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Diary - Wednesday 9 April 2008

9 April 2008

Many a Moore has made matches for the Mariners. Some achieved great renown, such as Kevin Moore, who made 400 appearances in the 1970s and 80s. Kev's brothers Andy and Dave Moore also turned out for the Town - the latter now serving as club physio. Perhaps less well remembered are Gary Moore, who managed 15 goals in the late 1960s in between learning heavy blues/rock guitar, Norman Moore (1946-47, seven appearances, one goal), Roy Moore (1948-50, three appearances) and Tony Moore (joined on loan from Chesterfield in 1970). Kev, Andy and Dave, of course, were Grimsby lads, which is not something that can be said for the latest addition to the Mariners' Moore pantheon - Dallas Moore, a 17-year-old American who has joined the club's youth team on the recommendation of Neil Woods' contacts at Ipswich. Well, it worked with Ryan Bennett, and young Dallas is a six-foot centre-half who has apparently cut down on the Big Macs after Town initially rejected him on fitness grounds last October. So says the Grimsby Telegraph, which brings a suitably parochial tone to the story, gazing in amazement at a passing aeroplane while it describes Moore as "a bright young prospect from the land where dreams come true". Which is perfectly true if you dream about schoolkids massacring each other with machine guns and being the only developed country in the world without a national health service.

Speaking of Ipswich, the Diary has discovered two or three references to the Suffolk side's released under-18 captain Curtley Williams having lined up a trial at Blundell Park. An 18-year-old central midfielder who admires Steven Gerrard and watches Countdown, Williams has apparently also secured a run-out at second division (albeit not for much longer) Colchester, so we ought to assume Town are very much the plan B here.

The Mariners' superb new official website infamously marked its launch last July by giving directions for a Lancashire seaside resort to fans travelling to a pre-season friendly just down the road in northern Lincolnshire. Nine months down the line, though, the SNOS has just about learned its lesson. Last night, when it published details of this evening's 5-1 defeat for the reserves against Sheffield Wednesday, the site stated that the game was to be played at Hillsborough, despite the Owls' official site stating clearly that the match would take place at Stocksbridge. Today, happily, the error has been corrected in plenty of time for travelling Mariners to adjust their plans. In any case, Stocksbridge lies a mere seven or eight miles up the road from Hillsborough - considerably less than the 132 miles that separate Southport from Gainsborough.