Cod Almighty | Diary

Talk to me, so you can see, what's going on

29 March 2022

I'm lost and frustrated. Perhaps a Town fan out there can enlighten me. Finding the highlights for our league requires me to be a Master in the Dark Arts. We did have our box set to record from the start of the season but BT in all its "we'll broadcast if we don't find something better to put on" wisdom show them some weeks and not others. 

On their website the latest highlights show is "Matchday 33" at the time of writing; 5th March not much use. Add to that we had a temperamental TV box (ironically provided by BT itself) and it just decided not to bother recording any of them after a while. Three boxes and a change of provider later and, fingers crossed, it will go better for the last few games. The trouble is, it's a sketchy minute or two of any goals and occasionally a big moment if the allocated time allows.

We're totally reliant on the club-released matchday moments and highlights for a proper look at the action and, if we're lucky, a film of any goals on social media. That doesn't help though when there's an incident but not a goal that's the talking point after the game. Was it a handball that should have given us a penalty on Saturday? Why don't BT allow the club to release their own highlights earlier, say Sunday morning? The handball wouldn't have affected the result but goal difference could be important on the last day of the season. It's very tight around us at the moment.

Do I want to scrape the play-offs at any cost? You bet I do. Even if it looks like we would have to get through two awaydays to get to the final, I'd take the opportunity every time. Lots of people had written us off before the away leg at Braintree in 2016 and look how that ended up. It's a ridiculously tough league to get out of but we've done it before, leaving the likes of Wrexham, Tranmere and Village Green Rovers in our wake; the latter being the big money team of that season.

Good things are happening this week and it's great to read that Ben Fox and Max Wright are back in training. Whether or not they feature on Saturday, it's good to have them at Hurst's disposal during the run in.

Other good things are happening and Grimsby Town have a slew of nominees in the Non-League Bible awards. There is some really high quality stuff happening at Town at the moment, so if you feel inclined to show your appreciation, get voting.

Regular good things happening include my weekly duty to congratulate our player in the Conference team of the week. There were any number of players who put in excellent performances on Saturday but I'm sure, like a parent trying to keep the peace between squabbling toddlers, they only want to include one from each club, so congratulations Jordan Maguire-Drew, you were special on Saturday. Here's to the rest of the season. I'm really pleased he'll be around next season. Say what you like about Hurst, he can pick up some decent players. Add to that a well-run club with a good atmosphere and hopefully we'll hang on to a few of the others who will be out of contract. UTM!