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Diary - Wednesday 23 November 2011

23 November 2011

Your West Yorkshire Diary is often told that the true measure of someone's character is how they respond to adversity. So after he suffered the ignominy of being substituted just 20 minutes into Saturday's game against Newport County, it's fair to say that 18-year-old centre-back Charlie I'Anson last night showed an attribute all too rare in Town's ranks these days. I'Anson, of course, helped the Mariners to a clean sheet and a deserved victory in the FA Cup first round replay against fourth division Port Vale.

At just 22 years old, summer signing Shaun Pearson was the eldest of Town's back five yesterday, including keeper James McKeown. You know, a lot of people talk about how a defence needs experience and time training together as a unit. But having little experience in defence last night - and Pearson not even having trained with his teammates between Saturday and Tuesday because of that tribunal thing - they all did a fine job in keeping a clean sheet. How come? Perhaps we shouldn't concern ourselves too much with searching for reasons and explanations, as the likelihood is that we'll go back to our usual leaky ways on Saturday at Kettering anyway.

But I like it when Town don't concede two goals in a match; it gives us a chance of not losing. Let's not get bogged down by how we've set ourselves up perfectly to fail at Salisbury on Saturday week. Let's enjoy the here and now and revel in the fact that we deserved to beat a club from a higher division and we've qualified for the next round.

Before the match I was contemplating the odds of the Grimsby Reaper wielding his scythe to great effect on Valiants manager Micky Adams if his side lost. Since we've tended to lose to any bugger who plays us anyway, we've not really had the opportunity to cause many managerial casualties of late, but this 'cup upset' could, in some impatient quarters, be considered enough to call an end to Adams' time at Vale Park. In fact, even Adams himself has labelled it an embarrassment. Not that I would like to see managers sacked, mind - an act that would simply promote the idea among chairmen across the country that it's acceptable to regard months, not years, as adequate time to turn around clubs that have been in decline for decades. Maybe Adams should just transfer-list the entire squad, like he did at Vale in 2009 and see if that gets his team scoring. I'd be just a bit worried that none of his players could score against us in 180 minutes of football.

I didn't go to the match last night Burnsy, but I listened to the reaction on the radio - well, what little reaction there was from the Town fans. Most of the phone-in was hogged by Scunny fans, panicking about their FA Cup defeat at home to Wimbledon. Listening to their comments almost got me reaching for the piano wire. Jesus, talk about depressing. Caller after caller moaned and groaned about Alan Knill and his inability to replace the prolific Gary Hooper. Was that the Gary Hooper who replaced the prolific Billy Sharp? Was that the Billy Sharp who replaced the prolific Martin Paterson?

Of course, the last thing I would wish to do is patronise a club that is much higher than us in the Football League, but a bit of perspective wouldn't go amiss here, Iron fans, I feel. It can always get worse. You only have to look down the A180 for a great case study of what happens when you chop, change and fuck about with your beloved football club.

It seems that young Sam Mulready's career at Grimsby Town is drawing to a close, if today's quotes from Shorty are anything to go by. Countless graduates from the youth team have got a sniff of first-team action only to be told they're not wanted, so this story shouldn't come as a surprise. But it does make you wonder what standards Shorty and Shouty are looking for when your 18-year-old youth striker scores 30 goals in a season and is deemed not good enough. To offer a defence to the managers though, you can never quite assess those players deemed 'talents' until you put them among men. Let's not forget that Mulready scored his goals against players his own age and younger - a far cry from the bullies you often get at places like North Ferriby and Gainsborough Trinity. Let's hope he bags a few at Northolme this month and gives the managers something to contemplate.