Cod Almighty | Diary

Diary - Wednesday 21 March 2012

21 March 2012

So then, does last night's 2-1 victory at Woking's Hayes & Yeading United - which was comfortable for 87 minutes and then panicky after that - mean the Great Play-off Push of 2012 is back on? It all seemed futile on Saturday night when we failed the Tamworth test and Hearn was hampered by his own hamstring. But Luton tripped over the twigs in Gloucestershire's Forest Green and Kiddy found the Tammies just as impregnable as we did at the weekend. So a win at Kenilworth Road this coming Saturday would bring us to within a point of the floundering Hatters - who seem to be playing out the rest of their season like Grimsby Town play out the last five minutes of their matches.

So we may have picked up a deserved three points from an awkward away fixture without Liam Hearn. But it has to be said that, in your West Yorkshire Diary's opinion, we haven't been firing on all cylinders. I'm not sure how many cylinders there are, but as a percentage I reckon we're firing on 60 per cent of them. At least the effort is there - and if some players have picked up knocks but are so desperate to play for fear of losing their place in the team, then that perhaps explains why some haven't managed to fire the remaining 40 per cent of their cylinders during what is, after all, a hectic month. It's a case of hanging on in there and grinding out results. I guess it's this period of the season the managers had in mind when they put the players through a pretty demanding pre-season workout.

One player who keeps chipping away admirably is Rob Duffy. The one-time transfer-listed striker scored his tenth goal of the season last night - which, in any other season during the past decade, would have made him the club's top scorer with ease. That's not a bad return from someone who's had to spend plenty of time on the bench playing second fiddle to Anthony Elding and is still seen as Woodses's last panic buy. Still, Kiernan Hughes-Mason is better. I've got nothing against the lad and I understand he's not been given many opportunities since he joined from Kettering in January. But I'm willing to trust the judgment of the managers on this one as they see and assess the players every day in training.

It's a year ago today that "the news had clearly got through to Paul and Rob" (presumably through messageboard rumours, Chinese whispers, a pigeon carrier or, say, an unnamed agent) that Grimsby Town were on the lookout for one - maybe two - up-and-coming non-League managers to replace the sacked-but-previously-backed Neil Woods. And so the dynamic duo tendered their resignations at Boston United and crossed their fingers and prayed that the agent rumours were true and the Mariners would come along with some managerial contracts to sign - which, of course, they did.

The whole murky business finally had one of those lines drawn beneath it last week when a proper judge at a grown-up court ordered Grimsby Town, along with Shouty and Shorty, to pay a total of £21,410 to Boston United for being naughty. Pilgrims chairman David Newton described the outcome as "a hollow victory" since the money will only go towards paying legal fees and covering an annual shortfall. Presumably the judge also ordered that the two clubs play nicely in future - a sentiment certainly echoed by Newton when he says he's hoping to "rebuild our relationship with Grimsby Town". Now there's a chairman/major shareholder with some tact, decency and integrity. I wonder how our Mighty Major Shareholding Power Ranging Chairman will reciprocate?

Finally today, the club and the Telewag have joined forces to launch a campaign that hopes to unearth the next Dave Moore, Ryan Bennett or Dayle Southwell. He could be from Brereton Avenue. He could be from Wybers Wood! Who knows? The initiative is called Trawling the Town and the first open trial next month is only open to those kids who weren't even born when Town were last a second division side. More trials for older groups will take place in the summer. It does sound like a great project and it's worth doing, irrespective of whether it unearths diamonds. So, if you've got any kids under the age of nine in your family, get them involved and introduce to them the joy (and pain) that football can bring. They'll thank you for it, eventually. I think.