Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 13 February 2009

13 February 2009

"I watched them against Barnet and they have got goals in them," he said. "There have been a lot of changes, a lot of new players have come in, but they can still knock it around and play football like Grimsby sides have always done." So Bury manager Mr Knill told the Bury Times this week. Alan Knill played for Bury the last time they won at Blundell Park back in 1991, and it is nice to read his enduring opinion that Town play the game the right way.

Your Guest Diarist is up early this morning as he has to attend a lunch in honour of his mother-in-law's birthday. The world is slushy at GD Towers in more ways than one but manager Newell has told Dale in a 'free trial' edition of the Mariners World preview that the groundsman has told him the pitch is fine.

He also applauded with some amazement the London contingent of the Town support who swelled the ranks of the faithful to about 350 the other night, saying how much that he and the team benefited when the support got behind them vocally. But the injury list has grown, and those already on it remain stubbornly so. Old lags Newey and Stockdale are still expressing 'concern' over their hamstring and calf respectively, and Jean-Louis is not expected to make it, said Newell. There is a slight doubt as well about both Sinclair and Clarke. Sinclair's knee is his source of concern while Clarke 'took a bang'. Mr Newell fully expects 'Clarkey' to bounce back and play though - it is increasingly obvious that he appreciates players of the 'model professional' category. Clarke falls into it, we can assume, as do Forbes and Elliott, and, one can assume, Jarman, Atkinson and Bennett. If Clarke fails at the last, Newell expects Peter Bore to assume the right-back role in a suitably manly, uncomplaining way.

At this early hour I hope the Cod Almighty team (bar the New Zealand representative who noticed that Rizzo, the shortest-lived Town player ever, has signed for some Aussie team and neglected to mention his 18 minutes playing for Town) are still in the land of nod. So I have no idea whether they plan a factfile, as yesterday was occupied almost entirely by a long discussion about whether to hang on to Stipe and Giggs memorabilia they (weirdly) own until they are dead. In case one doesn't turn up, tomorrow's ref will be that git who took the home game against Darlo back in November. Mr Woolmer blew up for a breath of anything and, according to our match reporter, minced. Still almost a capital offence in NE Lincs.

I just went to the Bury official site in search of a closing paragraph, gentle reader, and discovered that, like ours, their pre-match preview has to be paid for. Except today only ours is free, I hear you whine - well, it is normally not free, you have to accept. So apart from the Bury Times we don't have a lot to go on, but Newell knows they play 4-4-2, that Bishop gets a lot of goals, and their side is similar to the one we beat earlier in the season. Elsewhere, in a nasty case of cut and paste, the Shakers appear to recommend their fans trying the Imperial for a pre-match pint. If any of you Buryites are reading this, by chance, don't. Come to the Rutland Arms for a friendly and less partisan pint of decent bitter.

To compound my misery, she-who-must-be-obeyed has declared that not only is today a day for the mother-in-law but tomorrow is a day to paint the hall, so give them a cheer for me, eh? I'll be risking a quid but no more on the home win at 19/10 with Bet365. See yer.