Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 11 August 2008

11 August 2008

So, after all the close-season talk and activity to shore up the Mariners' leaky defence, Alan Buckley's new-look backline got off to a "satisfying" start, keeping promotion-tipped Rochdale at bay. The visiting side themselves also managed to keep Town at bay, but let's not split hairs. A solid start, something to build upon, or knock down. Incidentally, and possibly not so interestingly, it is almost ten years to the day since the Mariners last kicked off a campaign in goalless fashion (against Ipswich), and seven years since they managed to keep a clean sheet on their opener.

Your Idle Diarist was at the Oval on Saturday (where I listened to Danny Butterfield miss an easy chance in the only other goalless game in the Football League), so am having to rely on the words of others about the game. The Sun reports the game was "dull". Our Tone thought it was a solid display from the H-block, plumping for Heywood as his main man. A lot of other people reckon Hunt was equally ace, while Heslop shows promise but needs to work on his fitness. The BBC declares Barnes our hero with his spec-tac-u-lar save from Chris Dagnall, while the Times bestowed him the honour of the division's player of the weekend. Let's hope no prying clubs were watching... On the downside, Tom Newey, the latest player to carry the hex of a Cod Almighty sponsorship, continued the time-honoured tradition by being rrrrrrrrubbish. We would apologise, but he was born that way.

Some three weeks after he knackered his knee, Bolly's off to see a specialist, hopefully in knee-related injuries, to determine how long he'll be out for. In the Bradford Breeder's absence, Hunt will be adding the bite to the midfield chutney, and is certainly looking forward to tomorrow night's League Cup game against Tranmere to get a run going. Bye the bye: we have to pass through the first round of the Paint Pot Trophy.

Are we missing something? Nick Fenton left Town on Friday to join Rotherham's bench, so maybe not. Time for me to get this live in time for the rest of the day's play. Only 88 to win the game. Cheers!