Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 23 November 2007

23 November 2007

High guise! Durham Diary here, desperately fighting to keep my eyes open after the worst night's sleep in history. Well, after a crap night of lying awake unable to sleep, at any rate. And that's quite enough self-pity for today, thank you kindly.

Having amassed just a solitary point from the last eight league games, one might suspect Lord Buckalot might have had the odd sleepless night as well recently. Buckaroo's woes will not have been eased by Bollando contracting one of those horrible ankle hurty diseases on Tuesday, although by the sound of things the performance of the team at least would have made the Buckster's evening cocoa taste a little sweeter that night. Barnestormer is still feeling like a fresh lump of dogger on Bradley Pitches, so the Big Scary Montster will get another chance to impress between the sticks against Barnet tomorrow. Which is to say that he'll start in goal, not that there's some weird kind of inter-club slalom event taking place.

Town have loaned two players this week, bringing in 20-year-old defenders Sam Hird and Rob 'Not Ron' Atkinson from Doncaster and Barnsley respectively. The Grim Tel reckons both go into the squad for tomorrow, although both are likely to provide cover during their loan spells rather than replace the players we have already. With injuries, illness and suspensions all affecting the availability of Town's squad, last night's closing of the loan transfer window might turn out to be a real pane. Window? Pane? No, you're probably right.

I learned two very pertinent lessons on Tuesday night: firstly never bet more than you can afford to lose; secondly, never bet on something you want to happen. A five pound one-off bet in addition to a one pound 'accumulator' both involved Carlisle not losing to Grimsby inside 90 minutes. While six pounds may not seem more than one can afford to lose, it must be remembered that everything is relative and six pounds represented a significant chunk of my expendable income. This said, I didn't actually mind because of the fact that Grimsby beat Carlisle, which has led me to consider my future betting strategy. As of tomorrow I'll be betting either on Town to lose or to not win, depending on my expectations for the game. In this way I will receive a compensation payment from Bet365 every time I'm let down by my team. It's the ultimate in bet hedging and expectation management. I'll let you know how it goes; in fact with Town's current league form this might turn out to be quite a profitable little enterprise!

And only eight days 'til our next cup game. The unprecedented treble of Football League Trophy, FA Cup and fourth division promotion is still on. Come on you Mariners!

All of which brings me to the end of today's sleep-deprived ramblings. Hope you have a nice weekend, whatever it is you're doing. I'm, well, let's be honest: I'm going back to bed.