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Diary - Wednesday 3 August 2011

3 August 2011

There's something about the Lincolnshire Senior Cup that your original/regular Diary can't help but like. Maybe it's that the county cups are a link to football's age of innocence: one of those charming, quirky Victorian relics, a bit like the armed forces and Oxbridge still having seats on the FA council. Or perhaps it's because it gives those of us in the north of the county a chance to assert our status as fully paid-up yellowbellies. Folk in places like Grantham and Spalding tend to think of Grimsby - if they think of it at all - as a sort of associate member of Lincolnshire at best, perhaps as a result of the 20-year hiving-off into Humberside. Or perhaps they're just a bit insular. Stranger things happen in that countryside, I hear.

But probably the thing I like best about the Lincolnshire Senior Cup is that Town have won it. Quite a lot. Thirty-seven times, in fact, now that the 2011-12 competition has been resolved in favour of the Mariners. In a dramatic final at Sincil Bank last night, Town took an early lead over Lincoln City, slipped to a 3-1 deficit but ended up 4-3 winners after Michael Coulson and Liam Hearn scored in the last five minutes. The match was otherwise notable for another energetic contribution from Serge 'The Surge' Makofo, who the Grimsby Telegraph entertainingly describes as "certainly grasping the mettle" this pre-season. Makofo it was who opened the scoring mid-way through the first half, Craig Disley claiming Town's other goal with a smashing long-range lob. Shaun Pearson has hurt his hamstring again, but don't bother asking him about it on Twitter because he won't reply. Not that we're bitter.

A side that wins a game after losing 3-1 can't be short on team spirit, you'd have thought, so there are clearly positives to be taken on that count. But three more goals conceded mean some of the born-again optimists emerging among the GTFC support may today be waking up just a little, if not quite smelling the coffee of an alarmingly 'Duffy 2.0' aspect to the acquisition of Anthony Elding.

Anyway, if you've got five minutes, nip on Wikipedia for a read-up on the interesting history of the Lincs Cup. If you've got ten, you might want to do a quick edit on the page, which asserts that the current holders are Grimsby Town and the current holders are Scunthorpe United. And that's all from me today. Thanks for reading! I'm off for a sit down and a nice cup of mettle tea.