After their penalty shoot-out victory over Manchester United in round two of the Carabao Cup, Sam Allen, senior football writer for the Grimsby Telegraph, has revealed how David Artell's side pulled off that giantkilling - and their plan to replicate it when Brentford visit Blundell Park on Tuesday (7.45pm kick-off).

The Mariners currently sit sixth in League Two, after making a superb start to the season in both the league and cup.

And the club's local reporter believes that their insistence on playing the same style of fluid football, regardless of the competition or the opposition, has been key in their victories over United and Sheffield Wednesday in round three.

Grimsby are third in League Two and through to round four of the Carabao Cup for the first time since the 2001/02 season. What have you made of their season so far?

It has been a brilliant season so far. The cup run has been a nice distraction but, in League Two, after they just missed out on the play-offs last season, they wanted to be in that top-seven fight again.

Now, the overall expectations have been raised a bit as it has been a great start, not just in terms of results, but performances overall.

David Artell has continued to develop his playing style with the recruitment this summer, which was really good in terms of improving squad depth and there are a lot more options now. Town really struggled with injuries last season and not having enough players to rely on, but there are only a couple of injuries and 17 or 18 players that he can rely on and rotate between.

I have been really encouraged by the start to the season and, as I said, the cup run has been a nice added part to that as well.

Back in August, two months and one day before Brentford's visit, they beat Manchester United on penalties after a 2-2 draw in 90 minutes. Just how special was that night at Blundell Park?

It was really special. I am actually a Town fan as well as a reporter, so I have been going to Blundell Park for a while and I cannot say I have heard it louder than it was that night.

We knew the atmosphere would be great no matter what, but the way the team sort of approached it from the very start, and the way Manchester United looked as well - a bit shell-shocked, I guess - you could sense it could be a special night.

United did not really look like they wanted to be there and Town certainly did. They took a 2-0 lead and deserved it.

Playing against a team like that, you would expect Town to sit back and just hope for a set-piece or something like that, but they really went for it. They did not compromise their playing ideals and continued to play how they play in the league, and it paid off in terms of getting out in front.

Naturally, United came back, after the changes they were able to make, bringing on players like Bruno Fernandes, who is obviously going to make a difference. To go again, having been pegged back, and then to go again in penalties, going up against international players who would have been used to those scenarios, the pressure and prevailing after such a long shootout as well, you could not ask for more from a game like that, could you?

From our perspective, it just had everything and a great dramatic ending to it as well.

You have to go back to 1984/85 for the last time Grimsby reached the quarter-finals. Particularly after they reached the FA Cup quarter-finals in 2022/23, is there a belief they can go even deeper into the competition?

You never know. In the FA Cup, beating five teams from divisions above was certainly a special run. There is different management and a different team now, but you have to take some belief from beating United.

Artell said it is a platform, not the pinnacle. It is something they can go back to for the rest of the season to show what they are capable of. Whether they can go all the way in a competition like this is probably unrealistic, but you never know.

One or two more wins and it is certainly a special run. It is a special run already, but you go into a game against Brentford and that is another really difficult challenge. But having experienced what they have experienced so far, they have to have some sort of confidence and belief, knowing there is not really any pressure on them again.

If they lose, they will lose to a Premier League team. We will see what happens.

Which player should Brentford fans be keeping an eye out for on Tuesday night?

For me, the standout, particularly in an attacking sense, has been Charles Vernam. He scored in the United game and has had a brilliant, brilliant start; he has six goals and six assists in 16 games.

Town supporters are really pleased to see him playing this way because he has had a really difficult time over the last couple of years. He was a Town player from 2018 to 2020, then he left, went to a few clubs, came back in 2023 and signed a three-year deal.

Over the last two years, he has had two big hamstring injuries and not really played, so to see him come back at the start of the season fit and firing, scoring and providing goals, has been a really encouraging aspect of the season.

He is certainly going to be someone Brentford need to lock down if they are going to stop Town in this game.

What should Keith Andrews' men expect in terms of shape and style?

We are seeing great consistency in performances and the playing style is being developed. It is very progressive, free-flowing, attacking football, while wanting to retain possession as well

The shape they have primarily used this season is a variation of a 4-3-3, like a 4-1-4-1 out of possession, with the wingers coming back a bit.

That is the style Artell has used from early on in his career, going back to his days at Crewe as well. They like to get the wingers on the ball a lot.

George McEachran, in the defensive midfield role, is brilliant at starting attacks, but also out of possession. There are two willing runners ahead of him in midfield, usually Kieran Green and Evan Khouri, but Jamie Walker has come in this summer and played in one of those roles as well.

The defenders get involved in attacks a lot. As is the modern trend in football, the full-backs come into midfield and centre-backs get forward and play passes into the final third. It is a very fluid system.

This is the first meeting between the teams since March 2009. What's your score prediction?

There is probably a different one for head and heart. I will go for a dramatic 2-1 win for Town - that would be nice!