Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Saturday 25 February 2006

25 February 2006

Today's lessons: getting back into the top three isn't necessarily going to be all that straightforward; and whoever manages Chester, and regardless of whether Cortez Belle is in the team, they're still the dirtiest bastards in the league.

Town remain fourth in the league table despite a troublesome 1-0 victory over the Deviant Seals, who take full advantage of a Conference referee to escape Blundell Park, astonishingly, without a single booking despite, shall we say, more than fulfilling new manager Mark Wright's request for "a real strong, gritty, nasty performance". Watched by a dismal crowd of 4,058, Town's unsung hero of recent weeks, Gary Cohen, emerges as the dude again, troubling the visitors with strong running and decent control and, perhaps equally importantly, remaining unruffled despite Chester kicking him up in the air all afternoon. Finishing off a wonderful passing move - the only highlight of a dull first half - Gary Jones heads what proves to be the winner on 42 minutes. Curtis Woodhouse becomes the Mariners' latest failure from 12 yards, blasting over the bar following the ludicrous decision to award a second-half penalty, shortly after referee Mr R 'Hopeless' Lee failed to spot a series of obvious shoves which clearly should have warranted spot-kicks for Town. Wins for Carlisle, Wycombe and Northampton keep them ahead of GTFC - but Sladey's battlers remain two points off top spot with a game in hand.