Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 19 December 2006

19 December 2006

If you field a reserve side that combines a midfield and frontline boasting considerable first-team experience with a keeper and back four fresh out of the youth team, you might expect a few goals at both ends. And so it is that the Diary is today celebrating winnings of £100,000 on a stake of two chocolate coins from the Christmas tree, having anticipated precisely the 8-3 victory for the Mariners' second XI that travelled to Brigg Town for last night's friendly. Up front Danny North and Andy Taylor claimed three and two goals respectively, reports Town's official website, while Ciaran Toner struck another two and Danny Boshell the other. Gary Harkins and Peter Bore also played across the middle. Which is all very nice and everything, but will any of them be able to double as a centre-half for the first team after Nick Fenton and Justin Whittle suffer season-ending ligament injuries against Torquay this Friday?

Elsewhere on the OS, GTFC are trying to ascertain your player of the year. That's the year 2006, not the season. The season is only half finished. Chronologically, I mean; some would say it's only just starting. Anyway, yes... the club offers a characteristically quirky choice of candidates for the poll (how much has Luton's Michael Reddy done in 2006?) and is charging 50p to vote, but you could win the prize of awarding the prize to the player on the pitch just before Town play Rochdale on New Year's Day. "Please refer to our full terms and conditions for details," adds the site, neglecting to give even the vaguest indication of where these might be found. While you're at it, reader, vote in Cod Almighty's awesome Christmas poll to find the Mariners' best goal in living memory. You can't win anything, but it doesn't cost 50p to vote.

Jamie Lawrence, Terrell Forbes, Curtis Woodhouse, Ashley Sestanovich, Duncan Ferguson. Can you spot the odd one out? Yes, it's Terrell Forbes - all the others were found guilty! The most recent among these is Ashley Sestanovich, who looks set for a stretch in pokey after being convicted of conspiracy to rob a London roofing firm in June 2005, five months after the premature and disappointing end to his association with Grimsby Town Football Club. It had all seemed so promising in 2003 when Stan polled 27,300 votes to win a 'player of the round' award after his goal for Scarborough put Port Vale out of the FA Cup, and it was testament to the player's abilities that he briefly carved out a career as a double for Thierry Henry despite looking absolutely nothing like him. If the BBC is to believed, it must have all gone wrong for him at Nottingham Forest and Manchester City.

Finally today, did you ever expect to see Tony Crane described as a "bankable asset" with no suggestion that he be sold to a glue factory? No, me neither.