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Diary - Monday 6 January 2003

6 January 2003

GTFC management are sweating on the results of a test to see how long Georges Santos will be out of action for. Not literally - that would be revolting. The tempestuous midfielder did his hamstring in Saturday's 2-2 draw with Burnley and 'could be out for several weeks', according to the Grimsby Telegraph.

Town face a trip south to tackle second division Brentford in the fourth round of the FA Cup should they make it past Burnley in the third round replay next Tuesday night. The London outfit pulled off a minor giant-killing act by dumping Derby out of the competition on Saturday. Today's return to a Monday lunchtime cup draw has been touted as part of the FA's agenda to restore the tournament's traditional values - but it is unclear quite how the decision to stage cup semi-finals at the rebuilt Wembley stadium for 30 years fits into the strategy.

Controversy over the penalty that gave the Mariners a way back into the Burnley match, meanwhile, continues with Clarets manager Stan Ternant describing the decision as "ridiculous" while his opposite number Paul Groves timidly insists: "We would have been disappointed if it wasn't given." The 57th-minute spot-kick was awarded for a foul by Mark McGregor on Stuart Campbell and converted by Terry Cooke for his first goal of the season.

The scorer of Town's superb late equaliser on Saturday, 18-year-old Darren Mansaram, has earned praise from Groves for his contribution to the game. Mansaram himself comments: "What more can you ask for on your FA Cup debut? I'll be watching that goal a few times on Match of the Day."

And finally, the Diary finally receives news from our web pixies of being able to read these very words through a WAP-enabled mobile phone (whatever one of those is). Just direct your phone to http://www.codalmighty.com/wap/index.wml for your daily Diary slice. Whatever was wrong with paper in the first place?