Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 26 August 2005

26 August 2005

Is it me or has this summer been one of the worst for quite a few years? Hello, Miss Guest Diary here again. I've been feeling a bit fed up lately with the poor excuse for a summer we've been having and the poor excuse for football we've been getting at Blundell Park. Now I'm feeling even more fed up because I couldn't get to the Derby game - where Town apparently played well and in a sensible formation - and I'm not going to the Barnet game either. Earlier in the week I was congratulating myself of missing out on several hours of potential misery and boredom, but now it seems away games will be my best hope of seeing some decent performances from Town.

So what am I doing tomorrow instead? I will be travelling south to see a fast-moving, witty and sometimes shocking performance where crooks, impostors and frauds try to dupe the gullible, greedy and hypocritical. No, I'm not swapping Blundell Park for Stamford Bridge; I'm indulging in some culture on a trip organised by Bottom of the Barrel Diary. On Sunday we will be making an excursion to see a rare butterfly, or maybe an orchid - I can't remember, as this is not really my sort of thing. But he has promised a fine lunch along the way so, to borrow an annoying expression currently in common parlance: whatever.

And what news of Town? Well, Tony Crane is still suspended but Tom Newey is once again available for selection. I never thought I'd find myself looking back wistfully to the days of players like Mark Lever and Kevin Jobling, but as Joni Mitchell once sang: "Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got till it's gone - they sack Thomas Pinault and give us Andy Parkinson." Or something like that.

Anyway, back to the team news: according to the OS, "Rob Jones is the Mariners' biggest problem." I think that's a little unfair, given his recent sterling performances. Oh, I see what they mean - the fact that he might not be fit for tomorrow is a problem. Others unlikely to be making the trip to Barnet are Gary Cohen and Ciaran Toner, but little Gary Croft should be back - let's hope he is also back where he belongs in the left full-back position. Looking at Barnet's OS, I see they have a host of injuries to players I've never heard of - so I'll leave you to decide whether this improves Town's chances of a win tomorrow or not. Whatever.