STEVE Ball says he is looking forward to pitting his wits against one of the game’s ‘great characters’ in Ian Holloway.

Holloway brings his Grimsby Town side to the JobServe Community Stadium tomorrow night, to take on Colchester United.

The popular 57-year-old, who later this month celebrates his one-year anniversary as the Mariners’ boss, has presided over nearly 1,000 in his managerial career where he has been in charge of the likes of QPR, Blackpool and Millwall.

Holloway tasted victory over Colchester in one of his first games in charge of Grimsby last season and U's head coach Ball has plenty of respect for his opposite number.

Ball said: “We were up against Nigel Clough the other week and now Ian Holloway.

“They’re great characters.

“We played Grimsby last year and Ian is a funny guy with a great sense of humour – he tells it how it is.

“I went to Stevenage the other day with Hayden Mullins to watch them play Grimsby and Ian was sat right next to me, in the stand. Wow – I thought I was loud!

“He’s brilliant and he’s really good value but he’s also got a great name in the game.

“With Ian (Holloway) in charge, they’ll be organised and they’ve got some good offensive threats so like any side in this league on any given night, it’s going to be a challenge.

“They’ve had a couple of sore losses over recent weeks but they had a good win at Crawley, the other night.

“We’ve seen quite a bit of Grimsby of late, especially as they’ve played Crawley and Exeter like us recently.

“I went to watch Stevenage the other week when they played Grimsby, in a 0-0 draw.

“They’re a hard-working side.

“They’ve had some good results this year and they’ve also got a younger team, this year.

“Ian has hit the youth button a little bit which is admirable of him to do.

“With that will come inconsistencies as we know at our place but they also have experience in the likes of Matt Green and James Hanson, so they have a decent mixture in their squad.”