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Diary - Monday 19 December 2005

19 December 2005

Well, that could have been worse. As diligent Diary readers the world over will doubtless be aware, the Mariners have retained second place in the fourth division league table despite, or possibly because of, not getting to play over the weekend. Referee Neil Swarbrick called off Town's scheduled fixture at lunchtime on Saturday owing to a frozen pitch at the 96.6 TFM Darlington Trains And Coal Vic Reeves Reynolds Safecracker Tax Evasion Arena: a decision Mr Russell Slade has accepted with equanimity (which is apparently nothing to do with horses) while his opposite number, Darlington boss Dave Hodgson, has gone on a crazy psycho death rampage and accused his own ground staff of "sheer negligence" in not having covered the pitch (our very own Grimsby Telegraph explaining that, hilariously, Darlo's undersoil heating has never been used because of the cost). With Wycombe finally having lost a match Town could move to within one point of the division's stylish pacesetters should they win their game in hand, and remain ahead of Carlisle and Leyton Orient on goal difference. Result!

Rob Taylor was a Paul Groves loan signing who looked too good to be true, and was. Tommy Taylor is a weird Russell Slade signing who will never play first-team football in a Mariners shirt. Graham Taylor played full-back for GTFC in the 1960s and now says "very much so" on the radio a lot. And Andy Taylor was the guitarist in Duran Duran. His namesake, Andy Taylor, meanwhile, plays for Town's current youth team, where he has just made a bit of an impression by scoring all seven goals of their seven goals in their 7-1 win over Mansfield. Town's official website compares Taylor's pace to that of Michael Reddy; the Diary compares his man-in-a-boy's-body thick-set brow to that of Wayne Rooney.