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Grimsby Town boss reflects on Carabao Cup exit to Blackpool 'I don’t want to say that is a good thing [to lose] because that is not the message I want to send out, but I do think this experience will help us in the long run' David Artell hopes Grimsby Town’s 3-1 defeat to Blackpool in their Carabao Cup first round tie is a wake-up call for his team ahead of the league campaign starting. The season effectively started this weekend, but the league is the most important thing for all clubs at this level, and that begins next Saturday as the Mariners welcome newly relegated Exeter City. The Grecians are dropping down from the third tier, where Blackpool remain, and they showed the difference in levels in certain aspects of the game against Town, reminding Artell and the players of what they need to do better. Harvey Rodgers gave Town hope late on as he halved the deficit after goals from Niall Ennis and Josh Bowler had the visitors cruising to victory, but Kylian Kouassi added their third, with the ease with which the goals went in drawing the ire of the Grimsby boss. Artell said: “In all aspects of the game, we could’ve been tidier. In possession, we could’ve been tidier, we should’ve scored more than one and conceding three is always disappointing. “In transition, we could’ve been tidier, and we were okay against a decent League One team. The fact that we’re disappointed with our performance suggests where we’re at mentally, but we’ve got to demand more of ourselves because we can play better. “If you’re not on it, then you can lose games of football, and that’s what’s happened. For the first goal, we didn’t move with the game and allowed a free shot from 18 yards. “The second is poor decision-making because that is how we want to play. For the third, we got done on a give-and-go; it’s as simple as that. “When we got it right, we were good, but we didn’t get it right often enough, and then we didn’t half shoot ourselves in the foot in key moments of the game. “We want this to be a league fixture next year, so we can’t get away with a lack of consistency throughout a 90-minute game.” It is not a regular occurrence for the competitive schedule to begin with a cup tie, but in a way, it has served as an extra preparation game, played at a higher intensity than a pre-season fixture, ahead of the first match with points on the line. Artell certainly did not go into the weekend hoping to see what he did see from his team on Saturday, but at the very least, he and his staff have the week ahead to remind the players of their standards and what they cannot get away with in a competitive game. “I don’t want to say that is a good thing [to lose] because that is not the message I want to send out, but I do think this experience will help us in the long run. “We can pick the bones out of this game and show the players in the hope that we improve. It is easy to forget that we’re playing a League One side, and in the first half, I thought we were better than them. “There wasn’t much in the second half, and I don’t think it was as good a game compared to the first half for either team. We’re disappointed that we’ve not played better overall, and we were too sloppy and inconsistent in really crucial moments of the game.” Did you know you can make Grimsby Live a preferred source of news in Google, which will mean you get more of our breaking news, exclusives, and must-read stories straight away? Here's more information about what this means and how to do it - you can also do it straight away by clicking here.