Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 22 July 2011

22 July 2011

He came to conquer Grimsby: he came to score goals and keep clean sheets. Yes, your Guest Diarist has come all over Don LaFontaine this morning after watching the marathon highlights of the Sheffield friendly on the subscription-only Mariners Player. But it's a 22-minute movie with a tragic ending. As Town line up a promising free kick just outside the box, the cameraman appears to operate the 'fade to frozen kaleidoscope' feature and we see no more. I may have nodded off part way through, I guess, but didn't Duffy hit the bar as well at some point?

What can we learn from the rest? Well, Town look like they might be organised by the start of the season and players like Makofo and Pearson shone brightly against part-time lesser lights. The issue of who will make the starting eleven remains intriguing. Perhaps Mr Fenty has ordered all good Duffy moments to be suppressed from the video now that we have sold Connell, in case a club watches them and gets interested? Coulson has been prattling to the paper about wanting a chance to play through the middle in a 4-3-3 and how much better he feels now that his half-season-long hurty ankle has cleared up at last. I get the feeling young Hearn might take a bit to settle in to the higher standard (he just looks like a poor man's Ademeno to me so far), but with Makofo enthusiastically beasting his way around up front Town have unexpected other options to try.

But, as the managers have said, they are not looking for a 20-goal-a-season man. They want goals coming from all round the team. The high-tempo approach, with the objective to get the ball and men in numbers into the danger areas of the pitch quickly, is ambitious. The match at Barnsley tomorrow will be fascinating - perhaps the team may start with an approximation to the expected first team. And the squad have had a full week working on stuff with the ball. Legs will still be tired but one hopes a shape might start to form. Victory, of course, would be catastrophic, as any long-time Cod Almighty reader will know.

Town's superb new official website has sadly dodged a terrific chance to reprise a Dave Moore injury update video. Its terse 'who is injured, who is fit' article doesn't mention twisting and turning or any of the other gentle arcane physio talk at which the great man and loyal servant is so adept. There's a great long list so click the link, gentle reader, for I can't be arsed to paraphrase, save to say that Darran Kempson is unexpectedly back in training.

I am going to pass this afternoon desperately trying to keep abreast of the test match on a day when 100 per cent of my brain is obsessed with this amazing climactic final week of le Tour. I know cycling is a bit of a Marmite thing but, believe me, the last two days have been even more gripping than watching that old man pretending to be deaf and senile the day before. Have a good weekend. See yer.