Grimsby Town's 99-year tenure as a Football League club ended with relegation into the non-League ranks on Saturday - but they will aim to bounce back in the shortest possible time, as they did on the only other occasion they lost their League status after becoming founder members of The League's Division Two in 1892.

The Mariners spent just one season out of The League after failing to gain re-election at the end of the 1909/10 campaign. And the goal will now be to make an equally rapid return, said Manager Neil Woods after a 3-0 defeat at Burton Albion - ironically The Football League's newest club - condemned them to the drop.

"We've got a nucleus of decent payers now and the foundation is there for the club to come back," said the 'Grimsby through and through' Woods, who spent eight years of his playing career at Blundell Park and took over as Manager following the departure of previous boss Mike Newell last October.

"You can't get any lower than we feel at this time," added Woods, "but I've never been a quitter and I won't walk away. Unfortunately the club's been in a long downward spiral and we've not been able to stop it, but things have been getting better of late and we'll be looking to get back to the League as quickly as possible."

Things certainly had been getting better of late, the Mariners heading into Saturday's final game of the campaign on the back of a six-match run that had brought four wins and a draw. But the combination of results they required - a win for themselves plus anything less than a victory for survival rivals Barnet - failed to transpire.

So the Mariners were sunk, but they will not be marooned in non-League waters for long vowed Chairman John Fenty, who also gave his backing to Woods as the man to steer the club back to The Football League. "We've been in good form in recent weeks and Neil deserves another crack," he said.

"Relegation is obviously massively disappointing and it's a huge blow financially for us. But we will re-group on a professional basis and do what we can to have a competitive budget for next season. There's no way we're down and out though - and we'll be giving it a good crack to get straight back."

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