Cod Almighty | Diary

I talk to the trees

7 March 2016

Miss Guest Diary writes: What a difference two weeks can make. After the nadir that was the performance at Halifax, from both the players and many of the fans, we had the high of Friday night at Forest Green Rovers. For me, Friday was the best match atmosphere since the game at Barnet last February. For the entire 94 minutes there was drumming, singing, clapping, cheering and the waving of many and varied inflatables. I even confess to joining in on the previously criticised "we're on our way" chant, which suddenly seemed very uplifting. Brilliant!

Then there was Dizzer's winning goal: a beautifully floated header followed by a Klinsmannesque slide in front of the Town fans and crowd pandemonium. Topped off by seeing the Forest Green keeper lose his temper and stamp on one of the beach balls which had rained onto the pitch. Fantastic!

But don't just take my word for it – here's the view of a neutral.

Of course, the gods of football had to toy with us a little: half of the roads in Gloucestershire closed at 10pm for urgent pothole repairs. Badly signposted diversions caused the drive back to our hotel to take twice as long as it should have, and we became better acquainted with the back streets of Stroud and the Gloucester Business Park than we ever thought possible. But they couldn't take away those three points.

Having had the Barnet game recalled to mind, I also remembered that my hopes of automatic promotion last season were rekindled by that victory. With Cheltenham again dropping points at the weekend, those fluttering hopes started again. Then I took a look at the diary I wrote after Barnet and came back to Earth with a bump. In that diary I said if Town could beat Telford the following day they would be six points off the top with eleven to play. We did beat Telford but still finished the season in third place.

Town currently have 12 games left… so after the Southport game tomorrow there'll be 11 left to play. And if we win… we'll be 12 points off the top. Winning the league from that position seems like an impossible task. Not because I don't think Town can keep on winning, but because Cheltenham won't keep on dropping points. Face facts: a team that has lost only three games out of 37 is hardly likely to lose three of the last nine.

So it's looking like the play-offs again and that obsessive monitoring of the table for our likely opponent in the semi-final. As things stand it would be Braintree, which I wouldn't mind as it's not too far to go and I've never visited their ground. But realistically it could be anyone down to Lincoln in tenth place. Mmm, now that's a tasty prospect. All I hope is that it's not Tranmere – going to a place which holds such bad memories twice in a fortnight would be awful – or Gateshead, as I promised myself never to go there again.

Then there's that whole Wembley ticket thing. Is it worth taking the gamble of buying a £20 ticket now only for Town not to reach the final, or wait and have to pay £41 for a ticket? I know my partner and I won't be opting for the Bananarama Big Day Out option. Come on, the 'lucky shirt' has already been swapped mid-season in a never-before-taken bid to change Town's fortunes (it's working, by the way, as the shirt is currently undefeated). But buying a ticket before Town have reached the final would definitely be classed as counting our chickens and likely to jinx the whole enterprise.