Cod Almighty | Diary

Jennings and our little hut of strikers

25 March 2014

The whistle blows, and immediately a howl of dissent and derision descends on the referee from the home stands. The ref shakes his head with a tight-lipped smile. Minutes later, he again adjudges a 50-50 decision in favour of the away team. The same howl, the same response.

The homer is a well-known phenomenon among referees. Less discussed is the awayer. This is the referee who, having been told that you must make unpopular decisions to be a good referee, extrapolates from this that if he is making unpopular decisions, he must be a good referee. Logical fallacy is a likely characteristic of his decision-making.

Ross Joyce will officiate tonight against Luton. Admittedly, his performance when he last crossed our path, against Gateshead, was rather serially incompetent than neglectful of the offences of the visitors. Nevertheless, to get the least worst of him, your Middle-Aged Diary recommends greeting his decisions not even with sarcastic applause but with silent disrespect. Accusing him of onanism or a sight disorder will only affirm him in his unrighteousness.

No-one is calling tonight's match a six-pointer. Luton need a handful more wins to secure the Conference title, but it doesn't matter where they get them. One or two of our fixtures are more important, arithmetically, than others, but this isn't one of them. Commercial manager Steve Wraith has done his best to beat the drum for ticket sales, and the Bedfordshire media are wilfully taking his remarks out of context to concoct some fake controversy. No doubt on a messageboard somewhere, someone is rising to the bait, but it's all a long way from the days of Mike Newell. We are playing the league leaders and champions-elect. It would be grand, psychologically, if we could put on a show.

Ready to help us tonight is our friend Jennings, his loan from Scunthorpe extended to the rest of the season.