Cod Almighty | Diary

The land that time forgot

5 October 2021

Well hello there all you Town fans. Trentside Diary is back. Did you miss me? Thought not!

I have had the strangest of times in the modern world; in Britain staying where there was no Wifi and very little 3G if we were lucky. "Bliss" you might think but it’s no good for keeping up with the Mariners. Just occasionally I'd find a spot when all my messages pinged but checking email or social media? You must be kidding.

I've felt very adrift from the Mariners at a time when we've got that precious commodity, impetus. I was happy to miss social media following the Bromley game but I wondered if the messages stayed positive. A quick look this morning and it seems they mostly did. Just a couple of "told you so" types who make you wonder whether they are genuine fans or just liked greasing up to our former major shareholder. Eugh, enough. He's gone.

How different was Saturday? I was genuinely gutted to miss that one although I managed to listen to most of it. Many of our players are having a ball. It just goes to show what a difference a positive set-up plus a manager playing them to their strengths makes. Look at where they were last season compared to now. Morale and team spirit are sky-high.

I was especially disappointed not to be there to see Will Bapaga come good. He's an 18-year-old lad on his first loan away from home. Sometimes we need to remember that when we're expecting instant results. Harry Clifton has always been given a pass because "he's one of our own" but this season he's grown immensely. Long may this positivity continue.

We've scored 21 goals in the league so far. Twenty-one. 21 in 9 games. Key of the door. One more than 20. Blackjack. We only scored 37 in the whole of last season and only 8 after the same number of games.

Do we still need a striker? I'm sure Paul Hurst is looking but he's a shrewd operator and will only go after players who are going to fit into the set-up. Our league position and the way he has played our loanees is certainly going to be attractive to players and other clubs alike. With no transfer restrictions in the National League it's still an option.

In the meantime, I will continue to enjoy our goals coming from all over the shop, if not The Shop. He's under no pressure from us so hopefully he'll come good. Eleven scorers so far: what's not to love? I've been obsessing over this BBC stats page (ignoring that they don't bother with all the detail in non-League) and drinking it in. Nectar!

UTM.