Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 17 April 2003

17 April 2003

The puke-and-poo bug that for the last week has had the Town changing room resembling the Diary's bathroom on Saturday and Sunday mornings appears to be on its way, as its chief victims Richard Hughes, Michael Keane and Steve Livingstone are all set to return to training, reports BBC Humber Sport. Tony Gallimore's less than adequate performance against Crystal Palace last Saturday was also thought initially to have resulted from the mysterious virus, but the club doctor's prescription for the languorous left-back later turned out to be an emergency course of canine mane.

If the league table were decided on the basis of trialists with ace names, rather than who has the most money, then Town would be up there in the play-off places instead of staring down the barrel of a large and scary Division Two-shaped firearm. A report running on the Mariners' official site about yesterday's reserves fixture against Notts County drops it in all casual, like, that "a late strike by trialist Billy Mehmet earned Town a draw". Where did he come from? Nobody knows. The Diary's search on Google can't quite decide between West Ham United and Nuneaton Borough. Always the way, isn't it. But considering there is a chance that GTFC will sign a player who sounds like a Turkish version of my uncle, remarkably little fuss is being made here. Come on, Town - if you have names like Billy Mehmet and Kalam Mooniaruck kicking around, then you don't release the news quite so apologetically, I would say. Incidentally, Danny Invincible is set to leave Swindon on a free after rejecting a new contract.

Oh, and sorry I didn't update yesterday's Diary with a team sheet for the reserves match, as I so tantalisingly suggested I might. I ended up going to get my hair cut instead; Michelle is the only stylist for miles around who can do an inverted bob properly, and today is her day off. The disappointing news from the match was that Steve Croudson didn't play after all, despite the Diary's lengthy fanfare and fond reminiscence of his debut four years ago; but the Telegraph reckons he'll be back next week as Paul Wilkinson's side take on Lincoln at Sincil Bank. Yay!

Anyway, the reserves' 1-1 draw - in which no less than four forwards started the game for Town: Mehmet, David Soames, Jonny Rowan and Jake Sagare - means they won't get promoted to whatever the reserves version of the Premiership is, apparently; but the fact that they were still in with a shout with only two games to go seems to suggest that Wilko has done a pretty good job this season, despite his side losing 7-0 at York in October because he forgot to put a keeper on the bench. Clearly you live and learn.