League Two Grimsby Town have confirmed the arrival of goalkeepers Jake Eastwood and Harvey Cartwright, according to their official website.
26-year-old Eastwood joins the Mariners for a second spell on a permanent deal after an undisclosed fee was agreed with recently-promoted Premier League side Sheffield United, whilst 21-year-old Cartwright joins his boyhood club on a season-long loan from Championship outfit Hull City.
🧤 We are delighted to confirm the signings of goalkeepers Harvey Cartwright and Jake Eastwood!
Harvey joins on a season-long loan from Hull City while Jake returns to the Mariners for an undisclosed fee from Sheffield United and signs a two-year contract.#GTFC
— Grimsby Town F.C. (@officialgtfc) July 4, 2023
Who is Jake Eastwood?
Coming up through the academy at Sheffield United, Eastwood has only gone on to make only three competitive appearances whilst at Bramall Lane, in a spell that would see the goalkeeper be shipped out on loan a total of 11 times.
His first temporary move away from the club would see him at Sheffield FC, where he made 35 appearances for the club, with other non-league loan spells coming at the likes of Gainsborough Trinity and Mickleover Sports to boost his development.
Alongside an emergency loan spell at Chesterfield, the 26-year-old would join up with Scunthorpe United on loan for the 2019/20 season, then managed by current Grimsby boss Paul Hurst. Despite making 16 appearances for the Iron and keeping seven clean sheets, Eastwood was recalled in January due to goalkeeper injuries in the Sheffield United squad.
A brief spell in Scotland with Kilmarnock followed for the first half of the 2020/21 season, before reuniting with Paul Hurst, this time, at Grimsby Town for the second half of the season. Making seven appearances in his first spell at Blundell Park and keeping one clean sheet, he was unable to help the club avoid the drop as the Mariners were relegated to the National League.
Following other loan spells at clubs like Portsmouth and Ross County, the 26-year-olds’ most recent club would be in the shape of Rochdale for the second half of the 2022/23 season, in which he briefly played a few games in an emergency loan spell the season prior. Eastwood made six appearances for the club in total in his second spell at the Crown Oil Arena as Rochdale were relegated to the National League.
🤝 He's played for the gaffer twice before and Jake Eastwood admits he played a big part in making him want to make the permanent switch to BP!#GTFC pic.twitter.com/r2o6gbv2Jw
— Grimsby Town F.C. (@officialgtfc) July 4, 2023
Who is Harvey Cartwright?
A boyhood Grimsby Town supporter, Cartwright would make the move over the Humber Bridge to progress in the youth system at Hull City, having joined at under-13 level.
Having gone out on loan to Barton Town and Gainsborough Trinity retrospectively, the young goalkeeper would put pen to paper on his first professional deal with the Tigers in February 2021. Cartwright would then make his debut for Hull City in February 2022 as a 66th-minute substitute in a 1-1 away draw to QPR, following an injury to first-choice shot-stopper Matt Ingram.
Committing his future to Hull City by signing a four-year deal, two loan spells in the EFL would follow in the 2022/23 season, with the 21-year-old ending up at Peterborough United for the first half of the season. After only making one appearance for Posh, Cartwright was recalled and sent out on loan to fellow League One side Wycombe Wanderers for the second half of the season.
Once again, game time for the England Under-20 international would be hard to come by as he would only make one appearance for the Chairboys, starting in a 3-0 home defeat to Cheltenham Town in late April.
😍 Dreams coming true at GTFC!
👊 Harvey Cartwright on signing for his hometown club.#GTFC pic.twitter.com/Huvkw9ukzc
— Grimsby Town F.C. (@officialgtfc) July 4, 2023
What’s been said?
Speaking on Grimsby Town’s official website on the capture of both Eastwood and Cartwright, Mariners boss Paul Hurst was delighted to finally fill the void between the sticks following the departure of goalkeepers Max Crocombe and Ollie Battersby and explains what both shot-stoppers can bring to the club.
Speaking on the capture of Jake Eastwood on a two-year deal, Hurst said: “I’m delighted to have brought Jake to the Club. I’ve worked with him on two previous occasions, once at Grimsby when he did well before getting an injury and was then concussed so it perhaps wasn’t the luckiest time of his career to date! Hopefully, that won’t be the case moving forward.
“I think he is a keeper that has got loads of potential and, despite being 26, he should realistically have many, many years ahead of him. I think he has matured, certainly from speaking to him, and I feel that with Steve Croudson’s help, advice and mentorship that he can go on to be a really good goalkeeper because he’s got all the attributes there. It’s just a case of putting it all together.”
On the arrival of Harvey Cartwright on a season-long loan from Hull City, Hurst added: “On Harvey, we nearly brought him to the Club last season but that didn’t quite happen. I think our fans will certainly know the name, he was in our academy initially before being sold to Hull City.
“He’s a highly thought of keeper and he has been involved with England in the younger age groups and he has had a couple of loans that haven’t quite gone to plan. He got injured when he was at Peterborough and then, at Wycombe, he perhaps didn’t play as much as he would have liked and it wasn’t quite the situation he thought he was going into.
“Coming here, certainly, the plan is for him to get more game time than what he has had in those two previous loans. There are no guarantees, though, and he knows that but, certainly, with him and Jake joining the Club, I’ve got some real competition there and that’s what I have wanted.”
Writer’s View
Writing this article as a Mariners fan, I’m delighted we’ve now finally got a couple of goalkeepers after letting go of the two that were at the club last season in Max Crocombe and Ollie Battersby.
Both goalkeepers bring different attributes. Eastwood is a goalkeeper that Paul Hurst knows well after signing him on loan at both Scunthorpe United and Grimsby Town, whilst Cartwright is a Grimsby supporter himself so he, like Eastwood, knows what the club is all about.
The arrival of the two goalkeepers now means Grimsby have completed ten signings so far this summer, with undisclosed fees being paid for five of those players, including Eastwood. With the signings, I think Grimsby are going under the radar slightly ahead of the new season as now, they’re not far away from a fully-completed squad a whole month before the season starts.
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