Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Sunday 24 December 2006

24 December 2006

Hello, and a warm welcome to the Special Mrs Diary Is Out Shopping Christmas Eve Diary! Despite a 2-0 win over Torquay on freezing Friday night, the Mariners remain 16th in the fourth division for their 128th Christmas. The manner of the win, as much as the outcome itself, brought much-needed warmth to the innards of those hardy souls who huddled into Blundell Park (except the 12 Torquay fans, obviously, poor buggers), as Justin Whittle's absence through injury necessitated another patched-up back four in which Danny Boshell performed admirably as a makeshift right-back, Gary Croft did the biz back over on the left, and Tom Newey was more or less faultless in the centre alongside the breathtakingly magnificent Nick Fenton. It was the latter who sealed the win, heading in from a corner on 78 minutes after Town had withstood strong pressure from the Gulls after half time, Isaiah Rankin having given Lord Buckley's side the lead on 18. As Chief Wiggum would put it: that's nice work, boys.

Friday's only cause of concern for those of a Marinerly persuasion was the exit of Martin Paterson, who flung his shirt into the Pontoon at the end in a distinctly been-nice-knowing-you sort of way - oh, and the treatment given to his ready-made replacement Luton's Michael Reddy by those Grimbarians who hate it when everything's going well to the extent that their lives become meaningless when there's nothing left to boo. It remains to be seen how they will respond should the Hatters forward sign a new contract with Town after all, as he is apparently considering doing, presumably after realising that he'll only get a sideways move to Bristol Rovers or Northampton or someone if he leaves at the end of this season, and only a campaign of prolific goalscoring for GTFC in 2007-08 would earn him the upward motion he craves to Leeds or King$ton Communication$ FC or, indeed, Luton. Town's official website also reports that Danny Boshell has been offered an upgrade from his current week-to-week or month-to-month contract to keep him at BP for the rest of the season, further strengthening his chances of scooping the 2006-07 Official Cod Almighty Unsung Hero Award.

Saying that about Paterson, there's no indication from either Town or Stoke that the player could be heading back to Staffordshire before the date of 6 January exclusively revealed the other week by Dave Pye of the Grimsby Telegraph. So for now we must assume that Marvellous Martin will be among the squad that travels to Hartlepool on Boxing Day. And speaking of the Riby Square Thunderer, the paper also quotes Lord Buckley to the effect that the injured duo of Whittle and Paul Bolland should be in training today. Would you settle for letting in less than four this time, or are your expectations running wild now that the Mariners are being managed by a manager?

Well, I'd better get the presents wrapped before Mrs Diary gets back, so here's an email from Sibbo to finish. "We come to the end of another eventful year and no doubt you're already down the pub. If not and you get this email before the Christmas break, many thanks to you and all the CA team for your commitment in keeping Town fans amused and informed. We have seen some better team performances of late and as the eternal optimist, I'm sure next year will bring smiley faces. Best wishes to all the gang and hope you have a really good festive time." Thanks very much, sir; a very happy Christmas to you too - and to all readers of the Diary. Let us all hope that Stoke share in the mood of festive giving.