Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Thursday 20 November 2003

20 November 2003

A fitness scare over Michael Boulding was this week concealed from the media as GTFC officials feared outbreaks of public disorder and rioting on the streets of North East Lincolnshire. The news Town fans had been dreading all season finally broke this morning as Paul Groves revealed to BBC Humber that the groovy-haired ten-goal sensation had missed two days of training ahead of Saturday's visit to Brentford, but the Grimsby Telegraph has since reported that Boulding has shaken off the mystery unspecified "illness" that had raised the alarm. The participation at Griffin Park of Disco Derrick Hamilton remains in doubt, however, after the likeable but patience-testing midfielder withdrew from training on Tuesday with "a slight hamstring strain".

Grimsby could be waiting another 50 years for a player to take part in a major international tournament after Wales slipped quietly out of contention for Euro 2004 last night. Had the principality won the second leg of its play-off with Russia, Darren Barnard could have become the first Mariner to be thus honoured since Johnny Scott appeared for Northern Ireland in the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, but a 22nd-minute goal from Vadim Evseev proved enough to take his side into next year's tournament in Portugal. Town fans listening on Radio 5, furthermore, were forced to endure commentary that emphasised the second syllable in Barnard's surname rather than the first, making him sound like that Frenchman who plays for Newcastle.