Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 15 August 2003

15 August 2003

Des Hamilton may be a demon on the dancefloor but he is also man enough to have publicly apologised for his dismissal at Doncaster on Tuesday night. So he has - but not to the Donny donkey whose Challinoresque onslaught provoked the groovin' midfield man into retaliatory asphyxiation. "We were really comfortable and we ended up losing," confirms the summer acquisition, who after a 'quiet' beginning to the match had just begun to exhibit the telltale symptoms of dudeness. "That was down to my sending-off and I'm sorry," a contrite Des tells the Grimsby Telegraph. If any headway is to be made this season, though, the GTFC squad will have clearly to adapt to the FA rule changes being piloted in the lower divisions, whereby a team being outclassed by more skilful players is now allowed to break their legs.

As Paul Groves looks to draw a line under the Belle Vue debacle, the Town boss is is set to name an unchanged side for the third match in a row to face Port Vale at Blundell Park tomorrow. Any suspensions to be served by Hamilton and his fellow felon Marcel Cas are yet to begin, which gives John McDermott and Stacy Coldicott a bit longer to get better; while Laurens Ten Heuvel remains up in the air, and his contract hasn't been sorted out either, says the Telegraph, with Groves expecting a permanent deal to be signed in the next few days. "It's important that we get continuity in the side," says our Paul. "There will have to be changes through injury or suspension eventually, but we need continuity, especially with so many new faces." Vale come into the game on the back of a winning start against lovely Bournemouth last week; manager Brian Horton reports one or two minor knocks in the squad but won't say who's carrying them.

Finally, an intriguing tale emerges from the aftermath of the Mariners' League Cup exit. Some Grimbarians who made the journey chose to express their disgruntlement at the performance of the chief adjudicating official by smashing shit up; the real hard core, though, chose instead to write letters to the newspapers. One of their number, following the publication of his address, promptly received a bonkers anonymous phone call positing the thesis that his letter stemmed merely from tartness in his vineyard, adding for good measure that Town were "rubbish". Our unfortunate supporter at first presumed from the Yorkshire accent that this was a Donny gloater - that is, until the utterance of the words "Up the Tigers". The Diary will surely not be alone in wondering whether the mystery caller was in fact leading east Yorkshire referee Mr Carl Boyeson; but he unfortunately rang off before our Town fan could ask him whether he enjoyed getting jiggy with goats.