Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 30 January 2012

30 January 2012

Miss Guest Diary writes: Another home game, another victory. You might be tempted to think this is all getting a bit predictable, but there was nothing predictable about the outcome of Saturday's game. During the first half, it looked like Town's unbeaten run was quite likely to come to an end and I, for one, would certainly have settled for a draw. But then the Shouty/Shorty combo worked some magic at half time and Town came out fighting. The second half was very enjoyable, especially Frankie Artus's sexy little turn to score his first goal for Town.

We've had a taste these last few weeks of what it must be like supporting one of the 'big' clubs who go on extended unbeaten runs. If you turn up expecting to see your team win and they score an early couple of goals, there's very little tension or excitement after that. It's even a little boring at times. But when the team is under pressure and manages to turn things round late in the game, as they did on Saturday, it feels fantastic.

Some of you may be aware that Cod Almighty is heading towards its tenth anniversary and here at CA Towers we have been mulling over ideas for marking the occasion. I expect the off-line celebrations will involve copious quantities of beer and curry at a venue yet to be decided. But there will also be some online marking of the occasion, which will probably include looking back at some of the site content from the past 10 years. I have been undertaking some groundwork by going through the Tony Butcher reports and compiling a spreadsheet of match facts. I am now thoroughly bewitched, bothered and bewildered or, in Butcher-speak, fliggled, scrimpled and befoodled.

I came across a report on a 1-0 victory away at Rotherham in the 2002-03 season which really illustrates why I believe a narrow victory will always trump a 6-0 walkover. I thought I'd share some of it with you:

"Corner! Last minute! Up went Ford and Santos, over went the cross, out went the ball, upfield raced the Rotherham players. The crowd roared, 20 players hurtling towards us, then Ford stopped them and passed to Santos, who passed back to a Rotherham player, 30 yards out. Stomachs churned, eyes dropped, hands went to mouths, tears came to the eyes, and Santos redeemed himself with a hassle, hustle and tackle.

"The ball broke to Campbell. The Town bench stood up and waved the players forward. The Town fans were on their feet, a deafening roar forcing the ball back towards Pollitt. Campbell knocked the ball down the left wing and, well, we entered a twilight zone where the laws of physics and logic were inverted. Livvo beat the offside trap and bounded down the touchline like a starving, salivating leopard. He looked up and rolled a cross through the penalty area to the totally and utterly unmarked Oster, perhaps 10 yards out, in the centre. Oster leapt up and steered a right-footed shot high into the net to the keeper's left. The ball seemed to take an age to curl over and past Pollitt, and then the whole Town end disappeared in a sea of writhing, leaping, rolling, hugging happiness. It was pandemonium. Seven hundred people falling about, drunk on joy and relief. Oh the irony - Town scoring a last-minute winner.

"The last few seconds of play were not actually seen by anyone, for the mass was still celebrating. The game ended with the Town players racing around, jumping on each other, sprinting to the Town support and joining the party, which became a street party as we all wandered deliriously around the back streets of Rotherham, people hanging out of car windows, manically beeping their horns, singing, dancing, leaping and now believing again."

Getting back to the current Town team, no doubt many will have been relieved by the club's statement to the effect that Liam Hearn will not be leaving despite "substantial interest" from other clubs. Scouts at Saturday's game apparently included representatives of West Brom and - horror of horrors - Scunthorpe. In other transfer news, Alfreton continue their bid to avoid relegation by snapping up Darran Kempson. Good luck with that.