Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 5 October 2012

5 October 2012

Mardy Diary writes: So, Dartford then? Easy-peasy, no worries, two-bit, non-League, no-hope hoofers chancing it with the big boys. We should easily put double figures past them with our youth team, let alone our first team. If they even get in our half it will only be because we let them. We should totally take the piss, like that time we played Mark Lever up front in the Lincolnshire Cup final.

Right, that's that out the way. I bit of inverse-reverse psychology should totally ensure we scrape that gritty 1-0 victory against the run of play. I am liking this new version of Town that keeps clean sheets and takes its chances when it has them. What would be the natural next step would be to start sneaking that late winner in those 0-0 draws - a bit like we used to in that decent season under Slade, and also in the early Buckley years.

There's an aversion in modern football fandom to teams built on a solid defence. We can't all be swashbuckling out-and-out attacking teams and get away with it. But when Town do turn on the attacking form - phwoar! They look right tasty. Imagine Liam Hearn in there too - frightening.

However, those 3-0 wins always look like comfortable victories when you look at the score alone - and often during the match as it reaches the end too. That Luton victory seemed comfortable - but it wasn't at 0-0 or even 1-0. What allowed it to become comfortable was an organised and committed defence - then, the other goals came. Sometimes more goals don't come and the game finishes 1-0 and subsequently feels more tense, or 'tighter'.

Personally, I've always found a solid defensive performance to be just as exciting as a match with lots of goals. Perhaps it was all those years in the second flight, going to matches where we expected to be well beaten. To come out at 0-0 in those matches - due to players desperately throwing themselves in front of shots and outstanding saves by 'keepers - felt like a victory of sorts.

Perhaps in the last couple of seasons we may have forgotten about that and felt like the tables had turned: that we are Wolves and Dartford are minnows Grimsby. But we've always known, really, that it's not that simple. Dartford have been above us in the table for most of the season, so in one sense we're the underdogs here - but hopefully not for much longer.