Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 9 January 2013

9 January 2013

Wrexham made their move last night and won 2-1 at Alfreton to nudge us table toppers off our perch. That wasn't very nice of them, was it? Sneaking up on us like that, while our backs were turned (thanks a lot, Gateshead!). With Town in FA Trophy action this weekend, Newport have the chance to push in front of us with a win at Lincoln.

Your West Yorkshire Diary remembers all too well how Marathon March last season derailed the play-off train. The squad couldn't cope with nine games in a month and basically ran out of steam. So it comes as no surprise, then, given other clubs' inabilities to look after their pitch (and our inability to put ourselves out of the cup), that the managers want more players.

It's quite clever, really. The managers accept that Brodie is a different type of striker to Hannah, so if Hannah doesn't sign then we'll get a Hannah-like striker instead. All of a sudden the message from the gaffers seems to be that it'll be one of Brodie or Cook alongside the new (or original) Hannah. That should raise their games.

The Boston Standard reports that there was a friendly match between Boston Town and a Grimsby Town XI yesterday, which finished 2-2. The article says the Mariners fielded a "strong mixture of reserves and youth teamers" but doesn't name Town's squad or goalscorers. The new superb new official site doesn't mention anything of the game.

Fancy owning Nathan Pond's away shurt? You can bid for it now on the popular auction website. Which reminds me - have we ever spelt a name wrong on the back of a shirt before? Seems like the sort of thing we'd have done at some point. Email diary@codalmighty.com if you know anything.

Much talk today has centred on Bradford's remarkable win over Aston Villa in the League Cup semi-final first leg last night. I only managed to watch the second half but was massively impressed by the Bantams' third goal. Despite being someone who has never been six foot tall (is and never likely to be), I used to love playing centre-back and would dream of scoring headers like Carl McHugh's last night. I must admit, when it went in, I thought it was me. I leapt off the sofa to head the ball, and when it kissed the net I wheeled away in celebration.

For the record, I never scored a goal like that in all my years of playing dinnertime football at school - mainly because no-one would ever pass or cross the ball. The closest I came was when I took a boot in my face as I stooped to head a ball that should have really been kicked, and my header clipped the inside of the school bag post. I jumped up, holding my bleeding nose, to receive the applause of my teammates, only to discover that it wasn't a goal because Nigel Power said it wasn't (and it was Nigel's ball).

I'll leave you today with an article published on the Leicester City site about an FA Cup third round tie between the Foxes and the Mariners 50 years ago that was one of very few to actually take place as the country experienced one of the harshest winters on record. Some of you may have seen the piece Football Focus did last Saturday on Lincoln's tie with Coventry, which was postponed a record 15 times, if you can believe it. That's just 13 times more than Gateshead have done to us so far!