Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 18 March 2011

18 March 2011

"Ademeno: he's no use to anybody," said assistant manager-physiotherapist-acting-caretaker-manager for the foreseeable future David Moore bluntly in the Bath City match video preview seen only by the paying few. He actually says it twice, gentle reader.

Grimsby have the rather remarkably stupid problem of four suspended players tomorrow. Kempson, whose second sending-off (the first away at Tamworth on another grim day) has earned him a two-game ban. Hudson and Cummins are still serving out their three- and four-match bans. And now there's Ademeno, who got angry in a reserve game at Hull and earned a three-match ban (bar appeal). Your Guest Diarist, like Mr Moore I suspect, just shrugged at the idiocy of the modern player. And then got angry.

Cummins got sent off, served a ban and then immediately got sent off again. This was possibly some kind of weird tribute to Barry Fucking Conlon, who, by the way, has got a job in the Belgian third division and is reported as saying: "Je veux relever un nouveau challenge en Belgique. Et, avant tout, retrouver le plaisir de marquer." Hang on, I must digress - my schoolboy French translates this as "I want a new challenge in Belgium. And, above all, find the pleasure of marking". Marking? Marking as in chasing back and defending from the front? Surely not. Marking as in raking studs down foreign shins? A bit more likely. I'm sure the Conlon is deep in Maeterlinck, frites and Belgian beer by now. Well, two of those three anyway. So, Cummins was stupid.

Hudson childishly kicked out at an opponent while on the ground. So he's definitely stupid - retaliation is always stupid. Kempson got a deserved booking in the fog the other night, says Dave Moore, who could see the incident. And then he did exactly the same thing again five minutes later, Moore added, so that was stupid too.

But Ademeno, who has missed three quarters of the season so far with assorted injuries, operations and rehabilitations. Ademeno, who has been champing at the bit to prove to everyone how fast he is, how deadly he is, how full of goals he is. How he is an inspiration to teammates, manager(s), and fans alike. How, because of all these things, we will want to call him Charles rather than enunciating 'Charles' with a slightly curled lip. Knowing that we definitely need a fourth striker to take the load off Duffy, Connell and Peacock, and one who offers the difference of raw pace and aggression. How flipping stupid is he to stamp on someone in a stiffs game which matters about as much as a Jordan headline and get himself banned just as he finally gets match fit?

Bath at home are tough to beat - they get stuck in. This year they've drawn with Luton and Wimbledon and not lost to anyone else either, bar the creepy Crawley unlicensed speeding juggernaut (think Duel but with the driver angrily shouting). So don't expect this stupidly weakened Town side to win tomorrow. Not even the Moore factor will be enough to get the March three-in-a-row that Mardy Diary stubbornly thinks will start the play-off roll. A point tomorrow would be a point won.

In other, less stupid news, Kenny Arthur was back in training on Wednesday and stands a good chance of making the trip. Straight Peter Bore had his Thursday groin again though - something Moore dismissed as 'resting' it. If they hadn't knocked it down I'd have said Peter Bore was suffering from the after-effects of a night at the widows' ball at the Winter Gardens. The central midfield berths are the problem though. As usual. Wood and Leary? Aggession, no nous and definitely no passing? Or Leary and Sinclair? Over-run and not much passing? It's a stupid position to be in alright. See yer.