Under-Twenty-One team in 1987. He joined Luton Town for £150,000 on 1st August 1989. Once more he was a fringe player scoring twice in twenty-eight League games, one of which was as a substitute and he also started two League Cup games and three other games, before moving to Grimsby Town on 8th January 1992 for £135,000. He became a cult figure at Blundell Park and the competent and robust defender scored eleven goals in one hundred and forty-seven League games, of which twelve were as a substitute. He also scored once in twelve starts in the F.A. Cup and made four starts and had one game from the bench in the League Cup and three starts in other games. His career came to an end after six years when injuries forced him to retire at the end of the 1997-98 season, a season in which he helped the club gain promotion to League One and win the Football League Trophy. He had a short spell at Mansfield Town in the ensuing closed season but, after a month on trial at Hull City he was forced to hang up his boots. Grimsby appointed him as their Football In The Community Officer in 2000 and he stayed in that position for two years until he was promoted to the coaching staff and then to Assistant Manager in 2002 by Paul Groves after the sacking of Manager Lennie Lawrence and Assistant Manager John Cockerill. He remained the Assistant Manager, serving three Managers and also being the caretaker Manager twice. He was eventually handed the job on a full time basis briefly in 2006 but was sacked after five months in charge. Despite this Rodger stayed with the club and reverted to his community coach role.

Match Report:

Mark Swift of Grimsby was the Referee in front of a crowd of 3,575. United had several trialists in their ranks as the game kicked off with defenders Jerome Bonnissel, formerly of Fulham and Rangers, Roland Benschneider of FC Koln and former Sheffield United and Reading striker Carl Asaba. There was also a starting debut for Norwich goalkeeper Darren Ward, who Kevin Blackwell was also running the rule over. Veteran Grimsby captain John McDermott got himself on the scoresheet in the ninth minute with Grimsby's first home goal of the pre-season, after Leeds failed to clear their lines after a good move down the right, as Mariner's boss Graham Rodger was given his testimonial match in recognition of his more than fourteen years of service to the club as Player, Coach and Management positions. Jermaine Beckford was denied by keeper Phil Barnes as the keeper produced a fine save to keep out his powerful drive and Gylfi Einarsson also had an opportunity to equalise but was off-target with his header. United goalkeeper Darren Ward made his only save of the half to deny Isaiah Rankin after twenty-six minutes before Leeds slowly started to assume control. Livewire midfielder Rob Bayly went close as United had an effort cleared off the line, and Carl Asaba had a shot blocked as the visitors ended the first half strongly. Half-Time saw Leeds replace Carl Asaba with Scott Gardner and it only took them seven minutes to level the scores, as Eddie Lewis scored after good lead-up work from Frazer Richardson. Leeds brought on Sam Hird for Gylfi Einarsson and French trialist Garra Dembele for Ian Moore in the fifty-sixth minute and a minute later the home team replaced Peter Bore with Robbie Foy. Leeds made another double substitution in the sixty-fifth minute when Simon Madden replaced Frazer Richardson and Ian Morris came on for Eddie Lewis on the left wing. Six minutes later the home side made a double substitution of their own with Gary Croft replacing John McDermott and Nick Hegarty replacing Peter Beagrie. Bailey Camfield replaced trialist Jerome Bonnissel in the seventy-seventh minute for Leeds and two minutes later Grimsby made their final change as Danny North came on for Isaiah Rankin and United's final change came six minutes before time when Jonathan Howson took over from Garra Dembele, who had been on the pitch for less than half-an-hour. As the game ebbed and flowed, Darren Ward made a couple of good saves in the Leeds goal, including another fine stop from Isaiah Rankin, and Jermaine Beckford went close to finding a winner for the visitors but the game finished with honours even and the Unused substitutes were Mark Wilberforce for Leeds and Terry Barwick and Miles Chamberlain for Grimsby.