Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 7 December 2005

7 December 2005

If Town's feelgood 4-1 win over Rochdale last night was the turkey and stuffing, then the first-half injury sustained by John McDermott was very much the brussels sprouts. The Mariners hero clearly proved some kind of obscure macho point in being carried off by three men without a stretcher rather than two men with a stretcher, but early indications from the club are that he could be sidelined for six to eight weeks. Although the player has not suffered a broken bone, His Heavenly Majesty Sir Macca of Macness appears to have sprained his ankle severely after landing awkwardly from an aerial challenge and won't be adding to his 713 appearances for GTFC until some time in 2006. Rest ye well, gentle John.

Anyway, yeah - result! When Dale took the lead through Rrrrrricky Lambert the question was how long it would take for them to double it, as Mr Russell Slade's changes to a winning midfield had left the Mariners looking paralysed by fear against fearless and pacy opponents. But his side worked hard at their comeback, and the decisive move was the replacement on the hour of Jean-Paul Kamudimba Kalala by Gary Cohen - restoring the midfield four that had started Town's last three games and won in two. Cohen headed Town in front after Jones the Lump's 67th-minute equaliser from an excellent run and cross by Michael Reddy; and the sub played a large part in the Mariners' third, finished by Rob Jones, before Reddy brought proceedings to a close in injury time with his usual score-on-counterattack-after-run-from-halfway-line thing. With Wycombe only drawing at home to Boston, Town stand within one point of the fourth division's top spot, three points ahead of Leyton Orient (who lost to Chester) and four above fourth place. Which is nice.

Mixed news today for fans of the Mariners' second and third teams - assuming, of course, that there are any, now that the first team is out of all the cups and fewer than 4,000 can be bothered to go and watch them. Members of the youth team are being kept off the streets by their run in the FA Youth Cup, in which they travel to Port Vale this evening; while the reserves will be denied, for now, the chance to end their thoroughly shocking sequence of results so far this season, as their scheduled match at home to Huddersfield has been postponed for reasons unspecified by GTFC's official website. Let's see if Huddersfield know why, then. Aha! They do, and it would seem that the reserves game is off because of the youth team game. So it all falls into place. Well, you never see them in the same room together, do you.

A quick glance over to my inbox, then, whence Diary reader John Pakey has very thoughtfully sent an email with reassurance as to the validity of my breakfasting habits. "According to an article in the Observer I read one Sunday," writes JP, "beans on toast is a good way to start the day. It's something to do with iron and all that techy stuff I can never fathom. Anyway, supposed to give you more energy and make you more alert." If this is indeed the case, God only knows what sort of state your habitually bleary-eyed Diary would be in if I only had cornflakes. "Personally, I prefer good old Scott's Oats," adds John. "Bit of mixed dried fruit and you're sorted until lunchtime." Mmmm... lunchtime. Wonder if Sue's chippy on the Grimsby Road will start doing deliveries in exchange for a bit of free advertising?