Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Monday 13 February 2012

13 February 2012

Miss Guest Diary writes: Another weekend without a Town match. A few months ago this was something to look forward to, but now I feel cheated. I've fallen back in love with being a Town fan and it feels like I've been stood up.

What to do instead? Usually after a home game we grab some fish and chips in Cleethorpes or get a Chinese takeaway when we get back home to Lincoln. So we took the opportunity at the weekend to cook something a bit special for dinner. In honour of Ryan Bennett's transfer to Norwich, we delved into Delia's Complete Cookery Course for an old favourite: sausages braised in red wine. Mmm, really tasty. In the hope that some readers might want to try it for themselves, I looked for the recipe online and found this version which, like so many other things in the modern world, has been given an exotic twist. But, by swapping the venison sausages for good old Lincolnshire ones and leaving out the juniper berries and redcurrant jelly, you can easily recreate the original.

For entertainment I settled on going to see the new Muppets film. My partner took some persuading but succumbed when I reminded him that the music was written by Brett McKenzie from Flight of the Conchords. The film was a bit too long and a bit too sentimental, and the endless rustle of sweet wrappers by the audience was a bit irritating, but that seems par for the course with most cinema-going these days.

In a search for Town-related news, I came across a short piece on the SNOS, advising that tickets for Saturday's postponed match against York may either be retained for use when it is eventually rearranged or can be swapped for tickets to the FA Trophy match on 26 February. Now that's very sensible.

The SNOS also carries a thankyou from John Fenty to the 40 or so Town fans who turned up at Blundell Park at 7am on Saturday with their shovels to help clear snow from the pitch. This is what Samuel Johnson once called "a triumph of hope over experience", though he was referring to second marriages, not aborted football fixtures.

Meanwhile, in a rather nice interview with the Grimsby Telegraph, Anthony Elding talks about how "it all being foreign" in Hungary caused his return to English football and how much he appreciates being appreciated by Town fans.

Shouty has talked to the Telegraph about the effect on Town of losing six points if Kettering go out of business but accepts that "it's not worth worrying about" till it happens. Kettering are trying hard to survive and their supporters' trust has arranged a fundraising friendly against Peterborough this Wednesday evening. So, if you're down that way, why not pop along to Nene Park. You can help preserve those six points for Town and may also get the chance to say farewell to Ryan Bennett before he heads off for the bright lights of the Premiership.