Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 17 April 2012

17 April 2012

Should York win tonight, tomorrow's Diary will finally be able to confirm that Town will not be in the play-offs. Yes, it has come to this. With Ian Miller arguing that winning our next two matches will provide a springboard (but no actual points) for the 2012-13 season and the Telegraph reduced to running the four-day-old news of the Mariners Trust's evening with Alan Buckley, your Middle-Aged Diary is so short of copy he is reduced to nicking it from tomorrow's incumbent.

Too early to look forward, so let's have a quick look back. And time for me to air my pet theory that while relegation 'six-pointers' do usually matter (and usually end in draws), it is actually consistency that wins promotion. Leave aside our defeats to Fleetwood, York and Kidderminster; since February, it is the points dropped against teams that our relative league positions suggest we ought to beat (Tamworth twice, Braintree and Darlington) that have seen the season end in bathos. It is possible to be cynical about our long winning streak through the middle of the season, and it's true that we didn't beat many teams we wouldn't have expected to beat. But it is winning the games that ought to be won that will get a team promoted.

Incidentally, the Telegraph illustrates its report of the trust evening with a picture of the Old Master bearing a distinct resemblance to Troels Hartmann, the mayoral candidate from the first series of The Killing. Just imagine what Grimsby (the town, not the football team) would be like if Alan Buckley were mayor. Send your ideas to diary@codalmighty.com; tomorrow's diarist may well be grateful for them.