Cod Almighty | Diary

On the road again

17 October 2016

Miss Guest Diary writes: You probably don't need me to tell you that our away games this season are not only infinitely more enjoyable than the home ones, but are now more profitable in terms of points – 11 on the road compared with nine at home. At one moment during the 94 minutes of singing, cheering and bouncing in the Abbey Stadium on Saturday I thought that I'd like to get some of the critics and curmudgeons who sit around me in the Pontoon and plonk them down among that crowd. Say to them: this is what it's like to support your team.

Would it improve Town's home form if we could get that sort of support and atmosphere going at Blundell Park? I'm sure the realists among you will say that home and away form has more to do with how the team is set up, the tactics of the opposition, finding ways to break down teams who come and 'park the bus'. And yet, and yet... The idea that we really are the 12th man, that we can influence what happens on the field is very seductive.

What is it that makes it so much easier to get behind the team on away trips? I was sat, no make that stood, next to Retro Diary on Saturday and I wish I had asked him about territoriality. With his interest and expertise in the natural world, I am sure he knows all about the primitive impulse to defend home territory and make one's mark on the territory of one's enemy. Is that why the two types of support seem so different? At home we are defending our ground – sometimes a dour duty – whereas away from home we are the aggressors staking a claim to the ground of the opposition team. Or maybe it's just the quantity of beer consumed before the game on away trips.

All I know is that I'm keeping my fingers crossed for an away game in the first round of the FA Cup. The draw is live on the BBC at 7pm this evening and Town are ball number 22. I quite fancy a trip to St Albans City. I worked there for several years and have actually been to Clarence Park to see a pre-season friendly against Chelsea. I seem to remember there was a tree growing out of the middle of the away terrace, but I may just have dreamt that.

Keeping on the theme of away grounds, I must give a plug to the groundhopping videos of Adam Thurston, who seems to have become a Town fan by default after joining us at Forest Green last season. He really captures what it's like to be at the games and – best of all for me – shows the action from behind the goal, a viewpoint which you never get from conventional footage. I have just re-watched Adam's film from the play-off final at Wembley and it's brought a lump to my throat and a tear to my eye. Thanks Adam.