Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 28 November 2005

28 November 2005

He may or may not have taken a bit of the ball when he took Andy Parkinson's legs, but the two-footed challenge that emphasised the first syllable of Chris Hackett's surname has left Town's scamperer supreme feeling a bit sore this morning. After scoring the Mariners' opener at Oxford on Saturday Parky was felled by a dodgy lunge which earned Hackett a red card and has woken up this morning with a swollen ankle. The player reckons he will have recovered in time for the Mariners' next game, at home to Rochdale a week tomorrow, despite missing training today - or, as the club's official website puts it, being "sidlined", which gives the disturbing impression that while his teammates run around cones the Parkmeister is sitting in the dug-out learning the script of Carry on Camping.

The OS also hosts an explosion of misplaced initial capital letters this afternoon as it offers supporters the chance to bid on another 'spend match day with John Fenty' auction. Before the aforementioned Rochdale game the winning bidder will, explains the blurb, be taken on a tour of the ground "including seeing... the Pontoon Stand"! Tempted though the Diary is by this unprecedented opportunity, I intend to wait for that lottery win and then see exactly how much financial persuasion they would need to scrap the dress code.

It's always heart-warming to see a manager give strong public support to a forward who isn't scoring many goals - until it reaches the extremes attained by Rafael Benitez re: Peter Crouch, when it becomes more rib-tickling than heart-warming - and the Diary's cockles are truly heated today by Russell Slade's hymn of praise to Michael Reddy. "Hopefully he can keep his form going because he's been a revelation," says the Mariners boss of his five-goals-in-23-games, out-of-contract-next-summer frontman who definitely won't be sold during January's transfer window if somebody offers ten bob and a bag of spanners.