Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 10 February 2003

10 February 2003

After being knocked back by a series of midfield loan targets in recent weeks, Paul Groves is giving up and will try to sign a defender instead. The manager's decision is also based on the return to fitness of Alan Pouton and the predictable loss of another centre-half: "My priorities may have changed a little now. Steve Chettle got injured yesterday and it may be a hernia," says Groves. "Simon [Ford] and Georges [Santos] have played well, but if we lose one of them we are going to be short in that area."

Gifted winger Terry Cooke - whose mysterious inability to hold down a place in the side has led to all manner of unsavoury rumours about rifts with Groves - receives praise from his manager today following his laudable contribution in Saturday's crucial win over Stoke. "If Terry Cooke plays like that week in week out, Terry Cooke will be in the side," says the Town boss. "That's the sort of standard that Terry Cooke's set, and that's the standard he needs to maintain." Experts believe the intense psychological pressure of Groves' position is affecting his grasp of personal pronouns.

Graham Rodger is to appeal against his sending-off at the weekend, reports BBC Humber Sport. The articulate but easily riled assistant manager was sent to the stands for chucking a mental when Stoke right-back Wayne Thomas impeded Town's Chris Thompson with extreme violence, only to escape with a booking. Rodger hopes to avoid a touchline ban and all that gubbins.

Saturday's strike pairing of Thompson with Michael Boulding - who proved themselves no respecters of Grimsby tradition by both scoring goals - has turned right-wing broadsheet the Daily Telegraph giddy with admiration. Reporter Peter Keeling writes in today's Torygraph that the diminutive twosome "looked capable of blending into one of the best striking pairs in the Nationwide League".

The Mariners' reserve fixture with Hull - who have a big new stadium, you know, so they must be good - has been rescheduled for Wednesday 2 April. The match was originally fixed for 29 January but was postponed after a heavy shower of frogs and fish left the playing surface unsafe.

And so far as the Diary is aware, the only former Towner to find the net over the weekend was Clyde striker Willie Falconer, whose unsuccessful loan period with the Mariners late last season you will have almost forgotten already.