Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 3 April 2009

3 April 2009

If you are squeamish turn away now, gentle reader. Because your Guest Diarist is about to delve in to JP Kalala's lower stomach (well, groin really). Manager Newell told Dale the name of the operation that JP will undergo before he can resume his loiter-on-the-edge-of-the-box-at-every-set-piece duty. Here it is in glorious technicolour. If it is good enough for Michael Carrick then one can assume it will do for our beloved loanee - and let's hope he is back for a game before the end of the season. If only to say au revoir once again.

Town are away at Shrewsbury tomorrow - a chance to do the double over one of the few footballing sides in our division. Both skipper Bennett and young Widdowson (I never really think of Ryan as young any more given that he has played nearly a hundred games already) enthusiastically mention Shrewsbury's new ground in their standard template Telewag interviews. Let's just believe they are being ironic, shall we? The place you get a free bus to but the ride home to Shrewsbury costs two and a half quid or summat. Two years ago the sun shone and we bade the fondest of farewells to Lord John of McDermott at lovely old Gay Meadow in a perfect 2-2 draw. Tomorrow we need a point much more urgently. But more than that we need an honest, hard-working team performance as the maintenance of morale is almost as important as the acquisition of points at the minute.

It helps that we can field an unchanged team with a strong bench. Conlan the barbarian has shrugged off his dead leg and Lulu's knee is alright after a couple of days' rest so I think Proudlock, Forbes and Jarman will miss out on a start again given Hegggaarty's rich vein of form and Hunt's dramatic resurgence.

Diary stalwart Sibbo has written in attributing Conlon's rapid acclimatisation to Pettit's best raw steak, while Les Brechin emailed to explain the reason for the high numbers of Aldershot fans at BP last weekend - it being down to this match having been chosen as the annual 'tour of duty' away game where fans pledge their allegiance by 'being there'. Nice idea, eh? We have also heard again from Jan Przeniczny asking about the legality of the uphill terrain in the Pontoon end goalmouth. We can't recall this ever being the cause of a public complaint, mate. It's just one of the quirks that make British sports great - like that tree on the cricket pitch at Canterbury, the Brechin hedge and the fact that you can get one for his nob.

When we beat this lot at home our back four were outstanding due to us having two good centre-halves and Mr Hope surprising us all with a good performance at left-back. Our back four tomorrow is even stronger - let's hope Bennett keeps Holt in his pocket and the referee keeps Bennett on the pitch this time. Let's hope even harder that Ryan takes his contract offer off the 'back burner' soon and swallows the Town shilling for another couple of seasons. And remember Rob Jones, Mr Fenty - centre-halves are as important as strikers; there is nothing wrong with paying them accordingly. See yer.