Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Tuesday 11 January 2011

11 January 2011

Mardy Diary writes: So Town travel to York tonight, probably without Ademeno and Coulson and possibly without Connell and Sinclair. You'll excuse me if I just go and have a little sit down and regain my composure, won't you? Although to be fair, reading between the lines of what Woods has told the Telegraph, it seems that a slightly strained Connell and a poorly backed Sinclair should make late fitness tests (at least it's not his knees, eh?). Coulson not travelling does mean a return for Rob Eagle, which is no bad thing as far as I'm concerned - he's been pretty lively this season and remains our second highest scorer.

The Telegraph reminds us that this is a return home for Woods, who was born in York and briefly played for them towards the end of his playing career. One former Yorkist who'll also be at the match will be Tom Corner - familiar terrority for the youngster as he still makes many trips back that way to see family and friends. Corner will be on the bench tonight and it'll be interesting to see how he plays against his hometown club - presumably in front of family and friends. I'm assuming Peacock isn't going to last another 90 minutes after playing the whole match at Wrexham. Is he?

Another player with some York experience, of course, is notorious straight man and all-round heterosexual Peter Bore. Bore signed on loan for York briefly in 2008 and subsequently failed to impress then manager Martin Foyle. I think Foyle made a comment along the lines of Bore being supremely talented but lacking in application - I can't find reference to it now. Tonight also marks the 100th Town start for Bore - and I'd say about 90 of those have been a frustrating experience for the rest of us. One day I'm sure he'll be consistently great - but probably for someone else.

Players who've moved in the other direction are former loanee Ashley Chambers and orange-faced sycophant Peter Till. Although, it's unusual these days to find players who haven't made an appearance at BP in the last three seasons. Chambers was alright, I thought - quite fast and did manage a couple of goals in the short time he spent on the pitch. He also played in the Burton match, which is probably why he didn't want to come back. He's scored a couple for York this season already, playing in a wide position (in place of Till), so will probably scare the shit out of Ridley if he's down that side.

All of that leaves us hoping that Wrexham was the blip and Mansfield was the norm for 2011. Town are halfway now and have amassed 35 points - a bit of simple maths for you there puts that at a season total of 70. That's not a bad points haul really - it'd just about get you into the play-offs in the fourth division - but it's not enough to be in contention in the Conference, unfortunately. Town need to win a few more in the second half of the season, but January doesn't look like the month to do that. So, if you haven't already, take a look at our pre-match factfile for York and remember: the season doesn't start 'til March.

Oh - and that James Dance rumour was rubbish. Just the chairman trying to up his value in a fire sale at Kettering as a means to extract more money from Crawley. Can't blame him for that - although I'd ask for the cash up front if I were him...