Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 30 November 2011

30 November 2011

I couldn't believe it at the time - I still can't believe it now. What an amazing night. Bradley Wood didn't get booked.

Your West Yorkshire Diary is, of course, just joshing with you. The Mariners scored so many goals last night that they had vidiprinters spelling out numbers and wearing out the H, E, A, R and N keys. It's less than a year since Town last scored seven in a match, and we've hardly been goal-shy so far this season at home, scoring five on three other occasions. But what really gave this particular scoreline a bit more oomph was the clean sheet. It was almost worth celebrating as much as the seven goals.

I don't think there was a Town fan in the land who wasn't just slightly irked by the absence of an eighth goal - if only to get those fervent fact-checkers leafing through the frail and yellow-stained pages of Town's history books to discover when we last scored eight goals and won by the same margin. (Which they did anyway, to declare it an 8-0 victory against Tranmere in 1925). If my only criticism from a Town performance was that we went a bit flat after Coulson was substituted, then you know it was a good night. But don't take my word for it - or any other Town fan's, for that matter. Mariners midfield cat Manny Panther declared the performance so good that it deserved fish and chips at Steel's (who have since promised a free meal for the players each time they score seven). Manny Panther knows what he's talking about. He saw today's public sector strike coming and told people to invest in silver way back in the summer. He's too socially aware for his own good, that lad.

Following our biggest win since 1957, the Mariners are now top scorers at home in the Conference and have moved into the world of positive goal difference for the first time this season. You can listen to Shorty's assessment of the match on the BBC. I was going to say that Town's only consistency is their inconsistency, but they even struggle to apply consistency to that old football adage these days. Basically, what I'm trying to say (as if I need to say it) is that Salisbury have just as much chance of beating the Mariners on Saturday in the FA Cup second round as they had before Town tonked County.

Credit to Ryan Bennett. Since turning professional he's surrounded himself by defenders who can't defend. He was the only one to impress in a pretty awful Town defence during our days in the fourth division, and despite Peterborough's good form of late he's still part of a pretty awful Posh defence. But there's obviously something about him that supposedly gets the attention of 'top' managers. If the rumours are true then we could soon be seeing our former captain playing in the first division for some unlikeable club or other. Town might just profit from any deal that takes place, unless someone at Blundell Park forgot to sign the document that allowed us to receive 25 per cent of the sell-on clause because they were ill that day and the fax machine was broken anyway. Do clubs still have fax machines?