Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Friday 14 October 2011

14 October 2011

Tomorrow the madcap Mariners sally forth to York to take on a side brimming with goals, whose only recent regret is conceding a late equaliser in their last match away at Southport. The Town managers, determined to stop shipping lots of poor goals with monotonous regularity, have said this nettle must be grasped. They are not stung by the criticism. They have been the defence's biggest critics: loud and proud about how awful the team were the other night in the victorious 5-2 struggle over Barrow.

We're shit and we know we are, mused the Shouty one, descanting the Shorty one's similar comments in the immediate aftermath of that terribly undeserved kerr-azy midweek victory. We've been working on defensive plays all week, he added, qualifying that hastily with a legal addendum confirming that they always work on defence, midfield and attack in training every week. The mea culpa syndrome has extended to Kempson, a big culprit who knows it too - telling the Telegraph he was shit and he knows it and then blabbering about how important his relationship with Pearson was, but that Garner was a professional too, before tailing off in to the desolate nothingness of we've been a bit shit lately, but we'll get better soon, honest.

But a shit defence never matters so much when the opposition's is worse, does it? And although the Town managers are running scared of the entire York front three and the entire York midfield, they didn't single out any of the York defence as featuring on their fright index. Draw comfort from that, gentle reader; seek solace there, folks.

Those of you travelling to the game might also find liquid consolation in the form of Mighty Mariner's pub guide. The foam-suited funster has Tweeted us here at Cod Almighty to highlight his pick of York's mighty alehouses. "Three Legged Mare, Brigantes and Pivni are top of my hitlist," explains Mighty. "York brewery and Thornbridge should be on." Remember, kids: the Jaipur IPA is not a session beer and must be treated with caution.

What better way than a nifty change in formation to take on one of the best footballing sides in the division who, on their day, display pitiless accuracy and precision in dispatching the opposition? A collection of hurty knacks has reduced Makofo's surging power to a setting way below stun, so there's an excuse to have another go at 4-3-3 apparently. Artus will bolster the midfield. Hearn out wide on the left will still score because his goals come from cutting in from that channel. And he'll get a chance to put in a bit of a shift chasing back defensively too. Oh, it all sounds good doesn't it?

The fact that modern players need to be spoon-fed was implicitly lamented in the excellent Radio Humberside interview with Joe Waters in midweek. The transatlantic drawl dissipated very fast back in to Grimsby-Irish as the genial midfield dynamo so close to older fans' hearts explained what a great rapport the championship-winning side had with their charismatic manager George Kerr. Modern fans see Kerr as a rambling old local radio buffoon prone to inappropriate verbal breaks of wind. But 30 years ago he had the nous to let good players play: to do what they do best. A lesson worth remembering with regard to the spark of talent we have with Liam Hearn. See yer.