Cod Almighty | Diary

Bound to be less boring than tomorrow

25 March 2022

Wasn't Tuesday night an absolute dog's toilet of a match? It is now Friday morning and I'm still irritated when I think about it.

Solihull Moors played some good football. Apart from a small period of trying to get Town players booked by throwing themselves to the floor and screaming when brushed, there was little non-league cheaty bollocks. I'd quite like their manager to be our manager. But still, how the hell did they win that match?

There was the usual criticism of Paul Hurst's substitutions, not least from me. The plucky little Town manager is having none of it though. "I think we have an obsession with substitutions here, I have to say," he told the Telewag, after watching Town throw away an important match because they made a good substitution and we made a bad one. "I only concern myself if people can give a genuine debate and reason for it."

What I think happened is this. JMD was knackered but not injured. We had lost Efete and put Smith at right-back where he is less comfortable. JMD wasn't tracking back, but that didn't matter because we were winning, and as long as he stood in an attacking position they couldn't throw men forward, which is why we looked comfortable. Then he took JMD off and put Sousa on.

Like for like? Well, no, because Sousa, presumably under instruction, went back to a kind of additional full-back role just in front of Smith. So now, with us having two non-full-backs and no threat higher on the right, they could throw everyone into the mix down that side, which they did to great effect. Did Sousa touch the ball in their half? I can't remember him doing so. It was the equivalent of having a boxer on the ropes, then retreating to your own corner to let him have a few biffs at you.

I don't think we have an obsession with substitutions here, I think I and a few others have an obsession with Paul Hurst's substitutions, which is a different thing entirely. I've seen Hurst teams play for many years and the vast majority of his substitutions are negative or defensive in nature – the attacking ones tend to occur in the 93rd minute and are as effective as you would imagine. If some of us Town fans seem able to talk of nothing but his substitutions, it is because we have seen too many match-losing ones.

Now, I'm just a diarist, and it is entirely possible that my analysis of the game is amateurish claptrap. Non-professionals are always going to be at a disadvantage because our views can be dismissed as uninformed by those who make a living from the game. But I will say this – years ago I stood behind Town's assistant manager at the time, who will remain nameless, during a reserve game. I could hear every word he said. In the first half these words were, to be precise, 'KICK IT!' which were repeated several times, and he said nothing else. So maybe the mystique of the football insider isn't all it is cracked up to be.

Tomorrow we play Dagenham AND Redbridge, so that's going to be a tough proposition. We are still, as anyone who can read a league table will know, sort of hovering around the play-offs in an unthreatening manner, like a 12-year old hanging about with bigger boys whilst pretending to smoke and have a girlfriend. Still, all to play for, blah blah blah. Season's not over, blah blah blah.

I've just read this back and I can't believe I've had the nerve to accuse Paul Hurst of being negative. I'm hardly a ray of Spring sunshine myself, am I? Come on, BOTB. The daffodils are out. We might still make the playoffs. My mate Dean has just qualified as a lawyer. Cheer up, you daft old bastard. UTM.