Kettle's awful controlling of the game overshadowed the game as he baffled both sets of fans with poor decision after poor decision.
"You have to take some time out at the end of that because your job and the game is at stake on decisions like that," Groves told the Grimsby Telegraph.
"I know it's over the course of the season and I don't like to criticise referees because it's a difficult job, but probably half-way through the game we were already saying it had been spoilt.
"It was stop-start and towards the end the fans behind us were complaining that he hadn't let it flow and there was no flow to the game at all. It was continually free-kick after free-kick after free-kick. I would imagine as a spectator it was a difficult game to watch.
"You have to try and look past the referee's performance and look at our display. That's why we think we've stuck together and shown some good qualities to get a point."