Cod Almighty | Diary

We're happy, hope you're happy too

28 March 2022

Miss Guest Diary writes: So, a win on Saturday against Dagenham and Redbridge and Town are back in the play-off places.

I won't lie, I'm conflicted about the whole play-off situation. The two latest recruits – Holohan and Cropper – seem just the right players to bolster our promotion chances but, as I've said before, if Town can't manage to finish at least fifth, the play-offs seem like too much potentially wasted effort and expense to go nowhere. But then…how amazing would it be if we did manage to make it to Wembley again. I'm just going to leave the topic there and come back to it in a month's time.

As predicted last week, Paul Hurst was finally forced to play Harry Clifton at centre midfield where his hard work and energy was put to good use. I'm not sure Danny Amos was so appreciative of the switch as his performance definitely suffered from having the more languid Scannell in front of him. However, Town have now signed another midfielder – Joey Jones from Dagenham & Redbridge. I hope this doesn't mean Harry will be put back on the wing or, horror of horrors, dropped. No, scratch that last thought – Harry has missed only five starts this season, and three of those were losses.

Off the field, Saturday was Kids' Takeover Day at Blundell Park with members of the matchday team being shadowed by youngsters. There have been lots of messages on Twitter from those taking part about how much they enjoyed and valued the experience. Can you imagine anything like that happening under the previous ownership?

The interview with Sean Scannell in Saturday's matchday programme also serves to highlight the positive changes in the last year. He acknowledges the "..really good feeling here. The togetherness in the team here is amazing, everyone seems really close…" When asked about the impact of the new owners he comments on "…the happiness around the place. The fans and the players and everywhere has got more of a bounce…". And so say all of us.

As you will all know, yesterday was Mothering Sunday and the Mariners Trust teamed up with the club to run a competition, the winners of which were treated to lunch in McMenemy's on Saturday and the runners up received beautiful bouquets.

Also thinking about mothers was Josh Gowling in a piece in Saturday's Guardian. He described them as the forgotten heroes of football without which it wouldn't be able to function, paying tribute to his mother's support when he was a young trainee and to the support he receives now from his partner in looking after their children while he is off managing Hereford. What a lovely chap. Who else would like to see him managing Town one day?

Josh also had reason to be grateful to Town at the weekend when he was able to secure the emergency loan of Ollie Battersby after both of Hereford's keepers came down with Covid. According to the local paper, Ollie played well and made some good saves. And as Josh still lives in Grimsby, they could car share. Saving Hereford and saving the planet!

UTM