Cod Almighty | Diary
Diary - Friday 23 April 2004
23 April 2004
Eject the cuckoo from Town's nest...
"He busted in on my dreams, and made me see things I don't want to see." Yes, your increasingly eccentric Guest Diarist is still drawing apparently parallels between musical and soccer madness. But that mad cuckoo Law will surely be forced to play the best team available (and in the right positions) for a second consecutive match tomorrow. The Town treatment room is no longer the place to be for a good crack. Not even enough inhabitants for a three-handed game of dommies, with just McDermott and Davison wondering where their seasons have disappeared. Macca memorably said, a few years ago, that life was never boring at Town - always there is an end-of-season battle to either survive, or prosper. Well you've got it again in spades, mate. It's just a shame you have to watch from the stands this time.
Stockport away then. Well, we often draw there, but have been known to nick a win, now and again. Oh, and we sometimes lose. Horrible pitch, the memory of Challinor resurfacing (although he's gone on a sabbatical to Bury or somewhere), and the desperate scrabble for points. Points we shouldn't have needed, as County's official site reminds us, saying that "the Mariners have only themselves to blame" before mentioning a litany of win-less months (like March), points dropped because of last-gasp goals, and serious thrashings at regular intervals through the season. The truth hurts, no matter how often you hear it, don't you find?
As for poor old Martin Pringle, Pete Green's amusing article in today's Grimsby Telegraph tells us about his unexpectedly disappointing new career. We'll never think of him the same way again. The Telegraph has also got loads of predictable soundbite-based articles from Town people, all saying things like "biggest match of the season" and "it's a six-pointer", but no well-written match preview. Good job Simon Wilson's busy penning one right now for Cod Almighty, which will appear later on, he tells me, assuming the bastards stop throwing 'real' work at him...
What would Friday be without the catchily titled Refwatch report? Here you go, gentle readers, the lowdown on tomorrow's man in the middle:
The referee for Saturday's encounter at Edgeley Park will be Mr Kevin Wright, currently in his first season as a league referee. In 25 games this season, the Cambridgeshire official has issued 76 cards: just about three a game. In addition he has sent off eight players, including two during Grantham's first-round FA Cup tie against Leyton Orient in November. Saturday will mark Mr Wright's first involvement in a Town game, but not his first with Stockport: he previously took charge of the Hatters' 2-2 draw at Port Vale on 28 December.
In Mr Wright's eight second division games there have been three home wins, three away wins and two draws. Overall, though, he has seen nearly twice as many home wins as away wins (14 against eight). May I draw your attention to the fact that one of the linesmen - Mr David Richardson - resides, like this author, from West Yorkshire. Please bear this in mind should he be running the line near the visiting fans at the weekend. I think he lives just down the road from me.
In case you missed it, Tony Crane was named in the Nationwide Division Two Team of the Week. A transient honour, it has to be said - we almost blinked and missed it. Especially as they placed our one-man EU meat mountain in midfield. But, bless him, he deserves it, for attitude alone, and as a reward for not being booked or owt for bloody ages.
I've heard a rumour that a tiny few of you have got all Mr Diary's quiz questions right. So come back and visit the Diary on Saturday night, in case you're the lucky bleeder who's won match tickets to see the mighty Mariners. It's certainly a better deal than the quiz I saw on advertised on Ceefax clubcall last night - the prize being just a couple of tickets to see Leeds, which involved three text messages at £1.50 a pop, or summat, just for the privilege of entering. Anyroad, if you email me with the name of the song I quoted from at the top of this piece, and the names of the three members of that band who have all subsequently "drifted gently into mental illness", then I'll send the first correct one received an exciting piece of Town memorabilia by first class post. See yer, and let's hope for at least a point tomorrow.